Louis Upton

Upon graduation, Upton attempted to sell insurance to W.S. Klein, the secretary-treasurer of the Commonwealth Edison company. Although Klein did not buy insurance, he was impressed by Upton and offered him a job, which Upton accepted. At Edison, Upton was introduced to the fast-developing field of electricity, and he became obsessed with the idea of making an electric washing machine. In 1908, Upton was approached by E.C. Williams, a hardware merchant in South Bend, Indiana, who wanted to organize a company to manufacture home washers. Williams planned to open a factory in South Bend, and asked Upton to handle the sales department. Williams needed capital, and Upton offered the $500 he had saved. When the firm almost immediately went bankrupt. The owner, E.C. Williams, felt responsible for Louis' loss and told him he could take a patent of his choosing as compensation for his loss. Upton chose a patent on a hand-powered washing machine. Being a highly imaginative person, he thought the washer could someday have an electric motor attached to it.[4]

Upton Electric by Upton Machine Co., 1912

Upton was not deterred by the E.C. Williams Manufacturing Co. failure. He took the hand washer patent to his uncle, Emory Upton, a mechanic in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and asked him to motorize it to be powered by electricity.[5] He also returned to his job at Commonwealth Edison. This was not to be the first electric washing machine. Although the first electric washing machine is credited to A.J. Fisher in 1907, there were patents filed for such machines before Fisher's application.[6]

Eventually, Emory Upton built a transmission that worked. Louis Upton took the electric washer to Federal Electric Company, a company affiliated with Commonwealth Edison, and talked them into ordering 100 washers to be sold on the retail market for $85 each. He set up a shop in Benton Harbor where, with the help of his brother Frederick, he built the electric washers while commuting to his job at Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, approximately 100 miles away. It was said that Louis painted the washers by hand, and Frederick crated them and took them by horse-drawn cart to the shipping point.[7]

Louis and Frederick Upton delivered the 100 washing machines. However, a major problem arose: with daily use, the gears of every washer broke down. Federal Electric's president, John F. Gilchrist, summoned the 25-year-old Upton to his office and demanded the money back saying, “Your product is a failure and money must be refunded to purchasers”. Upton, ever confident and the salesman, replied that he would be happy to refund the money but he didn't then have any. He went on to explain that he had already spoken to Federal's master mechanic about a fix, and, with some time, could solve the problem. Federal agreed, and the master mechanic, Gustav B. Keil, who later came to work for Upton, solved the problem by using steel rather than cast iron in the gears. Describing the new gears, he told Upton, "They're O.K. I've used everything on them but an axe”. In the end, Federal Electric agreed with Keil and Upton emerged from disgrace with an order of 200 washers - but with new gears.[8]

Louis Upton got the 200 washers turned out as he promised, but the costs proved to be excessive. This time he was really broke, but production was on the way up - producing 10 machines a day. He looked around for a financial backer, and he found one in a LaGrange friend and banker, Lowell C. Bassford. Bassford agreed to supply $5000 on the condition that Louis work for the company full-time, quitting his job at Commonwealth Edison. Thus was formed the Upton Machine Company on November 11, 1911 by Louis Upton, his uncle Emory Upton and Lowell Bassford. Louis took on the role as president, while Emory was Secretary and Treasurer. Louis’ brother Frederick joined the company a few months later in 1912 as office manager. The company soon moved to a small building in the Edgewater area of St. Joseph, Michigan. In the beginning, Louis paid himself a salary of $10 a week while Fred received $8. Emory Upton was the high salaried man at $30 a week. Bassford had received 500 shares of stock in return for his capital, while Emory received 1,265 shares and Louis 1,000 shares in the new company.[9][10]

While it is true that the early 1900s was a time of numerous electricity-driven home inventions, Upton's customers, the women who washed the clothes, did not immediately embrace the electric washer. One reason may have been the experience involved in using the machine, which a newspaper described this way; “The hand washers of those days enabled a woman to rock back and forth in a chair as she pulled the handle which operated the rocking action of the washer. The electrified version of this washer was a fearful and wonderful object. It was a hand washer with a motor added, and power transmitted to the washing mechanism by means of a belt drive and cast iron gears. All the mechanism was exposed; all of it could get wet, and often did. The possibility of electrocution went practically hand-in-hand with the down payment. But it was electric. And it did work.” Weak initial demand for the electric washer may also have been due to a simple reluctance to change. The local newspaper summarized: “The company did not flourish as well as was expected, for there was but a meager demand for those hazardous contraptions, electric washing machines, and many women of the era felt that if wash tubs were good enough for grandma, they were good enough for them.”[11]

