Company Profile
Bodine Electric Company is a leading manufacturer of fractional horsepower gearmotors (less than 1HP / 746 Watts), motors and motor speed controls in North America. Bodine Electric offers over 1,000 standard products, and thousands of custom designed gearmotors, motors and speed controls (AC Fixed Speed, AC Variable Speed, Brushless DC, and Permanent Magnet DC).
Bodine products are available via an extensive distributor network or sold directly to OEMs. Known for their reliability, long life and competitive prices, Bodine gearmotors are found in many demanding industrial and commercial applications. Bodine is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with manufacturing and assembly operations in Peosta, Iowa.
Bodine Electric Company History
The Birth of an Enterprise
At the turn of the (last) century, people tinkered in makeshift shops, turning good ideas into great inventions. Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport was a perfect example. Using the principles developed by Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry, and silk from his wife's wedding gown, he built the first electric motor in 1834. Fifty years later the electric motor had revolutionized American industry.
Carl and Paul Bodine were also natural tinkerers. As children in Loomis, Nebraska, the two Swedish immigrants were fascinated by the town's first electric generator. And they began to send away for every available catalog and pamphlet to find out more about this exciting "new" source of energy. But their interests weren't confined to electricity. They tinkered with just about everything, eventually building a hot air balloon which exploded and rattled every window in town.
With the promise of jobs in Chicago - and the memory of rattled windows in Loomis - the Bodines set off for the thriving prairie metropolis, and just in time. Chicago had discovered the wonders of electricity.
While working at jobs in the electrical field, the brothers spent their spare time refining their talents in a bedroom workshop at Mrs. Johnson's boarding house.
General purpose fractional horsepower motors were relatively new when Carl and Paul produced their first 1/20 - 1/12 hp "D-type" motors in 1905. At the time, many manufacturers still pirated their small motors from electric fans. But fan motors were often unreliable in other applications and unable to work consistently under a variety of conditions.
Just two years after they opened for business, their first "custom" job came in. An Iowa dentist, tired of his foot treadle drill, approached the Bodines during the 2nd annual Chicago Electrical Show in 1907, and asked for their help. He was so satisfied with the modified "D" motor they provided that he recommended the young men to a major dental equipment company. The Bodines had found their first "big" customer, somebody who could really get things moving!
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