In 1888 Dr. Allen DeVilbiss was a physician practising in Toledo. Ohio. In an effort to devise a better way to apply medication to his patients' throats, he experimented with a bulb, tubing and the base of an oil can to create the first atomizer. He subsequently formed the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company and by 1890 was able to retire from the practice of medicine to concentrate on the new endeavour.
His son Thomas adapted the atomizer to create a spray gun, which was subsequently marketed as a perfumizer. (The older son, Allen, Jr. invented a springless, automatic scale in 1897, establishing the DeVilbiss Scale Company a few blocks from his father's company. A couple of years later he sold the scale company, and the name was changed to Toledo Scale.)
With the coming of mass production, the DeVilbiss spray gun was quickly adapted to applying paint and lacquer to furniture and cars, since the sprayed coatings dried much more quickly than when applied with a brush.
In 1970, DeVilbiss was merged into the Champion Spark Plug Company, and in 1990 was purchased by the Illinois Tool Works (ITW). A separate DeVilbiss Health Care company was acquired by Vestar Capital Partners in 2000, which also controls Birds Eye Foods, Del Monte Foods and Prestone Products, among others.
information from http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com where they spend about 1/2 their time finding great old tools and telling you the history of the tool companies
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