A History of Innovation

Hamilton meets Beach. The rest is history.

It was the early 1900s. Chester Beach and L.H. Hamilton were colleagues in an electrical motor company in Wisconsin. While there, Beach improved the first lightweight, high-speed motor that could run on AC or DC electrical power.

Within a few years, they became business partners, establishing the Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company.

For more than 100 years, Hamilton Beach has continued to introduce new and innovative products that bring Good Thinking™ into American homes. Below, you'll see some of the high points. But we've only just begun. New features. New products. New styles and colors. It's all a part of today's Hamilton Beach®.

1904

Chester Beach and L.H. Hamilton meet at the U.S. Standard Electrical Works in Racine, Wisconsin. Beach, after growing up on a farm, has a knack for working with electrical and mechanical equipment. Hamilton is the company's advertising manager.

Beach works to perfect a lightweight, high-speed universal motor with a potential for broad application. The use of this motor in a wide variety of products helps make Racine the "Small Electric Capital of the World."

1910

Hamilton and Beach leave the U.S. Standard Electrical Works to form The Hamilton Beach Manufacturing Company along with Frederick Osius. Osius isn't fond of his last name, so it isn't included in the company name.

1911

The company files a U.S. patent for its first display of Good Thinking™ -- a drink mixer.

1912

Hamilton Beach introduces the Sew-E-Z home electric motor, used to drive various appliances such as sewing machines, fans, grinders, buffers and cake-batter mixers.

1921

Hamilton Beach introduces a portable household vacuum that weighs less than 10 pounds.

1925

The Model A food mixer and juice extractor are introduced in a choice of red or green.

1929

The Hamilton Beach product catalog expands on its Good Thinking™ to include food mixers, juice extractors, fans, floor polishers, meat grinders and jewelers' motors.

1934

The company receives a patent for a manual juice extractor and introduces the third-generation stand mixer, Model C.

1941

Hamilton Beach contributes to the wartime effort, producing motors for military equipment.

1965

Hamilton Beach introduces the hole-in-the-handle electric knife, which allows cooks to easily grip a slim handle when carving a turkey or slicing a ham. The product features a stainless steel blade and a blade-release button for extra safety.

Clearly Good Thinking™ in action, this design went on to win a National Housewares Manufacturers’ Association Design in Housewares award the next year.

1966

Hamilton Beach contracts Rene Verdon, formerly the Kennedy administration's White House chef, to be the company's primary culinary consultant.

1971

Hamilton Beach introduces the Butter-Up® Popper, a popcorn popper that butters popcorn as it pops. The product's see-through lid doubles as a serving bowl.

1977

A Hamilton Beach blender is featured in a Dan Aykroyd skit as the "Super Bass-O-Matic 76" on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Good Comedy or Good Thinking™? People are still talking about that hilarious scene today.

1978

Hamilton Beach introduces a blender with microprocessor controls.

1983

Hamilton Beach launches a national advertising campaign featuring Mickey Rooney making milkshakes with the DrinkMaster® Drink Mixer.

1985

Hamilton Beach launches its second TV advertising campaign featuring an all-star cast: hall-of-famer Joe Namath, Heisman Trophy-winner Doug Flutie and Academy Award-winner Mickey Rooney.

1990

Hamilton Beach merges with Proctor-Silex forming Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex Inc., headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. After the merger, the company becomes the largest manufacturer of small appliances in the United States.

1992

Americans' focus on healthy eating encourages them to add more fruits and vegetables to their diets. The Hamilton Beach® Juice Extractor fits the bill, turning fresh fruits and vegetables into juice in just minutes.

1998

Consumers continue to take notice of Good Thinking™ from Hamilton Beach: a coffeemaker with a water reservoir that lifts out for easy filling and a HealthSmart® Indoor Grill that goes in the dishwasher.

2000

Hamilton Beach's TrueAir® odor eliminators, air purifiers and humidifiers are launched, bringing new attention to the quality of the home environment.

2003

Good Thinking™ is stepped up a notch when Hamilton Beach introduces the BrewStation® Coffeemaker with one-hand dispensing. It has no carafe, no pouring and no spills.

2004

Hamilton Beach launches the Eclectrics® collection, a complete line of small kitchen appliances available in a variety of eye-catching colors. Also introduced was the travel-ready Stay or Go™ Slow Cooker with canister-style clips that make it easy to transport dishes without spills.

2007

Hamilton Beach® introduces the 3-in-One Slow Cooker, offering a choice of bowl sizes to meet the needs of the recipe. Bowls nest inside each other for easy storage.

2008

Good Thinking™ arrived in the form of the incredibly versatile Hamilton Beach® Dual Wave™ Blender, with the ability to make one or two personal drinks or enough for a whole crowd. Also introduced was the OpenStation™ Can Opener with the versatility to open cans, jars, lids, pop-tops and even those annoying hard plastic packages.