McGraw Edison Electrical Company

In 1900, Max McGraw started an electrical contracting business when he was a teenager in Iowa. He moved to Chicago in 1926, where he bought a toaster company and formed an electrical appliance business called the McGraw Electric Co. By the mid 1950s, the company had more than 1000 employees working only in Chicago area. In 1957, the company acquired Thomas A Edison Inc. and formed McGraw-Edison Co. the company specialized in making appliances, tools and electrical equipment

In 1958, McGraw-Edison acquired Heatube Company (heating elements) and National Electric Coil Company. In 1959, Canadian Lines Materials Limited and Thomas A Edison (Canada) merged with McGraw- Edison (Canada) Limited. In 1960-61, it acquired American Laundry Machinery Company, Canadian Laundry Machinery Company Limited and Huebsch Canada Limited.
By the mid 1960s, McGraw-Edisons annual sales were on its rise and reached $450 million with man power increasing to 20,000 workers employed at plants across the world. In 1965, the company established a joint venture with Prestige Limited in the name of Prestige Edison Limited. It also acquired Village Blacksmith Company, Watertown, Wisconsin (garden goods). The company sold its Medical Gas Division of Thomas A Edison Company, Wood Products Division and Elgin Real Estate. In 1968, McGraw-Edison acquired Toledo Kitchen Machines Division of Reliance Electric and Engineering Company.
Following which it acquired fiber pipe business of the Brown Company, power tool business of General Electric and Simplicity Products Limited (Canada). In the mid 1970s, the companys sales crossed $ 1 billion and it had about 2200 workers in the Chicago area. In 1971, Painted and wood grain appliances became very popular. Decorative toasters became the must haves in homes while the chrome remained the most popular and some models were available with decorative front panels. In 1976, The Toastmaster Bicentennial hit the stores. In 1978, model B700 two slide toasters were introduced. It became so popular that its demand kept increasing and McGraw-Edison manufactured 16 millionth B700 series in 1989.
In 1985, McGraw-Edison became part of the Cooper Power Systems. With the only research and technical lab in the industry, The Thomas A Edison Technical Centre, (named after genius Thomas Edison) Cooper Power Systems is proud to have been deeply rooted to its heritage and merged with McGraw-Edison. In 1990, the first cool touch, steel sided toaster called the Toastmaster Cool Steel was introduced. Toastmaster became a publicly held company in 1992 and is listed with the New York Stock Exchange as TM. In 1998, Toastmaster displayed three new appliances, including a toaster by F.A Porsche (designer of the original Porsche 911 sports car) at the January House wares Show in Chicago.Encyclopedia