Eagle-Picher
EaglePicher Technologies is a privately held, American, manufacturing company known for its battery technology, energetic devices and battery management systems. The company started in 1843 as the White Lead Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. A merger with the Picher Lead Company of Joplin, Missouri occurred in 1906, becoming Eagle–Picher Lead, which evolved into Eagle–Picher Industries, Inc. and finally EaglePicher Technologies. With its merger with the lead mining company owned by Oliver Picher, it was the second largest producer of lead and zinc products in the world.[1]
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1843 |
| Founder | Edgar and Stephen J. Conkling |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Products |
|
| Website | eaglepicher |
EaglePicher Technologies drives the electrification of defense, aviation and space. The company provides the broadest range of battery systems in the world for the most demanding applications. EaglePicher develops leading-edge products that make drones fly higher, undersea vessels run longer, aircraft fly farther, rockets launch safely and satellites operate longer. With cutting-edge research and manufacturing, the company continues to set new standards in the industry. For 100 years, EaglePicher has provided mission-critical power solutions to the defense, aviation and space markets. EaglePicher’s batteries power more than 85 percent of U.S. missile and munition programs and are a key component of the U.S. space program, powering the Mars Rovers and the next crewed mission to the moon. EaglePicher provides custom battery assemblies, battery management systems, pyrotechnic devices and other power solutions.
History Edit
In 1843, the Conkling brothers, Edgar and Stephen J. Conkling, established a white lead factory, in Cincinnati, Ohio to manufacture pigments for commercial paints.[2] They called the partnership the E. & S. J. Conkling Company. In 1847, Edgar took a new partner, William Wood, and the partnership became Conkling Wood & Company.[2] After the American Civil War the firm was incorporated with William Wood as the majority stockholder. In 1906, the Picher Lead Company of Missouri merged with the Eagle White Lead to form Eagle-Picher Lead.[3]
Eagle-Picher, starting with Picher Lead Company, operated lead and zinc extraction facilities in the Tri-State mining district of southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma.[4] Picher, Oklahoma was named for O.S. Picher, the original owner of Picher Lead Company, and large-scale mining started there in 1913.[4] The area became the most productive lead-zinc mining field in the district, producing over $20 billion worth of ore between 1917 and 1947. More than fifty percent of the lead and zinc metals used during World War I were produced around Picher.[4] Extraction ended by 1967.[4]
EaglePicher Technologies’ history as a battery manufacturer dates back to 1922. The company became a battery supplier to the U.S. Government in the 1940s and was supplying silver-zinc batteries for missiles and rockets in the 1950s. During World War II, EaglePicher used diatomaceous earth and zinc to produce storage batteries for the US military. By 1947 they were among the first to adapt a purification system for Germanium for commercial use in the transistor industry.[5] The production of germanium was the first semiconducting material, essential to the invention of the transistor and the development of solid state electronics. In 1953, EaglePicher sold its metallic products plant in Dallas to Murdock Lead Products.[6]
In 1958, EaglePicher created batteries to power Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite in space. When an oxygen tank explosion crippled the Apollo 13 spacecraft during its lunar mission in 1970, the safe return of three brave American astronauts depended heavily upon the EaglePicher batteries on board the spacecraft. EaglePicher’s silver zinc batteries provided electrical power for the life support and guidance control systems after a fuel cell failed on the Apollo 13 landing, thus helping the astronauts return safely back to Earth.[7]
EaglePicher started development work on thermal battery technology back in 1949. In 1974, our company was the first to begin work on large LiAl/FeS batteries for load leveling and electric vehicle application. By 1976, EaglePicher was the first in the world to adapt this rechargeable system to a primary LiAl/FeS2 thermal battery, improving thermal battery performance capability. In 1982, EaglePicher became the first thermal battery manufacturer to produce LiSi/FeS2 thermal batteries for the U.S. Department of Energy on a production basis.
The first Patriot missile was powered by EaglePicher batteries. This work was followed up with the Javelin missile program in 1990 and the Tomahawk Cruise missile in 1991,
In 1990, the Hubble Space telescope was launched with EaglePicher nickel hydrogen (NiH2) batteries. These batteries exceeded their projected 5-year life expectancy by 14 additional years, totaling an amazing 19 years battery life in space.[8]
In 2007, an automated production facility in Pittsburg, KS was brought on-line to increase thermal battery production capability
Chairmen and presidents Edit
- 2005 Donald L. Runkle, chairman of the board
- 2006 David L. Treadwell, president (CEO)
- 2007 Randy Moore, president (CEO)
- 2016 Gordon Walker, president and chief executive officer
- 2019 Richard Hunter, chief executive officer
Notes Edit
- ^ Knerr, Douglas (1992) Eagle-Picher Industries: Strategies for Survival in the Industrial Marketplace, 1840–1980 Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio, page 77 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, ISBN 0-8142-0557-7
- ^ a b Knerr page 21
- ^ "History of Batteries | Lithium History | EaglePicher". www.eaglepicher.com. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
- ^ a b c d "Tri-State Lead and Zinc District". Dianna Everett, Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
- ^ Staff (December 2009) "EaglePicher Corporation" Hoover's Company Records
- ^ "Grand Prairie Daily News from Grand Prairie, Texas on March 8, 1953 · Page 8". 8 March 1953.
- ^ "Space Battery Technology | Space Qualified Battery | EaglePicher". www.eaglepicher.com. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
- ^ "Space Battery Technology | Space Qualified Battery | EaglePicher". www.eaglepicher.com. Retrieved 2023-09-20.