[Closed] Companies that invented something and are still major players

Thomas Cook.

GE

Thomas Cook, good one.

What did GE invent?

breville (did have to google to double check they did actually [s]invent[/s] "commercialise" the sandwich toaster)

edited
are we having specialized for first [i]production[/i] mountain bike?

Dyson

Though I think your need to define if you are talking about invention in a radical or incremental sense.

microsoft, google, apple

UniLever
Monsanto
BASF
Bayer

GE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison

Just googled that, did not know GE was formed by Edison.

Also - and I wasn't sure of this without googling - AT&T can be traced back to Alexander Graham Bell.

Oh and save my google fingers, tell us what the companies invented..?

What did those 3 invent? Made better versions of something that already existed maybe but pretty sure o/s / search engines and home computers existed before.

Yes - Microsoft didn't invent PC operating systems, Apple did not invent computers, and Google didn't invent search engines.

IBM invented PCs - and until relatively recently they still did, in the form of Thinkpads. They still make servers though but that's not the same thing.

Facebook
Virgin

IBM invented PCs

Henry Edward Roberts would have something to say about that (if he wasn't dead).

Hmm yes except that what we call 'PC' nowadays is actually still "IBM PC compatible".

What did Virgin invent?

Ford

What did Virgin invent?

Cola, maybe.

Also - and I wasn't sure of this without googling - AT&T can be traced back to Alexander Graham Bell.

Weren't they colloquially known as "Ma Bell" for a while?

Renishaw: the touch-trigger probe:

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3M - for innovation and as I understand it, the support for that innovation.

Don't forget Hewlett-Packard too, unbroken development from oscillators through to today's test equipment, under brand names Agilent and Keysight, HP name went with PC and peripherals businesses sometime around 2000.

Victorinox

Ooh, I know. ARM Holdings, formerly Acorn, of BBC Model B fame.

Invented RISC OS and the ARM architecture for the Archimedes, the successor of which is probably powering your smartphone.

Biro?

3M - for innovation

You can't have that - I'm talking about specific products - in the case of Intel they invented (or developed commercially) the microprocessor, and they are still clearly a big player. I don't think 3M invented innovation.

I believe Dyno-Nobel are still manufacturing and selling dynamite.

Sikorsky Aircraft and Otis Elevator Company, but then both are owned by United Technologies.

I didn't know that 'biro' was actually a company..

Just thought of another one - Sikorsky.

EDIT DAMMIT dragon

Gore invented Goretex

Wild country invented friends (Ray Jardine Mark Vallance)

good question

Threadless headset (Aheadset) - Cane Creek.

I don't think 3M invented innovation.

They (accidentally) invented crap glue for Post-Its, if memory serves?

I think you may need to rephrase the original question. Companies formed [i]on the back of an invention[/i] is a bigger ask than merely "companies that invented something."

Sellotape?

Honeywell

xerox
Philips
Lego

Sony / Philips for the CD player.

Martin-Baker ejection seats

Yeah that's a fair comment Cougar. But that would exclude say IBM from PCs. If they hadn't already sold their PC business.

Lego wasn't, it was actually a British guy who then he sold the rights, or something like that.

Bic ,Gillette ?

Bayer - Heroin and Zyklon B

Allen keys.

Reynolds tubing ?

Tetrapak

"companies that invented something."

I still think that needs defining - are we talking entirely new products which are not an iteration of a previous concept, or new products that are 'just' iconic game changers? If the former IBM looses out on all counts as theirs was just the development of something to a new standard that went on to be the benchmark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_B%C3%ADr%C3%B3