Emhart Corporation

Emhart Corporation was a multinational corporation located in Farmington, Connecticut. Prior to its 1989 merger with Black & Decker, Emhart maintained a world-wide work force of 30,000 employees. Products included machines for manufacturing glass bottles and shoes, packaging machinery, security systems, electronics, chemical products, metal fasteners, rubber processing equipment and other consumer products. Emhart's roots began with the American Hardware Company, founded in New Britain, Connecticut in 1902. It merged with the Hartford-Empire Company, a glass factory, in 1912 to form the Emhart Manufacturing Company which became a leading glass machinery maker. In 1976, the company merged with the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, founded in Boston in 1899 as the United Shoe Machinery Company, and formed the Emhart Corporation. In 1989, Emhart merged with Black & Decker Corporation in order to resist a takeover attempt.

From the description of Emhart Corporation records, 1883-1989. (University of Connecticut). WorldCat record id: 46637462

Emhart Corporation was a multinational company located in Farmington, Connecticut . Prior to its 1989 merger with Black & Decker, Emhart operated in over one hundred countries with a worldwide work force of 30,000 employees. Emhart's products included machines for the manufacture of glass bottles and shoes; filling, sealing and packaging machinery; security systems; electronics; chemical products; metal fasteners; rubber processing equipment; and consumer and do-it-yourself products. Brand name products included True Temper® hardware and sporting goods, and Price Pfister® plumbing fixtures.

Emhart's domestic roots went back to the American Hardware Company, founded in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1902. Ten years later, the company merged with the Hartford-Empire Company, a glass factory, and the name Emhart Manufacturing Company came into being. Over the next several decades, a series of mergers followed, both domestic and foreign, until Emhart Manufacturing emerged as the world's leading glass-machinery maker. In 1976, the company merged with the United Shoe Machinery Company, founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1899. United Shoe had followed a similar path of growth and acquisition both at home and abroad, and the merger of these two giants produced the modern-day Emhart Corporation .

In 1989, in order to resist a $2.4 billion takeover attempt by a New York investment group (which included oil heir, Gordon P. Getty ), Emhart merged with Black & Decker Corporation . The merged company operates from Black & Decker's headquarters in Towson, Maryland . The company headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut, were closed in June 1989.

From the guide to the Emhart Corporation Records., undated, 1883-1989, (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center .)