Former U.S. telecommunications company.
Founded in 1869 by Elisha Gray and Enos N. Barton, the firm was incorporated in Chicago, Ill., in 1872 as the Western Electric Manufacturing Co. It manufactured a series of new products, including the world's first commercial typewriters and incandescent lamps. Bell Telephone bought a controlling interest in the company in 1881; the next year it was reincorporated as Western Electric Co., becoming part of the Bell system (see AT&T Corp. ). It became a major manufacturer of telephone equipment and communications satellites, in addition to producing radar and missile systems. In 1983, with the breakup of AT&T, the company was dissolved as a separate subsidiary. Its factories were taken over by AT&T Technologies (renamed Lucent Technologies), and its brand name continued to be used.