Automatic Electric Co
of Victor Works, Broadgreen, Liverpool, manufacturer of automatic telephone equipment.
ATM Registered Trade Mark.
1905 Installed automatic telephone exchanges in Chicago and Grand Rapids.
1911 November: Formation of the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Co by British Insulated Cables[1]. Established in Liverpool to make the Strowger system under licence from the Automatic Electric Company of Chicago to serve the Post Office. This company was the first maker of automatic exchanges in the UK.
1912 Factory established in Liverpool
1926 Acquired extensive premises at Broadgreen, where the Victor works were erected for the manufacture of domestic and heavy-duty electric heating and cooking equipment.
1924 Strowger exchange system, as manufactured by the company, was adopted by the General Post Office for use in London and large contract placed with the company[2].
1932 Name changed to Automatic Electric Co to reflect the wide range of electrical products that the company manufactured, including Xcel heating appliances, and traffic signals[3].
1933 Xcel (All British) Flange Connector.
1935 Subsidiary company Elexcel Ltd formed to manufacture and sell Xcel domestic appliances[4].
1936 International Automatic Telephone Co took over the business, assets and liabilities of its wholly owned subsidiary Automatic Electric Co Ltd[5]. Name changed to Automatic Telephone and Electric Co Ltd[6].