challenger and fp
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I make all the electrons line up for their Flu shots
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I'm fairly certain that Challenger was just a breakaway from Westinghouse breakers while still operating under their wing.
Like Apple and Filemaker. Essentially there was zero difference in the two brands and the same production line used for both
(all information presented largely hearsay from way long ago in the murky past.)
Like Apple and Filemaker. Essentially there was zero difference in the two brands and the same production line used for both
(all information presented largely hearsay from way long ago in the murky past.)
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33,810 Posts
Bolt in or Snap in?
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Damn, I thought for sure someone would pick this up and run with it.:whistling2:
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Never directly related.
Challenger was the "cheaper" line of gear sold by GTE/Sylvania, designed originally to be interchangeable with Bryant, Murray, ITE and GE to capture market share. When GTE decided to get out of the electrical distribution business, they sold off the industrial product lines to Siemens (including the lamp division which still uses the brand name), but the Challenger product line was left off of the deal, Siemens didn't want it because they already owned Murray and ITE by then. So a former executive at Sylvania bought the production facility and renamed the company "Challenger" since the products already had that name. After doing that, they got into the replacement breaker business all around, selling retrofit breakers for the Siemens/Murray, Bryant and GE resi panels, then later started offering FPE replacements, Zinsco, even Pushmatic. Westinghouse eventually bought them out, then Eaton bought Westinghouse and rolled them into Cutler Hammer, who by then already owned Bryant, so I imagine CH just had them producing what are now the "BR" line of products.
Rumor has it that C-H killed production of the oddball stuff, but those production lines were bought by American Circuit Breaker, who is now called Connecticut Electric, including the FPE replacement breaker lines, which is reportedly CE's biggest seller.
Challenger was the "cheaper" line of gear sold by GTE/Sylvania, designed originally to be interchangeable with Bryant, Murray, ITE and GE to capture market share. When GTE decided to get out of the electrical distribution business, they sold off the industrial product lines to Siemens (including the lamp division which still uses the brand name), but the Challenger product line was left off of the deal, Siemens didn't want it because they already owned Murray and ITE by then. So a former executive at Sylvania bought the production facility and renamed the company "Challenger" since the products already had that name. After doing that, they got into the replacement breaker business all around, selling retrofit breakers for the Siemens/Murray, Bryant and GE resi panels, then later started offering FPE replacements, Zinsco, even Pushmatic. Westinghouse eventually bought them out, then Eaton bought Westinghouse and rolled them into Cutler Hammer, who by then already owned Bryant, so I imagine CH just had them producing what are now the "BR" line of products.
Rumor has it that C-H killed production of the oddball stuff, but those production lines were bought by American Circuit Breaker, who is now called Connecticut Electric, including the FPE replacement breaker lines, which is reportedly CE's biggest seller.
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