1900 to 1930

In the first third of the 20th century, the businesses under the Gould and Chase-Shawmut banners grew steadily, while the company that was to launch the Foil Division was formed.

1910 — Gould's Foil Division has its origin in a company that began business as the Dann Spring Insert Company. It offered a patented tubular steel insert for automotive bearings. The company that would become the nation's leading maker of bearings and bushings changed its name in 1919 to the Cleveland Graphite Bronze Company.

1919 — In Cleveland, Ohio, Charles Brush, Jr., formed a small research company with the objective of improving phonographic record sound through piezolelectric crystals. His death in 1927 prevented him from witnessing laboratory production of clear crystals and their perfection in products such as phonograph pick-ups, microphones and headphones.

1920 — Chase-Shawmut became a stand alone entity as a result of a government anti-trust action against Stone & Webster. A period of vigorous growth followed, fueled by new products such as plug fuses, one-time fuses, time delay fuses, renewable fuses and floodlights. I-T-E, meanwhile, was expanding its product line to include switches, porcelain insulators and fuses to its product line, in addition to its mainstay circuit breaker product.

1930 — National Battery Company, an outgrowth of Electrical Manufacturing Company, acquired the Gould business. At that time, National Battery was providing batteries for a number of leading national retailers, including Montgomery Ward, Western Auto, Goodrich and Goodyear.

1930 — Partners in Brush Labs formed the Brush Development Company to bring to commercial fruition the laboratory's successes.