In 1925,
Frederick Rentschler and a group of engineers from Wright
Aeronautical decided to start their own aircraft engine
company. Rentschler approached the Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool Division of
Niles-Bement-Pond to provide funding and production facilities for a
new company named The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company.
Pratt & Whitney's first engine, the Wasp
radial engine, was so successful it lead the U.S. Navy to announce
it would buy no more water-cooled engines.
Pratt &
Whitney got its start in gas turbines license building the
Westinghouse J30. Today their engines
power over half the world's commercial fleet. Pratt &
Whitney is now a division of United Technologies.
History
1860:
Francis Pratt and Amos Whitney found The Pratt & Whitney Company
in Hartford, Connecticut.
1925: Frederick Rentschler and a group of
engineers from Wright Aeronautical approach Pratt & Whitney to
establish The Pratt
& Whitney Aircraft Company.
1929: Pratt & Whitney merges with Boeing,
Chance Vought, Sikorsky
and Hamilton Standard to form United Aircraft and Transport Corp.
1934: The Air Mail Act orders airline companies to divorce
themselves from aircraft manufacturers. United Aircraft -
Transport Corp. splits into three independent companies--United
Airlines, United Aircraft Corp. and Boeing Airplane Co.
1975: United Aircraft changes its name to United
Technologies.
