Crouse-Hinds Company
| Fate | Still operating in name only as a subsidiary of Cooper Industries, however, traffic products division was divested in 1981 |
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| Founded | January, 1897 |
| Founder | Huntington Beard Crouse (1872-1943) and Jesse Lorenzo Hinds (1846-1928) |
| Headquarters | Syracuse, New York, United States |
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Area served
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United States |
| Products | Industrial, explosionproof electrical equipment, instrumentation, commercial products |
Crouse-Hinds Electric Company, a manufacturer of high grade electrical specialties, was established in 1897 in Syracuse, New York. They later shortened their name to Crouse-Hinds Company and beginning in the early 1920s specialized in the manufacture of traffic signals, controllers and accessories. The company name is still in use today as a subsidiary of Cooper Industries, however, the traffic signal production ended in 1981 after Cooper sold the traffic products division. It is now a division under Eaton Corporation.
In 1897, at age 25, Huntington Beard Crouse from the village of Fayetteville, New York, inherited a large sum of money from his uncle, Huntington Beard, who owned several small companies. Crouse teamed up with the older and wiser, Jesse Lorenzo Hinds, 51, whom he met through a relative. Hinds was factory superintendent (and former mechanic) of the Electric Engineering and Supply Company of Syracuse.
Crouse had the capital and Hinds had the electrical know how as well as business and management experience to start their own company. They drew up papers and formed a partnership called Crouse-Hinds Electric Company, and went on to become one of the major employers in Syracuse. The company was a manufacturer of high grade electrical specialties. Their first product offering was a changeable headlight for trolley cars.
A new plant was constructed in 1911 at the corner of Wolf and 7th North Streets in Syracuse.
By 1918, the company had shortened their name to Crouse-Hinds Company and produced traffic lights, controllers and accessories.
The company manufactured the first traffic signal in Syracuse which was installed in 1924 at the corner of James and State Streets. Crouse-Hinds produced traffic signals locally for many years, including the famous Tipperary Hill upside down light on the city's Far Westside.
On December 10, 1980, the Crouse-Hinds Company acquired Belden, a wire and cable manufacturer founded in Chicago in 1902 by Joseph C. Belden, in a stock merger, exchanging 1.24 shares for each share of Belden Corp.
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