Noblitt-Sparks & Arvin

[Bob Bidonde]

Back in the eras of the Model T and Model A Fords, Noblitt-Sparks and Arvin were suppliers to the Ford Motor Company and they made aftermarket accessories for Ford cars. What follows is the history of entrepreneurs Noblitt, Sparks and Arvin.

Today Arvin Meritor, Incorporated is an international manufacturing company supplying automotive parts and related products and services in more than 100 countries. Arvin Meritor is the world's leading independent producer of automotive exhaust systems and catalytic converters, as well as a major manufacturer of ride control products and drive-train systems. The company also produces tire valves, pressure gauges, and related products.


The Rise of a Major Automobile Parts Manufacturer: 1919-30

Arvin traces its roots to an Indiana partnership formed in 1919 to produce tire pumps. After a frustrating experience fixing a flat tire, Quintin G. Noblitt, a mechanical engineer and inventor, told a former business colleague, Frank H. Sparks that he could make a reliable tire pump if Sparks could sell it. Sparks said he could, and the Indianapolis Air Pump Company, the earliest predecessor of Arvin Industries was born.

Noblitt recruited a third partner, Albert G. Redmond, to oversee the company's production of tire pumps, and the three partners each agreed to contribute $1,000 in initial capital. The company then rented an empty grocery store room for $10 a month, supplying a makeshift factory with second-hand machinery. By the end of its first year, the partnership showed a profit of more than $10,000.


The company's eventual name arose from its brief relationship with Richard Hood Arvin, a former arms and ammunition salesman who had invented a heating device for Ford automobiles. In 1920 Arvin, who had applied for patents for his heater but lacked the capital to manufacture it, offered his product to Indianapolis Air Pump. Arvin granted the young company exclusive marketing rights for his heater, and in return, Indianapolis Air Pump agreed to manufacture it. As a result, the Arvin Heater Company was formed in 1920 with Arvin, Noblitt, Sparks, and Redmond becoming sole stockholders.


In 1921, Indianapolis Air Pump leaped into the national arena when Sparks secured a contract to produce tire pumps for Ford Motor Company. That same year the company began experimenting with a tube manufacturing process that led to a company name change in December 1921, when the partnership was incorporated as the Indianapolis Pump and Tube Company. Noblitt was named president, and Sparks was appointed secretary of the new corporation, which established headquarters in Indianapolis.


In the spring of 1922 Ford Motor Company informed Sparks that it was planning to manufacture its own tire pumps, and soon afterward Redmond sold his interest in Indianapolis Pump and Tube to his two partners. Arvin sold his stake in Arvin Heater Company to Noblitt and Sparks, and the heater company was consolidated into Indianapolis Pump and Tube. That same year the company secured a contract to provide tire pumps for Chevrolet, and Ford, after a short-lived attempt to manufacture its own tire pumps, returned its business to Indianapolis Pump & Tube. With sales expanding, in 1923 the company constructed its first new factory in Greenwood, Indiana, and closed its manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis. As more gas stations began offering free air during the early 1920s, the company's tire pump business began to suffer. In response, it began diversification efforts and in 1924 introduced a new foot accelerator pedal for automobiles and a cast-iron heater for Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge vehicles.

Also that year, Indianapolis Pump and Tube purchased the Dan Patch Novelty Company of Connerville, Indiana, producers of a line of wheeled toys. Noblitt quickly developed a new ball bearing wheel for the Dan Patch coaster wagon, while production of most other toy products was discontinued. In 1925 the company separated its heater business from its tube operations and established a plant in Columbus to produce metal heaters, cast-iron manifold heaters, and a new product, automobile jacks. Tire pumps and tubing production were isolated in Greenwood, while coaster wagon production remained at Connerville until the company purchased a building in Seymour, Indiana, and moved its toy manufacturing operations there.


In 1927 the Indianapolis Pump and Tube's name was changed to Noblitt-Sparks Industries, Inc. By that time Arvin hot-air heaters were being manufactured for every make of car on the market. In 1928 Noblitt-Sparks installed its first nickel-plating units in its Columbus plant and began producing additional automotive parts, including brake levers, hub caps, and bent steel tubing. With annual sales soaring towards $3 million, in the spring of 1928 the company went public and was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange.


