This motor manufacturer emerged in the 1930s when Homer E. Reeder, the owner of the Lima Armature Works, bought out the Phoenix Electric Motor Co. of Mansfield and relocated it to Lima.
At some point after 1965 the name changed to Lima Electric Co., Inc., and in 1986 was acquired by Marathon, Inc..
Marathon closed Lima in 2007 and transferred the product to Monterey, MX, Wausau, WI and Blythesville, AR. Blytheville closed just before Christmas, 2018, and the Lima line was transferred to Wausau, WI. Besides motors and related products, Lima Electric also made bench and pedestal grinders.
Information Sources
- A Bluffton University web page has an overview of the early history of this company.
- See patent D136,775
- A 2014 Marathon catalog gives a company timeline that includes an item for 1986: "Purchased Lima Electric, in Ohio – making Marathon the world’s largest independent producer of electrical generators".
- Our thanks to Joe C. Davis for information about Marathon's purchase of this company.