The American Appliance Company as Raytheon was originally called was founded in 1922. The American Appliance Company was founded by two former college roommates, Laurence K Marshall and Vannevar Bush. They and scientist Charles G. Smith founded the company in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It was renamed Raytheon Manufacturing Company in 1925 to avoid a conflict with another company called American Alliance, based in the Midwest.
The company first product, a gaseous rectifier, was called the Raytheon.
In 1945, Raytheon Corp, was awarded a patent for the microwave oven. It was not until the mid 1950’s that an oven was designed for household or commercial use.
The first microwave oven was introduced in 1954. It was the size of a refrigerator. The first counter top microwave oven was introduction in 1967. It was a 100 volt microwave oven that cost less than $500 and was small, safer that its predecessors and more reliable.
In the early 1990s, Raytheon was a diversified, multi-national conglomerate, which operated in the defense, electronics, engineering and construction, major appliances and aircraft business.
The Patriot missile is the most recognizable of Raytheon’s defense products today. Patriot, the name of the missile which entered army service in 1985, is an acronym meaning ‘Phased Array Tracking Intercept of Target’.
In December 2002 Raytheon decided to acquired two companies, Solipsys Corp and JPS Communications, to strengthen its portfolio of integrated communications technologies used across its defense and non-defense business aeas.
History of Raytheon Corporation