In 1929 Noblitt-Sparks began manufacturing a muffler for Studebaker and Ford. Other new automotive products that year included a rear-vision mirror and the first Arvin hot-water automobile heater. The company's line of toys was also expanded to include wheelbarrows and scooters. The stock market crash of October 1929 had little initial effect on the company's sales, which swelled to nearly $5 million by the end of that year. As the company entered the 1930s, hot-air heater sales were falling, while hot-water automobile heaters were rising in popularity. Capitalizing on its work with heaters, in 1930 the company developed a fan-forced electric room heater and moved into the arena of household products.


Consolidation and Diversification: 1930s-40s

By 1931 Noblitt-Sparks began to feel the effects of the Great Depression. In a series of retrenchment moves that year, the company discontinued production of toys, closed its Seymour plant, and moved its corporate headquarters from Indianapolis to Columbus, Indiana. Those cost-cutting steps did little to keep sales from plummeting though, and in 1931 the company suffered its first deficit, losing $100,000. Losses were trimmed slightly in 1932, the last unprofitable year in the company's history.


In 1933 Noblitt-Sparks entered the car radio field, and two years later the first Arvin home radio was introduced. In 1934 the company purchased facilities in Franklin, Indiana, and the following year began manufacturing automobile parts there. During the mid-1930s the muffler became the company's number one automotive product, helping to propel profits to more than $1 million for the first time.


Sparks left the company in 1937 to devote his time to a career in education and public administration. He went on to become president of Wabash College, governor of the New York Stock Exchange, and president of the Council for Financial Aid to Education. By the time of the company's 1937 introduction of its three-way car heater with heater, foot warmer, and defroster, Noblitt-Sparks Industries was regarded as the largest manufacturer of trade-name car heaters in the field. The company had also expanded its home radio offerings to include 33 models. With product lines expanding, total annual sales topped the $10 million mark for the first time in 1937.


In 1938 recessionary conditions developed, and Noblitt-Sparks reduced its line of radios to nine popular table models. The following year economic conditions improved, and the company added carburetor silencers to its automotive product line. Before the decade closed, Noblitt-Sparks was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1940 Noblitt-Sparks opened a new factory in Columbus, where it began manufacturing metal outdoor furniture and dinette sets. That same year, the company introduced an under-seat automobile heater and a motor-driven defroster unit. In 1940 the company also began supplying Sears, Roebuck & Co. with home radios.
In 1941 Noblitt-Sparks began producing its first private-brand merchandise. Such production was brought to a quick halt after the United States entered World War II late that year, and by 1942 all production efforts were geared toward the war effort. During the war Noblitt-Sparks produced a wide range of military products, including chemical and incendiary bombs, rocket-launching tubes, steel containers, fire extinguishers, anti-tank mine parts, radio communications equipment, and parts for military vehicles. In 1944 the company purchased a former furniture plant in North Vernon, Indiana, and began producing boxes for the bombs being made at its Columbus plant.


In December 1945, Quintin Noblitt became the company's first chairman, and Glenn W. Thompson became president. To facilitate its re-entry into civilian markets, in 1946 Noblitt-Sparks began a three-year factory expansion program. At the same time the company also began focusing on the development of consumer products and electrical appliances. Some of these new products included electric irons and metal ironing tables, record changers, waffle cookers, laundry tubs, AM/FM radios, and electric room heaters. Late in 1949 Noblitt-Sparks began production of its first television set.

[Ron/IA]

Bob - Thank you for the history lessen. I enjoy reading about the manufacturers that supported the automotive companies from that era.

This will make a good future article for our club's newsletter.

[Great Lakes Greg]

Dad had an Arvin hot water heater in his '39.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Super hot information...Arvin Heaters. I never associated Arvin table radios with Arvin mufflers.

You just never know....... after all Kohler makes one of the best small gas engines, and they also make toilets. Who'd have thought they were the same company?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by forever4

Small gas powered toilets, too?

I don't think so, but on my way to the Model A museum at Gilmore I stopped at a roadside rest and they had waterless urinals. That was a first for me, other than out behind the barn.

[katy]

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