Lewis Engineering Company
Aviation in Naugatuck
The old Garkenyon Factory at 228 Water Street. Before it was Garkenyon it was the Lewis Manufacturing Company and before that, it was the carriage house for the Harris Whittemore Sr. residence.
In 1925 Harris Whittemore Jr. started the Naugatuck Engineering and Manufacturing Co., in his father’s carriage house, to produce tools, machinery, and equipment of a general nature. By 1928, Whittemore (a WWI pilot) devoted the company’s attention to the aircraft market. This prompted the name to be changed to The Lewis Engineering Company in 1930.
While other companies made bigger names making aircraft engines, Lewis made the aircraft instruments that made these crafts possible. By 1970 is was said that there was not a major aircraft, space vehicle or missile that did not include a Lewis product. The company was purchased by BF Gooodrich and the Lewis Manufacturing Factory on Water Street was closed in 1999. The property was for sale in July 2019.
Harris Whittemore Jr.’s love of aviation did not stop with the manufacture of airplane parts, though. In 1923 Mr. Whittemore founded Bee Line, which later became Colonial Airlines, Inc. The line received Civil Air Mail Contract No. 1 in 1926. It later became part of American Airlines. Around the same time Whittemore purchased a large, flat parcel of land about a mile from the center of Bethany. This land, known as Bethany Field, would later become Bethany Airport. It was designated the oldest licensed airport by the Connecticut Historical Society. The airport closed in 1965 and is now home to the Bethany Airport Community Center.
Excerpt from Naugatuck Daily News – Saturday, August 31, 1946
World War II - History Edition
Combat Aircraft Essentials Lewis Engineering Products
Equipment for use in planes of the Army Air Force and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics was produced in large quantity by the Lewis Engineering Company during the war. The firm was one of the principal manufacturers of Engine Cylinder Thermometers and accessories used in combat aircraft.
Virtually all types of Army and Navy Fighters and Bombers carried the instruments and accessories made at the borough firm. Wherever air-cooled engines were used, the Lewis-manufactured thermometers were part of the equipment.
In addition, the firm manufactured many special technical instruments which were used for test flight work and in landing craft.
Excerpt from Naugatuck Daily News – Monday, September 15, 1947
Industrial Exhibit Supplement
Lewis Engineering Product In Every Wartime Airplane
Huge Commercial Craft Use Lewis Instruments for Engine Temperatures
The Lewis Engineering Company was founded in 1931 by local capital and has been continuously in operation since that time as a manufacturer of Electrical Temperature Instruments primarily for Aircraft.
Its officers are - Harris Whitmore, Jr., Chairman of the Board; C. S. Austin, President; C. W. Pepperman, Vice President and Chief Engineer; K. I. Knudsen, Chief Electronics Engineer; E. F. Zawacki, Chief Calibration Engineer; Donald Brubaker, Superintendent.
The Company since its inception has been a major producer of Temperature Indicating Instruments for use in Aircraft with Air Cooled Engines and the use for its product grew up with the use of the Air Cooled Engine in Aircraft. During the war every Army and Navy Airplane which was flown had some of the products of this Company installed in it.
This Company commenced business in the Dunham Mills property at the foot of Church street which was used until the War and then purchased and reconstructed an Air Conditioned instrument Plant on Water street and bought additional property for offices and laboratories at 339 Church street from the Whittemore Estate.
The items of manufacture are - Electrical Pyrometers, Potentiometers, Rotary Selector Switches, Resistance thermometers, Thermocouples, Thermocouple leads, Resistance Bulbs.
Also many other items or accessories that go with these primary items of manufacture.
In addition to the above items, we also handle wire division for insulating of wire with asbestos, cotton, glass and metals was started in New Haven, Conn., and after the War was over was moved to Naugatuck and is operated as the Wire Division in leased property belonging to The T. F. Butterfield, Inc., located at the foot of Church St.
The Company’s products are widely known. Since 1932 we have been a prime contractor to the Army Air Forces and the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and have made many special instruments for use by the largest Industrial Concerns in America and throughout the world. All of the current Aircraft manufactured for Transport use such as the Douglas DC6, Boeing 377, Martin 202, Consolidated 240 and Lockheed Constellation are 100 per cent equipped with Lewis Instruments for the measure of Engine Temperatures and other purposes.
Naugatuck Daily News – Monday, September 15, 1947
September 25, 2023 - Photo Credit: Joshua Dufresne