Sperry Corporation

The Sperry Rand Corporation was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on June 30, 1955, as a merger of Remington Rand, Inc., and The Sperry Corporation. Sperry Rand was renamed the Sperry Corporation on Aug. 1, 1979. On September 16, 1986 Sperry was merged into the Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs, the surviving corporate entity, was renamed the Unisys Corporation. The firm was a major manufacturer of office machines, computers, electric appliances, feedback control systems and aerospace components.

From the description of Records, 1893-1976 (bulk 1927-1965). (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122397171

The Sperry Rand Corporation was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on June 30, 1955, as a merger of Remington Rand, Inc., and The Sperry Corporation. Sperry Rand was renamed the Sperry Corporation on Aug. 1, 1979. On September 16, 1986 Sperry was merged into the Burroughs Corporation. Burroughs, the surviving corporate entity, was renamed the Unisys Corporation. The firm was a major manufacturer of office machines, computers, electric appliances, feedback control systems and aerospace components.

E. Remington & Sons of Ilion, N.Y., the oldest of Sperry's predecessor companies, began in 1856 as a manufacturer of rifles, and later sewing machines and typewriters. After the Remington typewriter was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, sales skyrocketed. During the next decades the company established itself as America's leading typewriter manufacturer. The typewriter business was sold to Wyckoff, Seamans & Benedict in 1886, becoming the Remington Typewriter Company in 1913.

Remington merged with Rand Kardex Bureau, Inc., a leading manufacturer of office systems, and was reincorporated in Delaware as Remington Rand Inc., on January 25, 1927. The new company soon absorbed the Dalton Adding Machine and Powers Accounting Machine companies, becoming the nation's largest producer of business machines and office equipment. In 1938 it began manufacturing electric shavers. In 1950 Remington Rand acquired the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, the first company to produce an electronic digital computer, and two years later it acquired Engineering Research Associates of St. Paul, Minn.

The Sperry Gyroscope Company was organized on April 14, 1910, by electrical inventor Elmer A. Sperry for the purpose of manufacturing his gyrostabilizers. His associate, Hannibal Ford, organized the Ford Instrument Company on November 15, 1916 and developed fire control computer systems for battleships. In 1928, two years before his death, Sperry sold the company to North American Aviation, Inc., a huge aviation holding company organized by Clement M. Keys, president of the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company. The Sperry firm was reincorporated in New York as the Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc., on January 21, 1929. North American Aviation soon came under the control of General Motors. It controlled a number of major airplane manufacturers as well as the predecessors of TWA and Eastern Airlines. The combine was broken up by the Air Mail Act of 1934, which separated manufacturers from airlines.

The Sperry Corporation was incorporated in Delaware on April 13, 1933, as a holding and management company. It acquired both the Sperry Gyroscope and Ford Instrument companies from North American Aviation and further diversified into the manufacture of precision machinery. It acquired the Waterbury Tool Company of Connecticut in 1935 and two years later purchased Vickers, Inc., a manufacturer of hydraulic machinery which had developed hydraulic power steering. A number of other specialized machinery manufacturers followed, including the Tulsa Winch Manufacturing Corporation and the New Holland Machine Company. In 1938 Sperry began funding Klystron research at Stanford University, and in 1947 it became the prime contractor for the Navy's Sparrow missile program, the first U.S. air-to-air missile.

After the 1955 merger, Sperry Rand continued to contribute to the remarkable growth of the computer business. However, when compared to IBM, Sperry Rand did not have sufficient financial resources to invest in product development and, as a result, it was unable to retain many of the talented people who came to it from Eckert-Mauchly and Engineering Research Associates. As a result, Sperry Rand lost ground, leading to the takeover by Burroughs Corporation.

From the description of Agency history record. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 86119505