Whats the GE and Hotpoint refrigerator connection?

[athanasius80]

Hey guys,
I just snagged a 1941 Hotpoint refrigerator brochure, and the machines look exactly like 1941 GE's! My Dad tells me that back in the day Hotpoint was sort of the stripped down GE line.

Can anyone tell me more about relations between the two companies?

Thanks

 

[pulsator]

Not sure when it started, but GE used to make all of Hotpoint's appliances, especially famous in the 80's when Hotpoint had that double agitator, that was made by GE...

 

[pturo]

Others could enhance, but Hotpoint was at one point in time the ultimate GE, with all the bells and whistles. I can remember that somewhere Hotpoint was an upgrade to GE if you were building a house. My mother hated GE and Hotpoint and deleted them for Maytags for more money, and instisted on gas appliances when the builder wanted to go "all electric" in the early 60's. Hotpoint may have been a better brand made by GE, and previous to that independant?

 

[paulg]

Agreed

My father worked for Hotpoint for nearly forty years. It is my impression that Hotpoint was generally an autonomous arm of GE and initially a nicer product. Essentially their products were a separate product line based upon a GE platform. Hotpoint had an exclusive showroom on Taylor Street and no GE product was present there. The electric sign on top of 5600 W. Taylor said Hotpoint only. However, go into the nearby factories and both GE and Hotpoint were running off the line. I still have Dad's engineering books and Hotpoint had their own set of standards. In later years it appears that GE allowed Hotpoint to die on the vine making it a stripped-down version of a GE. To me that was a sin. Hotpoint is still popular in the UK though.

 

[laundromat]

McGraw Edison

I am not positive of the exact year but the story is that Hotpoint, which was originaly a division of McGraw Edison,inroduced the firs electric range around 1920.GE was working on the same idea but HP beet them to the punch on the pattents and copyrights.Hotpoint was already producing electric toasters and irons.So,in order to continue their reputaion in najor home appliances and,knowing how popular electric ranges would be especialy on farm homes in areas where gas only came from a truck instead of underground,GE desided to buy the entire Hotpoint division from ME.That gave them the right to place their name on the ranges,toasters and irons that were originaly introduced by Hotpoint.If you search through antique applainces and see some of the original Hotpoint products,you'll see that the name plate will tell you that they were originaly a McGraw Edison or Edison electric division not GE until after the deal that they made almost imediately after Hotpoint's introduction of the electric ramge.
At first,for years,even decades,Hotpoint was definately a "quality product"of General Electric.It wasn't until around the late 70's that they became sourt of "Elcheapo"looking.Now they're nothing but a "feeder" line for GE.There is no longer any product they make that you can't find under GE's lable as well.Originaly,their washers,dryers,dishwashers and air conditioners were no where near the design or style of the GE line.They stood alone in design,features and style.Now, they're so damned generic it isn't funny.I could go to a furniture and appliance store that carried GE,Hotpoint,Kelvinator and Gibson appliances and see not only the noticeable difference between the GE and Hotpoint appliances but also the similarities between the Gibson and Kelvinator products.The nametags on the GE and Hotpoint would be screwed or rivited on,the Gibson and Kelvinators were glued on.The year WCI went to the polly tubs completeky ended my interest in any of their products especialy laundry and ranges.But,when I saw the WCI/Frigidaires go the same route,I was devistated.

 

[turquoisedude]

How Hotpoint got their name

Here's some fun trivia - Hotpoint got their name because of the element design of an electric clothes iron they made. It was the first v-shaped one so that the tip or point of the iron (the first part of the iron to contact the clothes) was hot. Hence the name 'Hot Point'!

 

[paulg]

Edison Electric Company 5600 West Taylor Street.

Laundromat jogged my memory.
As the end of the 5600 West Taylor Street building drew near (1978-ish), My Dad,Mom,Sister and I stood in front of the building to take a (or very possibly "THE") last picture of the building. Engraved in stone above the front door was "Edison Electric Company." Yet on top of the building was a big neon sign with strobe that said "Hotpoint". We really knew the significance of the building and how much change it had seen and we were sad to see it go. As far as McGraw-Edison references - I never saw any. However there was certainly "EDISON" etched in stone over the front doorway of 5600 West Taylor Street.
If you stood at Hotpoint's door and looked to the East, there sat Sunbeam's Chicago Headquarters. Sadly all gone now.
The Hotpoint sign was cool as the letters lit up individually in succession culminating in a big red HOTPOINT. Then the sign dotted the I with a strobe. The whole sign went dark only to respell it over again.
H - O - T - P - O - I - N - T ... DOT THE "I". Fade to black. Such fun.
I'll try to find the picture. Wish me luck. I know I have it though.

 

[appliguy]

Hoitpoint was NEVER part of McGraw Electric (It was not McGr

Hotpoint was started by Earl Richardson in 1903 as the Pacific Heating Company. Richardson designed an electric Iron and distrubuted to the customers of the electric company he worked for on a trial to see what the ladies of the house thought of his design. They came back and told him his original design got to hot in the middle. It was at this point Mrs. Richardson told her husband that what was really needed was an iron that got hot at the point for doing ruffles and other such fussy work. Richardsons next design had the heating elements converge at the point and so he called the iron the Hotpoint and it was a commercial success. In 1922 Hotpoint merged with Hughes Electric (the pioneer of the first PRACTICAL electric range in 1910) and the heating deivce department of GE to form Edison Electric in no way related to McGraw electric or its later predessor McGraw Edison). They manufactured small appliances under the Hotpoint name and Electric Ranges intially under the Hotpoint-Hughes name but very shortly dropped the Hughes part of the names from the ranges. Meanwhile GE still manufactures its own line of smalls under the GE name. FYI Hotpoint was the first company to off an all white porcelain coated electric range in 1923. The company Laundromat is thinking of later owned Bersted manufacturing, Toastmaster Manning Bowman, Eskimo, Speed Queen and other small companies(of course Speed Queen was later bought by Raytheon Corp. and that is why Amana and Sped Queen Washers and dryers of the 80's thru the 90's were identical). I got this information from a book called A walk in the Park: The history of Appliance Park, which is GE's sprawling manufacturing faciltiy in Louisville Ky. PAT COFFEY