ROSEMONT, IL – Appleton™, a cornerstone brand of Emerson, is proud to announce its
120th Anniversary of service to the electrical industry. Since 1903, the Appleton brand has been
the benchmark for quality in the industrial and commercial construction sectors. Today, with a
stable of hazardous and non-hazardous location products that number over 21,000, Appleton is
recognized as a global leader in supplying the energy, chemical, mining, and wastewater
industries, as well as the commercial and manufacturing markets, with a highly diversified range
of solutions that enhance business value while delivering safer, more reliable power.
Appleton traces its roots back to the dawn of the electrical age in America. The Appleton
Electric Company was founded by Albert Ivar Appleton, an entrepreneur and recent immigrant
to the United States, who traveled by horseback to sell his Unilet® conduit bodies and boxes
through the streets of Chicago. By 1947, Albert’s two-employee office had been replaced by
modern facilities boasting more than one million square feet of manufacturing and warehousing
space.
That same year, Albert Appleton turned over the reins of the Appleton Electric Company
to his son, Arthur, who would lead the company into a period of unprecedented expansion. It was
Arthur Appleton who, in the early 1960s, shifted the company’s product focus towards the
fledgling hazardous location marketplace. Through continuous innovation, hard work, and an
aggressive network of 1,200 distributors, Appleton leapfrogged into the number one ranking
worldwide in several key categories of that product arena.
During his tenure Arthur Appleton contributed many inventions to the electrical field,
acquiring more than 160 patents still in use today. Upon his retirement in 1982, the Appleton
Electric Company was sold to Emerson Electric with its headquarters later moved from Chicago
to Rosemont, Illinois. In the ensuing years, Arthur Appleton devoted a significant portion of his
time to charitable causes, notably the establishment of the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala,
Florida.
Appleton was energized by becoming a member of the Emerson portfolio of global
brands. In 1997, it joined forces with OZ-Gedney, SolaHD, and Nelson to better provide
industry-wide electrical solutions. To fulfill the rising demand for residential and commercial
heating cables, Appleton purchased EasyHeat in 1998. In 2003, it expanded internationally into
the IEC and ATEX markets with the acquisition of ATX, based in Amiens, France. Appleton can
now supply a global portfolio of top-quality electrical solutions that enable defense against
severe industrial conditions and dust, fumes, and gas in hazardous situations as one brand under
Emerson.
By partnering with other Emerson companies, Appleton accelerated its evolution as a
technology innovator and is now better positioned than ever before to supply comprehensive
power solutions to hybrid, process, and discrete manufacturing in the Industrial IoT era. For
instance, Appleton recently upgraded its leading LED fixtures, including adding dimming and
integrating Emerson’s transformative PlantWeb™ digital ecosystem to give plant operators
improved control, operational visibility, better energy efficiency, and significant performance
gains. It has also embraced Emerson’s environmental sustainability strategy to achieve net zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.
Regardless of the challenges it has confronted throughout the past 120 years, including
the Great Depression, two world wars, and the global financial crisis, Appleton has remained one
of the strongest, best-recognized brands in the electrical industry. Moving forward, Appleton continues to pave the way for safer, more reliable delivery of critical power and lighting to essential industries worldwide.
