1923 Royal Little founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston.
1928 Acquired a Rhode Island competitor, Franklin Rayon Dyeing Company, by invitation.
1930 Expanded Franklin Rayon’s Providence facility and moved Special Yarns to the new location. The company sold about 4 percent of all rayon yarn supplied in the United States.
1936 Planned expansion of the Providence facility using money raised through a small issue of common stock.
1938 name of the company was changed to Atlantic Rayon
1939 Acquired a portion of an abandoned manufacturing plant in Lowell, Massachusetts, using the facility for high-speed throwing of synthetic yarn to produce special effects in material, such as crepe.
WWII A major producer of parachutes and other textiles
Post WWII: moved quickly from producing parachutes to making lingerie, blouses, bed linens and other consumer goods.
Name changed to Textron — a combination of "Tex" from textiles and "tron" from synthetics, such as Lustron.
1947 listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1952 Began to diversify by acquiring non-textile businesses.
1960 Purchased two companies in the transportation sector: golf car manufacturer E-Z-GO and Bell Aerospace.
1963 Exited the textile industry. Acquired watchband manufacturer Speidel; Sheaffer Pen; staple and nail gun maker Bostich; and Rhode Island-based silver company Gorham.
1970s Coped with the financial crisis; acquired Jacobsen, maker of professional turf maintenance equipment and lawn care machinery.
1985 Acquired Connecticut-based AVCO Corporation, pioneer in heat resistant material for NASA's space capsules. Formed subsidiaries Textron Defense Systems, and Textron Marine & Land Systems.
1986 Acquired Greenlee, manufacturer of professional contractor tools.
1992 Acquired Cessna Aircraft Co, a leader in light and medium-sized commercial business jets
Also acquired German company Kautex and divested non-core businesses
1998 Acquired the lawn mower business of Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies and David Brown.
2000s This was an era of strategic divestitures and complementary acquisitions, selling the Fastening & Systems and Fluid & Power businesses; purchased Overwatch Systems and AAI.
2013 Acquired Sherman + Reilly, a manufacturer of underground and aerial transmission and distribution products and HD Electric, a designer and manufacturer of power utility products and solutions that test, measure and control electric power.
2014 Acquired TUG Technologies
2015 Acquired Douglas Equipment
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Textron History