Allied Corporation

Allied Corp. was a major American company with operations in the chemical, aerospace, automotive, oil and gas industries. It was initially formed in 1920 as the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation as an amalgamation of five chemical companies. In 1958, it was renamed Allied Chemical Corporation when it diversified into oil and gas exploration. Allied Chemical then became Allied Corporation in 1981. In 1985, Allied merged with the Signal Companies to become AlliedSignal. AlliedSignal would eventually acquire Honeywell in 1999 and then adopt its name.

Allied Chemical was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1925.

The General Chemical Corporation commenced business on March 1, 1899. The preferred stock of the new company was issued for tangible assets, appraised carefully over a period of nine months. The common stock with some exceptions was issued for good-will and intangible assets and was set equal to ten years worth of earnings of each predecessor company, interpolated from 5.5 years of earnings reports. The appraisal was $14,008,955 of aggregate capital and the total capital invested in the United States in chemical works was estimated to have been $238,000,000 in 1899.^[1]

Incorporated as the American Coal Products Co. and before May 1, 1903 acquired 90% of the stock of United Coke & Gas Co. (a producer of byproduct coke ovens^[10] ) and 80% of Barrett Manufacturing Co. of West Virginia (a producer of various coal products).^[11] On Jan 1, 1909 sold its coke oven interests (which included the United Otto and Otto Hoffman coke oven patents) to the Oberschlesische Kokswerke & Chemische Fabriken AG of Berlin, which formed the German-American Coke & Gas Co. in which American Coal Products Co. had some interest.^[12] Renamed to (The) Barrett Co. on Jan 25, 1916.^[13]

During World War I, Imperial Germany controlled much of the world's chemical production. This resulted in critical shortages of certain dyes, drugs and especially ammonia, a vital compound used to make fertilizers and explosives.

In 1920, publisher Eugene Meyer and noted chemist William Henry Nichols founded Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation in order to address this shortcoming in American industrial production. Allied was an amalgamation of five existing companies with a total capitalization of $175,000,000,^[15] including Barrett Chemical Company (est. 1858), The General Chemical Company (est. 1899), National Aniline & Chemical Company (est. 1917), Semet-Solvay Company (est. 1895), and the Solvay Process Company (est. 1881).^[15] All manufacturing was consolidated in Buffalo, and much attention was given to improving the processes hastily introduced during World War I.^[15] Allied's first venture into new markets was the construction of a synthetic ammonia plant near Hopewell, Virginia in 1928. This would soon become the world's largest producer of ammonia.^[16]

Pursuant to a plan adopted September 9, 1920, stockholders of the companies to be consolidated were invited to deposit their stock for exchange. By December 2, 1920 well above 90% were deposited, the exchange offer expired December 15 and on December 17, 1920 the new company was incorporated in the state of New York.^[17]

Stock certificates began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in September. Barrett (since 1916^[19]), National Aniline (since 1919^[20]) and General Chemical (since 1902^[2]) were listed on the NYSE at the time of merger, the two Solvay companies were not.

National Aniline and Chemical Works had been formed in 1917 by the merger of Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical, Beckers Aniline and Chemical of Brooklyn, and the Benzol Products Company. Included also were certain facilities of Semet-Solvay, the Barrett Company, and the General Chemical company that made coal tar intermediates.^[15] The executives were Jacob F. Schoellkopf Jr., C. P. Hugo Schoellkopf, I. F. Stone, and Dr. William G. Beckers.^[15]

Henry Francis Atherton joined as Secretary of the National Aniline and Chemical Company in the 1920s and served as president of Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation from 1934 to 1946. He was also chairman of the board from 1935, until his death in 1949.^[22]

The company was renamed to Allied Chemical Corporation on April 28, 1958.^[23]

After World War II, Allied began manufacturing other products, including Nylon 6, refrigerants and plastic dinnerware. The company name was simplified to reflect this diversification, becoming Allied Chemical Corporation in 1958. It also moved its headquarters to Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1962, Allied bought Union Texas Natural Gas. Allied initially regarded Union as a vertical integration supplier of raw materials for its chemical products. However, CEO John T. Connor, secretary of commerce under president Lyndon Johnson, sold many of Allied's unprofitable businesses in the 1970s and invested more heavily in oil and gas exploration. By 1979, Union Texas was generating 80% of Allied's revenue.

Between 1978 and 1979, Allied funded The MacNeil/Lehrer Report on public television.

As the company sought to further diversify its operations, it was renamed Allied Corporation in 1981.

Its next acquisition, in 1983, was Bendix Corporation, an aerospace and automotive firm. By 1984, Bendix was generating 50% of Allied's income, while oil and gas generated 38%.^[16]

Between 1964 and 1984, the reporting marks used to identify Allied Chemical's rolling stock on the North American railroad network was NLX.^[24]

At one point in 1985, Allied funded Nova on PBS.

In 1985, Allied merged with the Signal Companies to become AlliedSignal. The company would eventually acquire Honeywell in 1999, and adopt its name.

• British Dyestuffs Corporation
• IG Farben
• United Alkali Company

• ColorantsHistory.org: Beckers Aniline & Chemical Co. history
• ColorantsHistory.org: William G. Beckers biography