Kollmorgen

Kollmorgen is a US-origin industrial company known for motion-control and automation products. Its product range includes motors, drives, linear actuators, control solutions for automated guided vehicles, and automation platforms. The company’s history combines two distinct industrial roots: the optical-instrument business founded by Friedrich Kollmorgen in 1916 and the Inland Motor Corporation, founded in 1948 by Hugo Unruh and Lewis Renaldi. These companies merged in 1960 to form Kollmorgen Corporation. The original Kollmorgen business began with optical instruments, especially submarine periscopes. It also made other optical equipment, including spectrometers and photometers, and expanded into lenses for the film industry. Inland Motor brought a motor-manufacturing foundation to the combined company. During the 1960s and 1970s, Kollmorgen broadened its portfolio through acquisitions across precision instruments, electronic drives, color measurement, and optical equipment. Its later business increasingly encompassed motors, drives, and automation applications. Kollmorgen served US customers and, from the mid-1970s, sold periscopes more widely to international customers. Its work also reached the motion-picture industry: Kollmorgen divisions and employees received several Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences technical achievement awards, according to the supplied company history. In later decades, the company changed ownership several times. Danaher acquired it in 2000; it became part of Fortive in 2016, and in 2018 it joined Altra Industrial Motion. Regal Rexnord acquired Altra in 2023, and Kollmorgen has belonged to Regal Rexnord since then. The available evidence identifies Kollmorgen as an American company but does not specify its current headquarters, current executives, or a detailed present-day geographic sales footprint.

The company’s history reaches back to Friedrich Kollmorgen’s optical business. Born in Stettin in 1871, Kollmorgen emigrated to the United States in 1905. By 1911, while working at Keuffel & Esser, he had developed and patented a submarine periscope. On March 22, 1916, he founded Kollmorgen Optical Corporation in New York City. The company became a supplier of submarine periscopes to the US Navy; the supplied history says this position continued until procurement rules changed in 1958 and disallowed exclusive contracting with a single supplier. When demand for periscopes fell after the First World War, the company increased production of lenses for the film industry. The Great Depression hit the business hard, while the Second World War brought sharply increased demand for periscopes, bomb sights, and drift meters. Its workforce grew from about 60 to more than 600 during the war. Friedrich’s son Otto took over management in 1946, and the company moved from Brooklyn to Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1951. A second foundation for the later corporation was Inland Motor Corporation, established in 1948 by Hugo Unruh and Lewis Renaldi. Inland moved to Radford, Virginia, in 1958. In May 1960, Kollmorgen Optical Company and Inland Motor Corporation merged to form Kollmorgen Corporation. The company then expanded by acquisition. In 1961 it acquired Instrument Development Laboratories, which made products including motor-driven high-speed rotary switches, color-measuring instruments, and spectrophotometers. In 1962 it acquired Solid State Instruments Corporation, a maker of precision instruments, power supplies, and electronic drives for DC servo motors. Further acquisitions included Macbeth Corporation in 1967, Photo Research Corporation in 1968, Goerz Optical Company and the French companies Laboratoire LERES S.A. and Artus, S.A. in 1969, and Munsell Color Company in 1971. From the mid-1970s, Kollmorgen sold periscopes more widely to international customers. In the early 1980s, its Electro-Optical Division introduced a modernized periscope for US Navy submarines with an infrared night-vision system and other improvements. The company sold Photocircuits’ division in 1986 and acquired Düsseldorf-based Fritz A. Seidel Elektro-Automatik GmbH in 1997. Danaher Corporation acquired Kollmorgen in May 2000. In February 2012, its entire electro-optical division was sold for US$205 million. The company acquired Brazil’s MCS Engenharia Ltda in 2013. In July 2016, Danaher spun Kollmorgen and other businesses into Fortive Corporation. Effective October 1, 2018, Kollmorgen joined Altra Industrial Motion in a combination of four companies from Fortive’s Automation & Specialty Platform. Regal Rexnord acquired Altra Industrial Motion in April 2023; since 2023, Kollmorgen has belonged to Regal Rexnord. Kollmorgen divisions and employees also received multiple Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences technical achievement awards for technical developments.

• Friedrich Kollmorgen develops and patents a submarine periscope.

• Kollmorgen Optical Corporation is founded in New York City.

• Hugo Unruh and Lewis Renaldi establish Inland Motor Corporation.

• Kollmorgen Optical Corporation moves from Brooklyn to Northampton, Massachusetts.

• Kollmorgen Optical Company and Inland Motor Corporation merge to form Kollmorgen Corporation.

• Kollmorgen acquires Instrument Development Laboratories.

• Kollmorgen acquires Solid State Instruments Corporation.

• Kollmorgen acquires Macbeth Corporation.

• Kollmorgen acquires Photo Research Corporation.

• Kollmorgen acquires Goerz Optical Company, Laboratoire LERES S.A., and Artus, S.A.

• Kollmorgen acquires Munsell Color Company.

• Kollmorgen acquires Fritz A. Seidel Elektro-Automatik GmbH.

• Danaher Corporation acquires Kollmorgen.

• Kollmorgen's entire electro-optical division is sold.

• Kollmorgen acquires MCS Engenharia Ltda in Brazil.

• Kollmorgen becomes part of Fortive Corporation following a Danaher spin-off.

• Kollmorgen joins Altra Industrial Motion in a combination of companies from Fortive's Automation & Specialty Platform.

• Regal Rexnord acquires Altra Industrial Motion.

An industrial motion-control and automation company with historical roots in optical instruments and motor manufacturing.

• Motors and drives

  Kollmorgen's current company description identifies motors and drives among its products.

• Linear actuators

  Linear actuators are included in the company's stated product range.

• Automated guided vehicle control solutions

  The company makes control solutions for automated guided vehicles.

• Automation platforms

  Automation platforms are included in the company's stated offering.

• Submarine periscopes and optical equipment

  Historical products of the original Kollmorgen Optical business included submarine periscopes, spectrometers, and photometers.

1. 1Kollmorgen Corporationde.wikipedia.org
2. 2Kollmorgen Corporationwikidata.org