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signalstand wrote:So would it be best to edit the title of this thread or start a new thread for Eagle Signal?

EdT. wrote: I know this may be considered heresy, but are we sure Eagle Signals came from Essco? I mean, sure, Eagle Sign & Signal COmpany is a big clue , but is there any proof of this missing link anywhere? Tokheim, Marb, Horni, Harrington Seaberg and others all had their own 'Rosetta Stones' clearly showing lineage progression. Does such a thing exist for ESSCO/Eagle? Because aside from the coincidental naming there's little else that I see to link them...

So yeah, I say we need a new and separate Eagle thread.

Fully Actuated wrote:A bit more re Essco / Eagle Signal.

I have seen historical ads that read "Essco of Peoria, IL...a Harrington-Seaberg Company of Newton, MA" That is a part of their history which is still cloudy for me. However it is apparent that Essco and Harrington-Seaberg were for a period of time operating under one umbrella. Harrington was a fire alarm equipment manufacturer before it allied with Seaberg. (I collect fire alarm boxes too.) Another curiousity is that Newton, MA was the home of Gamewell, another fire alarm equipment manufacturer. Trying to determine the exact chronology of who owned who and when has been a challenge.
--Fully Actuated

techtiques wrote:Interestingly -- the reason that Harrington-Seaberg started using the eagle logo on their Fire Alarm telegraph boxes was that Gamewell had sued them for trademark infringement while Harrington had used an "H" with lightning bolts coming from it. Courts ruled it was too close to the fist and lightning bolts logo that Gamewell used.

Information From the Firefighters Museum, Minneapolis wrote:John Nelson Gamewell was born in Camden, South Carolina, in 1822 and died at Hackensack, New Jersey, on July 19, 1896. He saw the Channing and Farmer fire alarm system, recognized its value, and in 1855 purchased the rights to construct the fire alarm in the southern and western states. In 1859 he purchased all of the patents and launched his career in the Fire Alarm Telegraph field devoting his entire business life to its introduction and improvement.
His business venture was cut short from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War. As a southerner, Gamewell had returned to South Carolina and the U.S. Government confiscated all his patents on the Fire Alarm Telegraph system and proceeded to sell them at public auction. An employee, John Kennard of Boston, went to Washington prepared to pay $20,000 for the patents. He bought them for the meager sum of $80.00 and returned them to Gamewell after the war. Shortly after the wars’ end, Gamewell again actively pursued the business under the name “American Fire Alarm Telegraph, John N. Gamewell & Company, Proprietor”.

In 1879, John Gamewell reorganized his company under the new name of “Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph Company”, made significant changes in the size and appearance of the fire alarm box and made improvements in its signaling mechanisms. The “American Fire Alarm Telegraph” era came to an end but under the reorganization, the name “Gamewell” would become synonymous with Fire Alarm Telegraph.