116 Years of Ideal
May 28, 1903; The Ideal Electric & Manufacturing Company is created out of the Card Electric Company in a 2,500 square foot converted horse carriage shop. The company built split frame motors for streetcars and elevators. A century of continuous innovation and corporate growth followed and in 2018 IDEAL celebrated 115 years under new, privately held, American ownership.

The Ideal Electric & Manufacturing Company was founded in May of 1903 by Stanleigh Glen Vinson at the corner of East 5th and Elm Street, Mansfield, Ohio. The company was relocated to the corner of East 1st and Oak Streets in 1920. The company was owned by the Vinson family until 1976. Ideal Electric Co. was purchased by the Carrier Corporation in November of 1976. Ideal Electric Co. was then purchased by United Technologies Corporation in June of 1979 when UTC purchased the Carrier Corporation. Michael M.Vucelic, members of his family, and several investors acquired the company on May 28, 1986.

Historical Products
The Ideal Electric & Manufacturing Company received their first order from the A. Kieckhefer Elevator Company on May 28, 1903. New products, including high-torque squirrel cage motors, induction motors, and slip ring motors, were introduced in 1905. These motors were for elevators and electro-plating. AC motors up to 50 hp and DC motors up to 4000 amperes were added to the product line in 1907. Other products were added as the company grew.

During WWI Ideal Electric supplied many motors for various applications. Many warships housed components built by Ideal Electric.

Synchronous motors were added to the product mix in 1918. Hermetic motors for refrigeration purposes were developed in the 1920’s. Eddy Current Couplings were developed in 1928 to supply variable speed and torque. Ideal supplied 400 cycle generators for the military during WWII.

The Battle of Tassafaronga during November of 1942 was devastating to our fleet of heavy cruisers. The Northampton was sunk, and the Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Pensacola sustained heavy casualties and were sent back to port for repairs. The Minneapolis, after she sunk or helped sink nine Japanese warships, limped into Tulagi Harbor for emergency repairs before proceeding to Pearl Harbor and thence to Mare Island Navy Yard at San Francisco. The gun turrets for this sea fighter, like hundreds of other surface craft, were powered with motor-generator sets manufactured by the Ideal Electric Company. A letter of commendation from Rear Admiral, El Cochrane, USN, Chief of the Bureau of Ships applauded Ideal Electric for its delivery record and quality components.

No-break, Continuous Power Systems that combined the motor, generator, and Eddy Current technologies were developed in the 1960’s.

Ideal Electric has designed and manufactured custom-built equipment for a variety of applications and customers. Ideal has built small, land-based, high-frequency motor-generator sets for Naval aircraft, medium size generators for Naval guided missile attack ships, small to large generators for hydroelectric applications, generators for oil platforms, back-up power supplies for NASA, small refrigeration motors for buildings like the Astrodome in Houston Texas and the World Trade Center.

Some of the innovations Ideal has engineered include the Eddy Current Coupling, brushless exciter package, a centrifugal rotor castor, wind-powered generators, epicyclic gear-driven generators, 300% overspeed hydro-generators and 11,000 volt hermetic motors.

Ideal - Hydro Electric Generators