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Company History
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| Slaughter Company traces its beginnings back to late 1953. It was that year
that Elmer Slaughter had an idea for a better product to meet the needs for dielectric testing
of electrical products. Elmer Slaughter, who had been Chief Engineer for Bill Lear’s original
company during World War II, was working (as a consultant) for Piqua Machine, which had been
founded after the war by some former Lear employees to manufacture electric motors. By mid
1954, Elmer was able to convert his idea into a marketable product and began limited production in
the basement of his home in Piqua, Ohio. |
 The first tester, the Model 101, was delivered to Westinghouse in Lima,
Ohio. Other major companies saw the tester, were impressed and placed orders. By the middle
of 1956, things were going well enough that The Slaughter Company became a full time enterprise
sharing space in an old building with Piqua Iron Works. The company continued to grow and prosper and additional testers were added
to the product line.
By late 1963, experiencing a need for additional space,
Slaughter decided to make a big move. Having grown up in Texas
around the Denton area, Elmer staked out an area bounded by Tulsa (Elmer’s wife’s home), Oklahoma City,
Dallas and Texarkana and decided to relocate in that area. The final choice was Ardmore, Oklahoma.
So in 1964 Slaughter Company moved into a new 10,000 square foot plant built to company specifications.
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There were eight to ten people employed off and on during the Piqua days and
four came south with Elmer. Those making the move were Gordon McDonald, Dick Kearney and Richard
Couchman. Gordon began with Elmer on a part time basis during the company’s beginnings on Nicklin
Avenue and was Production Supervisor. Richard Couchman was in charge of test. Dick Kearney was the
other design engineer having come on board in 1959. This was a top-notch staff, two excellent
electrical engineers (and EEs were pretty scarce at the time) and two people with more than eight
years in the business each.
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On December 16, 1964, the first two items manufactured in Ardmore, Oklahoma were
shipped from the new plant. One of those was a Model 101. It bore serial number A100001.
In the ensuing years the company prospered and in 1971, the plant was enlarged to
18,000 square feet. By 1974, Slaughter Company boasted 52 employees.
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Through the years, the original product line of a single, simple high voltage tester grew to a full
line of test instruments; from the simple 101 to more sophisticated armature, stator and cable/harness
testers with relay logic and electromechanical switching.
In late 1975, Dick Kearney recognized the potential of the new, 4-bit Intel 4004
microprocessor and designed a “computer” that used this microprocessor to control an automatic test
system and allow the use of reed relays. The first microprocessor-controlled automatic tester was
delivered in February 1976, to McGraw-Edison, Heat Tube Division. Many more systems followed using
newer and more powerful microprocessors, as they became available.
Today’s high-speed automated testers are controlled with the latest Pentium Processor
based computers running Windows and utilizing open architecture software for the most sophisticated testing programs available.
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By the early eighties, Slaughter Company had grown into a fully developed manufacturing
company with a strong national reputation in its field. Feeling he had accomplished what he set out to do,
Elmer began making plans for retirement.
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In January 1984, with growth by acquisition and diversification all the rage in
business, Slaughter Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the R. E. Phelon Company of East Longmeadow,
Massachusetts. After fourteen years of ownership, the Phelon Company sold the assets and on July 1,
1998, Slaughter Company, LLC was re-incorporated in the State of Oklahoma as a stand-alone company.
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The management and staff of the Slaughter Company are committed to an aggressive growth plan to offer the company’s loyal customers with the best technology at a cost-effective price. During the past several years, Slaughter has been able to expand their line of testing instruments while maintaining the product reliability and engineering that has brought them so much success. In 1999, Slaughter was able to introduce a complete line of microprocessor based hipot testers. In 2000, Slaughter expanded this line by adding a line of ground bond testers and 250 and 500 VA hipot testers. As further updates to the product line continued, Slaughter was again in line for another move. Shifting focus to concentrate solely on electrical safety testing, Slaughter Company split into two divisions, Slaughter Company and Slaughter Test Systems. Today, our facility is now located in Lake Forest, IL and we offer a complete line of Multi-function Electrical Safety testers, Hipot testers, Insulation Resistance testers, and Ground Bond testers. We continue to grow our market share by providing innovative products, reasonable pricing and excellent customer service. |
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