The early 1970's were generally good years for Franklin.
In 1970 Franklin Electric was ranked in the top 1,000 manufacturing
companies in the country by Fortune Magazine. This was an unusual
achievement and honor for a company only 25 years old. The two-millionth
submersible motor was produced in 1972 at the Bluffton plant, a 1 1/2 HP
single-phase motor. The year 1972 was a good one for Franklin Electric
in many ways. Sales of over $64 million far exceeded any previous year.
Earnings were 43% higher than 1971. Operations were greatly increased,
both by the expansion of existing plants and the acquisition of new
ones. |
An
addition of 74,000 square feet of manufacturing space was made to the
Bluffton Franklin corporate headquarters. A major acquisition was the
purchase of a 200,000 square foot plant from the Singer Company of
Jacksonville, Arkansas. An addition was made to the Siloam Springs plant
in 1972 also, doubling the size of that facility. An additional line of
products was added to those manufactured by Franklin when another new
subsidiary, Programmed Power, located in California, was formed. The
principal product was uninterruptible power supplies, to provide
protection against temporary power outages to critical applications such
as computers and continuous process equipment. |
| International operations were also expanded during the
seventies, when two new foreign subsidiaries were established. One,
Franklin Electric (South Africa) Proprietary, Limited, in Johannesburg,
South Africa, was established primarily for manufacturing and marketing
submersible motors. The other was Franklin Electric do Brasil, Ltd., in
Sao Paulo, Brazil, South America. It was initially a marketing
operation, with assembly and manufacturing added later. |
 Control Company of Canada was purchased by Franklin in
1973 and operations gradually moved from St. Thomas, Ontario, to the
Franklin plant in Strathroy, Ontario. The principal product was small
air moving motors, similar to those made at the Jacksonville plant. This
addition, plus increased business in Canada, necessitated more room, so
a new 67,000 square foot plant was built in Strathroy in 1974.
Many
new products of major significance were developed and introduced in the
1970s. In the submersible line were included the 4 inch Super Stainless
in ratings to 1 HP-the only submersible motor in the industry fully
protected by stainless steel- and the Super 6, 6-inch submersible motor
in ratings of 5 to 50HP with superior electrical insulation and other
improvements. Lightning arrestors built into submersible motors were the
first in the industry.
Two-wire submersible motors were
introduced in sizes for home water systems, allowing customers to choose
a two-or-three wire system, whichever was best suited for their
application. A Franklin-manufactured solid state starting switch was
first used in the two-wire submersible motor in 1973. Made smaller, less
costly and more reliable in subsequent years, this switch was and is the
largest factor in the success of the Franklin two-wire submersible
motor.
|
 Also
introduced in the pump line was the Submatic 360. This was a smaller,
lighter, two-pole, low-cost submersible sump pump motor to supplement
the standard four-pole, stainless steel enclosed Submatic. Sales of
gasoline pump motors, both standard FHP (Fractional Horsepower) and
submersible, were good as a result of many new pumps being installed for
unleaded gasoline, required to meet anti-pollution standards. The 48
frame FHP (Fractional Horsepower) motor was first manufactured in
Bluffton in the fall of 1973, providing a smaller and lighter
alternative to the 56 frame motor in ratings of 1 HP and lower. While
the largest use of 48 frame motors was and is for jet pumps, they were
also widely used for fans, blowers and a myriad of other applications.
Parallel shaft gearmotors allowed new applications in the medical
furniture field.
Franklin made a wide range of motor ratings – from
the lowest, a 1/250 HP Jacksonville blower motor selling for about $3,
to a 50 HP Bluffton submersible motor selling for over $1,000. Within a
short time, this was increased even further, when the first production
8-inch submersible motors was begun in Bluffton in 1976. These were made
in ratings from 40 to 100 HP, later to 200 HP, for submersible pumps in
wells of 8-inch diameter or larger.
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