Wheelabrator History

Location & Names of Wheelabrator relevant to Mishawaka, Indiana

From 1908 thru 1925 the corporation was located in the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois with a consolidation of all operations in Mishawaka, Indiana in 1926. The operations continued to grow in Indiana including the addition of a Foundry, and Abrasive Manufacturing plant/warehouse and an R&D Center.

In 1974 a 2nd Abrasive Manufacturing Plant was built in Bedford, Virginia and a larger foundry was needed for our growing business which was built in Walterboro, South Carolina in 1982. The abrasive plant was a "green field" operation and the foundry was "built" in an existing building that had previously been a forge shop (unrelated to Wheelabrator) that had closed. The Mishawaka Abrasive Plant and Foundry were eventually closed due to a decline in the market for their products and the lower cost operation of the newer facilities in Virginia and South Carolina.

Mishawaka, Indiana remained the Home Office for Wheelblast Equipment Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Research & Development from 1926 until operations move to Georgia in 1987.

The Air Pollution Control Division (Dust Collectors) moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1972 from Mishawaka.

Names
From approximately 1971 until 1984, the Wheelabrator blast cabinet was manufactured by the Material Cleaning Systems division of Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc. In February 1983, Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc. was merged into Signal Sub, Inc., which retained the name Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc., and became a subsidiary of The Signal Companies, Inc. In late 1984, Signal Companies transferred the stock of some of its subsidiaries, including Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc. to Signal Holding, Inc. Signal Holdings, Inc. changed its name to Signal Applied Technology, Inc. and, in March 1985, Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc. was merged into Signal Applied Technology, Inc. In June 1984, The Wheelabrator Corporation was incorporated in Delaware. On information and belief, in connection with the Wheelabrator-Signal transaction, Wheelabrator-Frye, Inc. transferred the assets of the Material Cleaning Systems division into The Wheelabrator Corporation. In December 1995, The Wheelabrator Corporation was merged into "Wheelabrator Water Technologies, Inc.", a Maryland corporation, and again operated merely as a division. In December 1996, certain assets and liabilities of the Wheelabrator Corporation division of Wheelabrator Water Technologies, Inc. were sold to United States Filter Corporation, and organized into U.S. Filter Surface Preparation Group, Inc., a subsidiary of, ultimately, United States Filter Corporation.

Wheelabrator History

Jack Champaigne of Electronics Inc. is editor of this historical perspective of Wheelabrator. Please contact Jack with any questions or contributions.

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