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

 kcal
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Invented the WIMP (and a lot else besides) I accept for PARC - did they get a stake in Apple or something so I suppose they have benefited, but indirectly.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:25 pm
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La Spirotechnique, now aqua - lung was sort of started by cousteau and gagnan who developed the modern scuba diving regulator.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:28 pm
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Dia Compe/Cane Creek didn't invent the aheadset...some dude did and showed it off and a build-your-bike show thing where it was spotted and bought...then mass produced...


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:36 pm
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Doesn't matter if they aren't players in electronic shifting...they invented it and Mavic are still a big player in components/accessories...


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:39 pm
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McDonalds - fast food

I'm pretty sure that they were the first to have a restaurant where all the food

a) needed no table service
b) didn't need any plates or cutlery
c) could be prepared quickly as the orders came in


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:39 pm
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Apple - smartphone


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 6:57 pm
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Shermer not even close.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:00 pm
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Shermer not even close.

must be in jest ....

How about Kellogs ( fortified cereal based breakfast) ?


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:27 pm
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Slightly specialist, and I don't like giving them publicity, but Xaar invented a method of making ink jet print heads, and still sell (and license) 1000's.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:29 pm
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Ford?

Every modern factory ever.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:30 pm
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Ford don't produce factories though. The factory is not a product they still continue to sell successfully in a competitive market.

Kelloggs is a good one though.

iPhone was an evolution of something that'd been sold for years previously. As was the iPod. It was a big step forward, but you cannot claim Apple invented the Smartphone. Or the personal computer, or the MP3 player.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:36 pm
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Apple - smartphone

they might well have a claim to being inventors of the PDA with the Newton. I can't offhand think of an earlier incarnation, that was back in the late 80s IIC.

Arguably also, the modern tablet with the iPad. They certainly popularised it if not invented it.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:36 pm
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Ferodo - brake linings (Now Federal Mogul) still based in Chapel En Le Frith


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:39 pm
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Siemens. Though what they orginally invented is now obsolete they are still a major player.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:43 pm
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Mackem - Member
Threadless headset (Aheadset) - Cane Creek.

Oooohh, all of a sudden you're an expert now? ๐Ÿ˜†

Wacker - the vibrating footplate compactor


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 7:47 pm
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Doesn't matter if they aren't players in electronic shifting...they invented it and Mavic are still a big player in components/accessories...

Mavic (1992) never invented it, Suntour got there 2 years before (1990) with the BEAST (Browning Electronic AccuShift Transmission) electric shifting


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:00 pm
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Fender?

Marshall stack?


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:13 pm
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Didn't Massey Ferguson invent (or at least highly commercialise) the agricultural tractor?


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:18 pm
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[i]Ford don't produce factories though. The factory is not a product they still continue to sell successfully in a competitive market.[/i]

yes, but his cars were, and they were the first things to be built like that, and it made Henry and Ford into major players that forced every other car manufacturer to catch up and most (in that era) didn't. It's still how every car is built today, and essentially IS the modern car.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:24 pm
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John Deere - the plough that turned the Great Plains from grassland to farmland.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:34 pm
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everyone - Member
Didn't Massey Ferguson invent (or at least highly commercialise) the agricultural tractor?

3 point linkage that stopped tractors tipping backwards and squishing the driver. But they're hardly big players now?


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 8:54 pm
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It is often difficult to attribute inventions to the people we assume. Often someone else invented an item but was made viable by someone else. Although he did not invent it, Samuel Colt effectively made the revolver practical.

There must be a few cases in the world of firearms.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:08 pm
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[quote=joshvegas ]3 point linkage that stopped tractors tipping backwards and squishing the driver. But they're hardly big players now?

According to wiki:

Today the company exists as a brand name used by AGCO and remains a major seller around the world.

So enough brand recognition and loyalty to still be used as a brand name (much like Perkins etc.)


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:28 pm
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And dunlop


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:30 pm
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As already stated. Rockshox. I remember riding a bike equipped with the first RS forks imported into the UK - they were fairly crap - and they are still innovating pretty well.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:33 pm
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Moog electrohydraulic servovalves.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:34 pm
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Kalashnikov. ๐Ÿ˜•


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:48 pm
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Sikorsky - the Helicopter.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:48 pm
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Sikorsky - the Helicopter.

from wiki...

(though Sikorsky did not invent the helicopter itself)


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 9:51 pm
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Fender? Surely Gibson?


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:00 pm
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convert - Member
Sikorsky - the Helicopter.
from wiki...
(though Sikorsky did not invent the helicopter)

Ah, a Wiki warrior.

Semantics. Sikorsky invented the conventional helicopter layout with a single tail rotor for antitorque and also developed the first commercial helicopter. Without Sikorsky, there would be no helicopters.

If you want who invented it, then technically, that might be Leonardo DaVinci. Whilst helicopters are technically derivatives of autogyros, the FW is a closer by far to an AG than the VS300.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:13 pm
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Massey Ferguson

massey OR ferguson, maybe. since it was a merger of 1 companies.

but then so many of those companies above are all now merely a brand owned by another holding co., or had so many restructures, mergers, demergers, etc. that the name and what it was known for is now attached to a totally different part of the business (eg Motorola).


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:27 pm
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I don't think drawing a sketch of something that wouldn't work constitutes 'inventing' something.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:29 pm
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I agree with razorrazoo - IBM is a fascinating company - when you think about it, 100-odd years for a modern IT company is incredible.

And Watson is incredible, it makes Skynet from T2 seem plausible.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:42 pm
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Teflon


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:44 pm
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Teflon

eh? That's a trade name of DuPont.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 10:58 pm
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Bahco - invented the plumbers wrench and adjustable spanner, now a part of Snap-On Europe.

Saunders - started by the inventor of the Saunders valve, now a part of the crane group.

Facebook didn't invent anything.
Virgin didn't invent anything.
iPad was just a refinement.
Kalashnikov didn't start a company. Or really invent anything.


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 11:12 pm
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(My old employer) Napp Pharmaceuticals who invented a slow release tablet design, using lots of layers of active ingredient then wax over and over again. They used a strong analgesic (morphine sulphate) to make MST and it is still a leading treatment for oncological pain many years outside patent.

Rachel


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 11:40 pm
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Mr Dewalt invented the Radial Arm Saw

Mafell invented the first portable electric woodworking tool (no namby pamby drill drivers they went dove straight in with a chain morticer)


 
Posted : 28/05/2015 11:49 pm
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Didn't know that about Suntour and their BEAST.

When was the Psion Organiser introduced? I think about similar time to that Apple Newton thing...


 
Posted : 29/05/2015 12:06 am
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Henry Walker, a butcher in Leicester, invented the potato crisp in the 1940's to cope with war time rationing. His name liveth on as Walkers Crisps... but now owned by part of the pepsi cola group.


 
Posted : 29/05/2015 12:42 am
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Noah Ark, inventor of mass ship-borne transport.


 
Posted : 29/05/2015 7:48 am
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Did ODI create the first lock on grip?


 
Posted : 29/05/2015 8:22 am
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Zildjian.... 400 years and still going strong..


 
Posted : 29/05/2015 8:23 am
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