Nash-Kelvinator

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Nash-Kelvinator Corporation was created in 1937 when Nash Motors merged with Kelvinator Appliance Company. The merger came at the suggestion of George W. Mason before he became Nash’s president. The new company started on January 2, 1937 with no debt and $50 million in cash.

During World War II, the company made cars and refrigerators and also produced aeronautic components and helicopters for the military. It ranked 27th in U.S. war contracts and turned out large quantities of war materials, including Hamilton Standard propellers (over 158,000 with 85,000 spare blades), Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines, Sikorsky R-6 helicopters, and more than 200,000 binoculars. In 1945 the company began planning new cars and finished new proving grounds in Wisconsin.

In 1954 Nash-Kelvinator merged with Hudson Motor Car Company to form American Motors Corporation (AMC), the largest U.S. corporate consolidation of the time. Kelvinator remained as a wholly owned division within AMC, focusing on major home appliances and refrigeration.

Kelvinator also expanded into new consumer products, introducing the Food-A-Rama Side-by-Side Refrigerator in 1955. In 1968 AMC sold the Kelvinator brand to White Consolidated Industries to concentrate on cars; White Consolidated later became part of Electrolux. Today the Kelvinator name is used on appliances and refrigeration systems.