On October 1, 1912, in order to run the company leaner, the board decided to lower executive salaries. Emory Upton's pay was lowered to $0.50/hour for all time put into the business. Louis was to receive salary not to exceed $15 per week as president. None of the workers' pay was affected.[12]

Another blow struck in early 1913 when the Federal Electric Company, foreseeing wider acceptance for electric washers, decided to begin manufacturing the machines itself. The Upton Machine Company had lost its best customer at the exact moment when its washer production was beginning to increase.[13]

Facing the problem of insufficient demand, Louis Upton improvised. The American Tool Works, located across the street from the Upton Machine Company, had run into financial difficulties after a fire destroyed their factory on October 29, 1909.[14] In 1914, Upton Machine Co. took over the plant, which made the Sterling air rifle, camp kits and lithograph toys. A deal was made with owner Frank Graves for Upton Machine Co. to take over the $25,000 mortgage and paid out another $25,000 in Upton Machine Co. stock. The deal came with fresh capital from Lowell C. Bassford who put in another $2,500 and another LaGrange man, Chas. F. Braffett who invested $10,000. The board of directors grew to five men; Braffett's investment made him President of the company. Louis Upton was vice president and general manager, E.A. Blakeslee who was the President of the St. Joseph's chamber of commerce became treasurer, Emory Upton was secretary and Louis's brother Frederick Upton joined the board and was given the title of Assistant Manager, he was also awarded 235 stock shares in lieu of back salary due him and services rendered.[15] After restructuring, the company was employing about 40 mechanics and combining the two industries under one mutual sales team.[16][17]

The Kamp-Kook-Kit, A portable Camp Kit that fits in your pocket.

During 1914, the Upton Machine Co. worked to improve the air rifle and since the Sterling name had a poor reputation, renamed the product The Upton. Temporarily, washers became a sidelight while air rifles kept the company afloat. In 1915, washing machine sales were only $18,000, while the rifle business totalled $62,000 in sales.[18]

Things finally turned around for the washing machine business when in April 1916, Louis got a meeting at the Sears, Roebuck and Company, which at that point had sold only hand washers, mistrusting the electric contrivances. But at his first sales meeting with Sears, armed with an electric washer, Louis Upton came away with an order for 25 machines monthly, but sales were by catalog only. The business relationship with Sears planted a seed for its growth to the top of laundry manufacturers in the United States.[19]

On October 19, 1917, Chas. F. Braffett, then President of Upton Machine Co. killed himself despondent of ill health. The body of the manufacturer was found on the kitchen floor by one of the members of the family and the open gas jet gave the conclusive evidence as to the cause of his death. He left no word of explanation, but it was known he had worried considerably over his ill health.[20]

At the following shareholder meeting, the company announced the new corporate structure. Lowell C. Bassford was to take over as president. Louis stayed on as vice president and general manager, his new brother-in-law H.T. Campbell became secretary, and Frederick Upton as superintendent.[21]

In February 1918, the Upton Machine Co. paid the Stopple Kook Kit Company $5,000 for the patents, tools and manufacturing rights to make a pocket camping kit called the "Kamp-Kook-Kit" that eventually became the official Boy Scout mess kit.[22]

In June 1920, Sears ordered 15,000 washers that were to be built as soon as possible. The Upton Machine Co. building was too small to produce the order, so in 1921, Sears loaned the Upton Machine Co. $87,500 to add a building next to the original washer plant, extending in an "L" shape toward the west. But before any machines were built, the economy slumped and Sears canceled its order. The Upton Machine Co. now owed Sears $87,500 and had no way to repay it. Sears agreed to cancel the loan in exchange for shares of stock in the Upton Machine Co., a transaction that built a strong tie between the two companies. The washer plant addition was completed in 1924 and was equipped to make 100 washers a day, including at least 50 a day exclusively for Sears.[23]

