While reading through Norm Swinford’s book, Allis-Chalmers Construction Machinery & Industrial Equipment, I
ran into an interesting article in his book where the history of the
Allis-Chalmers trademarks were discussed. I have seen many different
variations of the logo/trademark for the company and this
little excerpt on page sixteen gave a little history about them.
The article must have been written by Allis-Chalmers, unless someone
knows otherwise. It explained how the history of the trademark goes back
to the 1860′s and 1870′s when Edward P. Allis had just bought the old
Reliance Works in Milwaukee and started building his empire. E.P. Allis
hadn’t established an official trademark until 1887, and that was the
beginning of the diamond seal design. The 1887 trademark was the first
Allis symbol registered with U.S. Patent Office that same year.
1887
In 1901 four major manufacturing firms in U.S. came together to form
one giant company. The Edward P. Allis Company, Fraser & Chalmers
Company, Gates Iron Works, and the Dickson Manufacturing Company all
merged together to from the Allis-Chalmers Company. I have seen a few
variations of the logo at the turn of the century. The article also
confirms the use of “variations with the diamond and seal format.” On
April 16, 1913 the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company was officially
incorporated out of the Allis-Chalmers Company, but I am not aware or
haven’t been able to find out if the trademark had changed when the name
of the company changed. As far as I know, this trademark, or some form
of it, was used up until the end of World War I.
1901
In 1919 the company changed its look. This is where the iconic “A-C”
was first showcased. All the other variations of the diamond and seal
trademark were pushed aside to make way for one common trademark that
would signify the entire firm. In 1949 some minor changes were made when
“Milwaukee” was removed and “Allis-Chalmers” was moved and
straightened out. One thing I have heard, maybe someone can confirm
this, is that each point on the inner seal of the trademark signified
each branch the company specialized in manufacturing ( steam engines,
tractors, crushers, transformers, etc.).
1919
1949
In 1965 their trademark changed again along with their name. In the
latter half of 1965 the firm was now being recognized as the
Allis-Chalmers Corporation and to go along with the name change was a
fresh new logo. The article exclaimed that over 300 designs were
possible as a new trademark and they narrowed it down to the “A” and
“C” initial type logo. They even said that in 1966 their trademark
received an award as the most outstanding trademark in the U.S. from the
Association of National Advertisers.
1965
Allis-Chalmers asserted that their trademark was made as a symbol of
“growth domestically and internationally,” and that they,
“exercise great care in the use and protection of the trademark.” It was
all about creating an identity that would become a symbol of the vast
products they produced and the skill and craftmanship that went into the
machined goods. One can only imagine what Allis-Chalmers’ future
trademarks could have looked like had the firm not been dismantled by
the financial strains of the 1980′s.
*Pg 16. Allis-Chalmers Construction Machinery & Industrial Equipment, by Norm Swinford
Share this:
- http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/?share=twitter&nb=1" rel="nofollow - Twitter - 1
- http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/?share=facebook&nb=1" rel="nofollow - Facebook - 3
Like this:
http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/?like=1&_wpnonce=93916a5394" rel="nofollow - Like
One blogger likes this.
- http://gravatar.com/craighillnet" rel="nofollow">
This entry was posted on July 4, 2012 at 7:02 pm and is filed under http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/category/allis-chalmers/" rel="nofollow - Allis-Chalmers with tags http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/allis/" rel="nofollow - Allis , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/allis-chalmers/" rel="nofollow - Allis-Chalmers , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/antique/" rel="nofollow - Antique , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/corporate/" rel="nofollow - Corporate , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/corporation/" rel="nofollow - Corporation , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/farming/" rel="nofollow - Farming , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/history/" rel="nofollow - History , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/logo/" rel="nofollow - logo , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/machinery/" rel="nofollow - Machinery , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/manufacturing/" rel="nofollow - Manufacturing , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/milwaukee/" rel="nofollow - Milwaukee , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/trademarks/" rel="nofollow - trademarks , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/west-allis/" rel="nofollow - West Allis , http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/tag/wisconsin/" rel="nofollow - Wisconsin . You can follow any responses to this entry through the http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/feed/" rel="nofollow - RSS 2.0 feed
You can http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/#respond" rel="nofollow - leave a response , or http://austinfrederick.wordpress.com/2012/07/04/allis-chalmers-trademarks-through-the-years/trackback/" rel="nofollow - trackback from your own site.