The Crocker-Wheeler Electric Motor Company was founded in 1889 when the C. & C. Electric Motor Co. partnership was dissolved. Francis B. Crocker and Schuyler S. Wheeler left Charles G. Curtis (who subsequently formed his own company, Curtis Electric Manufacturing Co.) In December of 1891 Crocker-Wheeler re-incorporated in New Jersey as the Crocker-Wheeler Electric Company, in preparation for relocating the company's operations to Ampere, NJ.

In 1893 the company moved their manufacturing plant to Ampere. In 1942, Charles E. Moore’s Joshua Hendy Machine Works bought Crocker-Wheeler for $3.2 million dollars. The motor business became the Crocker-Wheeler Division of the Joshua Hendy Iron Works.

In 1949, Hendy sold the Crocker-Wheeler Division to the Elliott Company of Jeannette, PA. Elliott, founded in 1901, made power equipment for process plants, and they already made electric motors of from 200 to 20,000 HP; the Crocker-Wheeler acquisition pushed the lower size limit down to 1 HP. The Crocker-Wheeler name persisted into the early 1960s but it appears that the name was dropped and most likely the product line disappeared as well.

In 1906, Crocker-Wheeler motors were distributed in Canada by Packard Electric Co., Ltd. of St. Catharines, Ontario. By 1916 the Canadian Crocker-Wheeler Co., Ltd. of St. Catharines was manufacturing motors.

Information Sources

• The Electrical Engineer 1892, 27 Jul page 95:

  The Crocker-Wheeler Electric Company, New York, have been in operation a little over two years. Last winter they paid a dividend of 5 percent, and they paid an extra dividend of 3 per cent. July 1, out of the earnings of the company. Their business has increased so rapidly that they were compelled last year to increase their capital stock from $100,000 to $200,000. The new stock was quickly sold for cash at par, all being taken by some of the strongest men in the city. The officers of the company are: President, S. S. Wheeler; vice-president, F. B. Crocker; secretary and treasurer, D. H. Jeffery. The business this year has averaged several times as much as last year, and, notwithstanding their largely increased plant, they have been compelled to run nights to keep up with their orders.

• Modern Mechanism 1895 pg 551.
• From the 1919 edition of Standard Statistics Co.'s Standard Corporation Service:

  ...incorporated in New York April 17, 1889, as the Crocker-Wheeler Electric Motor Co.; re-incorproated in New Jersey on Dec. 8, 1891, as the Crocker-Wheeler Elecric Co., in connection with the establishment of the plant at Ampere, N. J.; name subsequently changed as above.

• Time Magazine 30 Nov, 1942.
• From a 1949 issue of Electrical World.

  Elliot Co Acquires Unit of Joshua Hendy
  Acquisition of the business and assets of Crocker-Wheeler division of Joshua Hendy Corp by the Elliot Co, Jeannette, Pa., has been announced by Grant B. Shipley, chairman of the board of the Elliott...

• From a 1949 issue of Pit and Quarry.

  Company of the business and assets of the Crocker-Wheeler Division of Joshua Hendy Corporation has been announced by Grant B. Shipley, chairman of the board of the Elliott Company, Jeannette, Pa. Elliott Company is a builder of steam, power, and electric equipment for process plants. Elliott plants are located at Jeannette, Pa., Ridgway, Pa., Springfield, O., and Newark, N. J. The Ridgway Division manufactures large electric motors and...