In 1925, the economy had recovered and Sears agreed that the Upton Machine Co. would be its sole provider of washing machines. Upton had an idea; up to that point, Sears sold its products through its catalogue. Upton believed that major purchases such as washing machines needed expert face to face sales involvement and he sold the idea to former Brigader general Robert E. Wood, Sears, Roebuck and Company’s president. Upton Machine Company began selling washers and ironers in Sears’ 80 retail locations. Upton Machine Company salesmen organized sales, set up displays, and trained Sears sales personnel. It was another turning point in the history of the Upton company—in three years, the Sears sales of home laundry appliances jumped from 25,000 to 1,250,000 yearly.[24]

On February 20, 1928, the Upton Machine Co. announced a large contract to start mass production of light metal toys for the F.W. Woolworth and S. S. Kresge companies and several other large syndicate stores throughout the United States. To make room for the expansion in the toy manufacturing industry it sold its air rifle business to the All Metal Products Company of Detroit, Michigan. The same day Upton announced that the company planned to add from 100-150 men and women to their payroll.[25]

Over the following 30 days, the company re-arranged and equipped the old air rifle plant with dies, tools, machines and other special equipment to increase production to 20,000 toys daily making it the largest manufacturer of toys in the middle west. One of the first toys produced was an “exact toy replica of the new Ford”. Other toys made in the new plant were tops, motor buses, trucks, wrecking trucks with crane, toy vans, express trucks and several other novelties.[26]

In May 1928, the company announced record-high first quarter profits of approximately $75,000 along with a capital stock increase from 25,000 to 75,000. Stockholders were paid 100% dividends. Bassford, by then in very poor health, sold his interests in the company and resigned as its president, he passed away a few months later. Louis was elected president and Frederick was elected vice president and Secretary-Treasurer.[27]

On April 3, 1929, Louis announced that the Upton Machine Co will merge with the Nineteen Hundred Washer Company of Binghamton, New York, one of the pioneers in the business and a concern that had been making washing machines since 1900, to create one of the leading units in the electric washing machine industry in the United States. Thomas W. Beham, who had been President of the Nineteen Hundred Washer Company, assumed the same title in the newly formed Nineteen Hundred Corporation. Louis Upton became Vice President of the new combine and remained as Director and General Manager of the Upton division. Frederick became treasurer and a director of the new organization and Gus Keil remained as general superintendent and also became a director of the combine. Upton said in his announcement that the assets of the merged companies would total “several million dollars.” and that the idea of the merger originated with the Uptons. The outcome was a merger on an equal basis. The eastern corporation makes a more expensive type of washer and that both companies are strong financially.[28][29]

The Upton Machine Company, now a division of Nineteen Hundred Co. doubles their output in 1929, greatly expanding their St. Joseph, Michigan plant size to support a new product line, known as the Kenmore in 1930. The concern now caters to some 4000 dealers throughout the nation. The Sears-Roebuck company gives the company preferential positioning in its catalog, which has a circulation of more than 11,000,000 households. Upton machines are also sold in all of the more than 300 Sears-Roebuck retail stores.[30]

On October 29, 1929, the stock market collapsed on what became known as "Black Tuesday" launching the country into the Great Depression. By 1932, the country's national income was down 54% with more than 86,000 businesses failed, 4,835 banks closed and 12 million people were out of work. In November 1933, due to differences in business philosophies, particularly around the company's relationship with Sears, Behan announced his resignation as president. Louis Upton is elected President of the Nineteen Hundred Corporation.[31]

Despite the country's hardships, the company remained resilient and the period of economic change turned out to be a good thing for the company, with fewer people being able to afford maids, doing the laundry at home became increasingly essential and unlike the boom years, price made a difference. Buyers turned to Sears for savings and bought Nineteen Hundred Co.’s washers. The company was manufacturing about 25 percent of the washers and ironers sold in the country. In 1936, the company began exporting with Sears International to new important markets opening up for the Kenmore machines, primarily England, Sweden and the Canal Zone.[32]

