Montgomery Elevator Company was a United States based elevator company, based in Moline, Illinois.
History
Montgomery Elevator Company started out in 1890 as Montgomery Brothers Machinery Company, which was founded by A.E. (Alexander), James, Samuel and Robert Montgomery. In 1892, Moline Elevator Company joined the company, but continued to run as Moline Elevator Company under the management of Alexander and James Montgomery. Montgomery entered the elevator industry in 1910 as Montgomery Elevator Company, and in 1914 the company began constructing its elevator manufacturing facility in Moline, Illinois. In 1930, Montgomery developed its first hydraulic elevator using General Electric solenoids. It was the fourth largest elevator company in the U.S. at that time.
In 1955, Montgomery acquired New York based Elevator Equipment Export Company, Inc. as a mean of establishing an export office in New York City. At the same time the company also acquired Peterson & Cowan Elevator Company of Vancouver, BC, Canada, which had been Montgomery's representative and distributor in Canada. In the early 1960s, Montgomery also acquired Galt, Ontario based Roelofson Elevator. Montgomery entered the escalator industry in 1958 when it made an agreement with Eggers-Kehrhahn from Hamburg, Germany to market their products in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Montgomery began assembling escalators in 1960, and four years later the company began making their own escalators.
In 1985, the company bought Fairhall Elevator Inc., an elevator company from Danville, Illinois. Also at the same time, the Canadian operation was acquired by Kone and operated as a joint venture company which made up of Montgomery KONE Elevator Company, Ltd. and Drolet Elevator, Inc.
In 1994, the Finland-based elevator company Kone acquired Montgomery, hence, the company became Montgomery Kone until 2000, when it simply became Kone.
Notable products
Elevators
- SPM (Standard Pre-Manufactured): Traction and hydraulic elevators from the early 1970s to mid 1980s
- ESP Group Supervisory Control System: We obviously don’t know anything but according to 1972 Brochures, This model is similar to OTIS Autotronic, Dover Computamatic, and Westinghouse Selectomatic but made by Montgomery. It has a Zone of Services that can reduce power consumption and limits the traffic demands.
Supervisory Module Relay Controller
Master Module Relay Controller
ESP Annunciator - SSC: Solid State Control Demand for Traction Models
- Series 90s: DC geared traction elevator for mid-rise buildings
- CTX
- MX-3: Inground hydraulic passenger elevator
- HH-II and HH-III: Holeless hydraulic passenger elevator
- HH and MX Series: Hydraulic elevators (later continued by Montgomery KONE and Kone, successor of the original Montgomery HH-II, HH-III and MX-3 models)
- Controllers
- SSC-6010: Solid state elevator control system (1967)
Solid State Controller - Miprom Microprocessor elevator control system (1975)
- Miprom II
- Miprom 21 VF (1990?)
- Miprom GFM
- Miprom DTM
- TMS: Microprocessor elevator control for modernization (not to be confused with Kone Traffic Master System)
Montgomery MIPROM TMS Controllers
An engineer setting up components for a MIPROM TMS controller.
- SSC-6010: Solid state elevator control system (1967)
- TED: Total elevator diagnostic system
The Montgomery TED Diagnostic System - SPECTRON AC and ULTRON DC: Elevator drives
- MEGATECH: Advanced elevator components
- TRIAD: Elevator cabs
Montgomery Triad Elevator Cabs - STRATUS: Elevator ceilings
Montgomery Stratus Ceilings - IPD: Interactive Performance Display (The newest element of M-Net)
A computer running the Montgomery Interactive Performance Display (IPD) Program. - STL: Standard/Steel Passenger Elevator Enclosure
STL Cab Enclosures from one of the Montgomery brochures.
Escalators and moving walkways
- Crystal Series/HR*E (* = either 3, 4, and 5): Escalators with glass balustrades model from 1965 to late 1990s
- Can be a Crystal 2000/3000/4000/5000
Crystal 5E from 1980 until early 1990s
Crystal 5E w/ Kone Label
Crystal 5E Model from 1965.
