This motor maker was founded in 1922 in Newark. In the 1930s the business relocated, at least partially, to Illinois; at various times they were in St. Charles, Geneva, and, reportedly, Rockford.
Continental Electric Motors, Inc., is still in business and makes custom motors in Clifton, NJ.
Information Sources
- A 1922 edition of Electrical World has the following news item:
THE CONTINENTAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Newark, NJ, has been incorporated by Mauritz Larsen, North Arlington, Eric H. Anderson, Wallford A. Petersen, Belleville, and John Aauensen, Arlington.
- The 1928 edition of Engineers: Listing the Engineers of Corporations with Their Official Duties and Connections. Contains the Most Concise Engineering Data Pertaining to Every Branch of Engineering. Directory of Materials and Equipment for Industrial and Power Plants lists
CONTINENTAL ELECTRIC CO.. INC. (Manufacturers of ball bearing actors and generators, squirrel cage motors, slip ring motors ; direct-current motors; motor generator sen) Gen. Offices. 323-327 Ferry St., Newark. NJ."
- A 1936 edition of Factory Management and Maintenance mentions "Continental Electric Co., St. Charles. Ill."
- A typewritten book, Geography of Manufacturing in the Rock River Valley, by John Wesley Alexander, 1945, has the following:
The Continental Electric Company on Harrison Avenue fabricates electric motors. Originally it was in New Jersey but its Swedish owner met Levin Faust from Rockford who sold him in the 1930s on the idea of moving to Rockford to...
- Patent records are not much help in showing the company location. 1941 and '49 patents put them in Newark. 1944, '45, '48, and '51-'53 patents put them in Geneva. Most of the patents are for electrical devices other than motors.