In 1939, the Binghamton plant was closed. All of its operations, and personnel who were willing to move, were transferred to St. Joseph, and fifty new families came into the twin cities. After a decade of depression, by 1939, the company posted sales of $5.7 million and shipped over 160,000 units. By 1941, the company was seeing record sales of 262,000 washers and ironers yielding over $10 million in sales. Government figures for 1941 confirmed the Nineteen Hundred Corporation was the largest producer of washing machines in the United States, and therefore the world.[33][34]

The outbreak of World War II stopped production of civilian products, washing machines included. In May 1942, the last washing machine came off the assembly line. From then until the war ended, production was strictly military. The first war contract was for machining and assembling gun mounts. Next, a sub-contract was accepted from the Bendix Aviation corporation for making propeller controls. This was the device that permitted faster take-offs and steeper climbs by fighters and bombers. Such controls usually were custom-made, but Nineteen Hundred Co. managed to do it on a mass-production assembly line basis. The firm turned out 3,000 units a month and received the highest inspection rating the army and navy could bestow.[35][36]

Louis Upton was called to Washington in 1942 as a "Dollar-A-Year Man", in the position as Chief of the Consumer’s Durable Goods Division of the War Production Board, where he was co-ordinating over 19 industries into the war effort. In 1944, the Nineteen Hundred corporation received the coveted Army-Navy "E" award for its outstanding defense production in World War II. The company worked 24 hours a day, on a six-day week, and when schedules had to be met, worked all seven days per week, 24 hours per day. By November 1943, the company employed 1,595 people, of whom 620 employees were women.[37]

Throughout the war, the Nineteen Hundred Corporation would produce 8,881 Curtiss-Wright trailing edges; 470,000 mine crates; 21,000 bomb fins; 400,025 fragmentary bombs; 91,390 linker-de-linkers; 9,912 universal machine gun legs; 20,691 Bendix Corporation arms; 503,929 carburetor parts; 198,846 gears; 91,297 chutes; 5,605 Bendix Corporation boosters; 22,927 General Electric pumps; 68,075 prop controls; 4,765 gun mounts M-2-41; 7,825 gun mounts M-800; 32,750 gun sights, and 39,571 General Electric gear cases.[38]

Upton did not see full dedication to the war effort as an excuse to delay preparation for the future. War wouldn't last forever, and when peace returned he wanted to be in a position to offer consumers something better than they had ever seen before. He had plans to design and engineer a fully automatic spinner-type washer. Throughout the war the company made 25 major refinements and after going through 50 working models, the postwar planning had lined up so well that the first washer base to be assembled after the war was put together the day before the Japanese surrendered. On August 27, 1945 exactly one week after V-J Day, every man who wanted to return to Nineteen Hundred had been called back to work, announcing its new automatic washers, the Kenmore and Whirlpool.[39][40]

On May 17, 1949, Louis Upton at the annual meeting of the concern announced his retirement from the presidency and announced the election of Elisha Gray as his successor and Chief Executive Officer. Upton remained active with the firm, serving as Chairman of the Board and directing the policy of the concern.[41]

In June 1949, the "1900 Corporation", the world's largest manufacturer of home laundry equipment, is honored by the St. Joseph Retail Merchants association by declaring Jun 6 - Jun 13 as "1900 Week". Sears, Chamber of Commerce and others take out full-page ads thanking the company for its service to the civic and economic life of the community.[42]

On April 20, 1950, to heighten brand awareness around its successful new offering, the company name was changed to Whirlpool Corporation. Gray noted the popularity of the company's new automatic washer marketed under Sears' Kenmore brand name and created a dual-distribution approach to manufacturing and marketing in order to build the Whirlpool name into a leading national brand while retaining its partnership with Sears.[43][44]

On October 9, 1952, the day before his 66th birthday, Louis Upton passed away.

In 2011, to mark Whirlpool's 100th anniversary, the city of St. Joseph, Michigan declared June 6–10 Upton Week, marked by a series of celebratory events.[45]

Whirlpool Corporation is still recognized today as one of the "World's Most Admired Company" being placed on Fortune Magazine's distinguished list for the ninth consecutive year in 2019.[46][47]