Thursday, October 09, 2025

Long before aircraft engines, Pratt & Whitney was a machine tool company, and a maker of precision measuring instruments, founded in 1860


Pratt & Whitney began in a small way in about 1860. The founders, Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney, were working at George S. Lincoln & Co.'s Phoenix Iron Works when they decided to establish their own firm but they both kept their jobs at Lincoln & Co. In 1862 Pratt & Whitney's shop was lost to fire. 

Messrs. Pratt and Whitney took on a partner, Monroe Stannard, who helped them establish a new shop; with Stannard joining the firm the name changed slightly to Pratt, Whitney & Co.. 




The Civil War led to a large increase in business, mainly for machines for manufacturing Colt firearms. In 1864, Messrs. Pratt and Whitney began working full-time for their own firm. In 1869 the Pratt & Whitney Co. was incorporated.

In 1925 the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co. was established to manufacture airplane engines.




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