Crystal 2000 from 1970 (used OTIS Escalator Model for ad)
Crystal 5E with ES-24V
- Can be a Crystal 2000/3000/4000/5000
- Glideaway/Original HR: Escalators with either a steel or plastic balustrades from 1963 to late 1990s
The Montgomery Glideaway/HR5 Escalators @ Denver Stapleton Airport (The airport was replaced by Denver International Airport in 1995) - Power Walks: Horizontal moving walkways
Power Walks from the Mid 1970s? - Power Ramps: Inclined moving walkways
Mirabel International Airport, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1981) (The airport stopped passenger service in 2004)
Locations
United States and Canada
Montgomery was based in Moline, Illinois. It had eight factories; four of them were in Moline, Illinois, one in San Jose, California; one in Arkansas City, Kansas; and two in Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia, and Toronto, Ontario). Besides sales offices in different states throughout the U.S., Montgomery also had numerous third-party distributors located in certain locations (similar to how Dover ran its elevator business in the U.S.), these were:
| Company | Area(s) served |
|---|---|
| Amelco Elevator Co. | Hawaii |
| Alaska Elevator Co. | Alaska |
| Asheville Elevator Service | Asheville, North Carolina |
| Associated Elevator & Supply Co. | Miami, Florida |
| Atlanta Elevator & Maintenance Co. | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Atlas Electric Company, Inc. | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Braun Elec. & Elev. Inc. | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Berman-Kern Elevator Co. | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Brock Elevator Co. | Jackson, Mississippi |
| Capitol City Elevator Co., Inc. | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Carter Elevator Co., Inc. | Sioux City, Iowa South Dakota |
| Chenoweth Kern Elevator Service | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Consolidated Elevator Co. | Massachusetts |
| Commercial Elevator Co. | Cecil, Pennsylvania |
| Dayton Elevator Co. | Ohio |
| Early Elevator Corp. | Indiana |
| Eberius Elevator Co. | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Emco Elevators, Inc. | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Energy Elevator Co. | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Illinois |
| Eastern Elevator Service & Sales Co. | Pennsylvania |
| Elevator Construction & Service Co. | Detroit, Michigan |
| Elevator Maintenance Co. | Macon, Georgia |
| Elevator Sales & Service Co. | San Francisco, California |
| Elevator Sales & Service Company | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Elevator Service Company | Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Elevators, Inc | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| F. G. Arwood Company | Washington DC |
| Fairhall Elevator & Machine Co. | Illinois |
| Gallagher Elevator Co. Inc. | Buffalo, New York |
| General Elevator Co. | Hartford, Connecticut |
| General Elevator Co., Inc. | Maryland Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Reading) Newark, New Jersey |
| General Elevator Engineering Co. | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Grindel Elevator Co. | Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Gemco Elevator Co. | Georgia |
| Godding Elevator Company | Sioux City, Iowa |
| Gulf States Elevator Company | Louisiana |
| Grindel Elevator Company | Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Hartenstein Elevator Co. | Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Hunter-Hayes Elevator Company | Dallas, Texas |
| Industrial Commercial Elevator | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Irwin Elevator Co. Inc. | Albany, New York |
| J.B. Elevator Company | Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Lamps Elevator Sales & Services | Rockford, Illnois |
| Midstate Elevator Co. Inc. | New York (Messena, Oswego, Syracuse, Utica) |
| Martin A. Cedar, Inc | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Memphis Elevator Company | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Midstate Elevator Company | Syracuse, New York |
| Murphy Elevator Company | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Oliver & Williams Elevator Corp. | Los Angeles, California |
| Sedwick Machinery Works Inc. | Poughkeepsie, New York |
| Southern Elevator Sales & Services | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Staley Elevator Co. | Long Island City, New York |
| Spokane Elevator Company | Spokane, Washington |
| San Jose Elevator Company | San Jose, California |
| Toledo Elevator & Machine Co. | Toledo, Ohio |
| Valley Elevator Co. | California (Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento, Stateline, Stockton) Reno, Nevada |
| Wagner Elevator Service, Inc. | Quincy, Illnois Ottumwa, Iowa |
| Webster Elevator Company | Chesapeake, Virginia |
| White-Evans Elevator Co, Inc. | Indianapolis, Indiana
Illinois |
In Canada, Montgomery had two distributors. These were Western Elevator & Motor Co. Ltd. which served Winnipeg, Manitoba, and E.S. Stephenson & Co. Ltd. which served New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Maritime Provinces.
Worldwide
Apart from North America, Montgomery also had operations in other countries around the world. They had representatives in a few number of countries through third party distributors, some of the known ones are:
- Alhusseini Corporation (Saudi Arabia)
- Ascensores Ing. Guillemi S.R.L. (Argentina)
- Basden Elevator Co., Ltd. (Bahamas)
- C.A. Venezoĺana de Ascensores Cavenas (Venezuela)
- Delta Enterprises, Ltd. (Taiwan)
- Elevadores de Mexico, S.A. (Mexico)
- Elevator Service Co. (Philippines)
- Engineered Products (Puerto Rico)
- Equipos Y Construcciones S.A. (Guatemala)
- Guridi Comercial, S.A. (Dominican Republic)
- Hidrojet S.A. De E.V. (Mexico)
- Instalaciones Técnicas, S.A. (Panama)
- T. Frederick Jackson International Ltd. (Saudi Arabia)
Notable installations
Main article: List of notable Montgomery elevator installations
Trivia
- Montgomery is often called "Monty" by several YouTube elevator enthusiasts.
- Montgomery had a tradition of hoisting a decorated Christmas tree to the top of its testing tower every December. This unique tradition began in 1966, and it is still done by Kone currently.
- Montgomery also invented several patents, some of them are:
- Elevator car door interlocks (US Patent no.: 4313525[1])
- Escalator handrail air cushion (US Patent no.: 5115900[2])
Gallery
Logo gallery
See also
Notes and references
- ↑ US 4313525: Car door safety interlock (Archived by Google Patent)
- ↑ US 5115900: Handrail air cushion (Archived by Google Patent)