Philadelphia Instruments & Controls Inc.

The original company was established in 1905 under the name of Philadelphia Thermometer Company. Its original founders were F. Stuhl and S. L. Baily Jr. After several owners, the company became wholly owned by Hugo Engelhardt Sr. and J. Leonard. Schwartz Sr. With the retirement of Hugo Engelhardt Sr. and J. Leonard. Schwartz Sr. the company's new owners became Hugo Engelhardt Jr. and John L. Schwartz Jr. starting the second generation of Thermometer manufacturers. The name was changed to Philadelphia Instruments and Controls, Inc. when the company was incorporated in 1995. The third generation of the founding families is now serving as the officers of the corporation, which are Eric G. Engelhardt, President, Robert H. Engelhardt, Treasurer, and John L. Schwartz III, Secretary. Glassblowing skills have been passed down from generation to generation. The company was originally located in Center City Philadelphia and moved to its current location, North Sixth Street, in Philadelphia in 1943.

In the early years most of the production dealt with the manufacturing of Thermometers. Food, Candy, Laboratory and Industrial Machinery were just some of the many industries the company was involved with. During the W.W.II, thousands of Destroyer Escort Thermometers were made to supply Naval ships and submarines. Some of these Thermometers are still in use today.

In the 1950's, new lines of products were introduced that would slowly change the nature of the company and it's name. Thermostats, otherwise known as Contact Thermometers, and Thermoregulators were invented. This would allow the company to move into the temperature-controlling field. Thus the name was changed to Philadelphia Thermometer and Controls. These instruments would help aid in the controlling of temperature in such items as Poultry Incubators, Laboratory Baths, Ovens, Infant Incubators and other types of machines that needed precise temperature control. Patents would be granted for the Thermoregulator line under such names as Micro-Set and Roto-Stat. Philadelphia Thermometer and Controls was selected by NASA to supply Thermostats for the Apollo Project. These thermostats would help aid in the controlling of the re-entry rockets of the spacecraft. Thermometers would also be supplied for the NASA launch pads.

Over the next few decades the company would become a leader in the Poultry Incubation field and still is today. We continue to manufacture a complete line of Candy, Industrial, Laboratory and HVAC Thermometers with old world quality craftsmanship that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Did you know?

Absolute zero, in physics, the temperature at which molecular movement virtually ceases and the lowest level of energy is reached; measures -273.15° on the Celsius scale, -459.67° on the Fahrenheit scale; temperature scales having absolute zero as their starting point, such as the Kelvin and Rankine scales, are called absolute temperature scales; idea of absolute zero originated with study of gas contraction at decreased temperatures.