1949 Take A Breather

The movie “Life with Father” was made in color by Warner Brothers Studio. The color film necessitated more lighting, which increased the amount of heat generated on the set. This resulted in frequent breaks to give the actors and actresses time to cool off.

A call was made to C.G. Hokanson Co. to provide relief in the form of air conditioning, reported The News in the April 18, 1949 issue. The company came up with a prototype to its Mobile Air Conditioners. The studio liked the equipment enough for it to order several more units.

Four of these Mobile units also provided air conditioning for the first time for the All Electrical Exposition, held in the Los Angeles Pan Pacific Auditorium, a landmark in L.A. before it burned down in 1989.

The article pointed out that the dampers were an interesting feature of the unit. The dampers were horizontal and vertical, electrically operated and controlled from the exterior panel. The horizontal deflection could change from 45 degrees in either direction, and the vertical dampers could “direct the air from 45 degrees above the vertical or can be lowered to a completely closed position.” In addition there were two pointers on a scale from zero to 100 displaying the percentage of movement of the dampers controlled by electric motors.



1999 The Money Side of “The street”

In 1895, Dave Lennox founded Lennox. Then in 1904, a group of local investors including D.W. Norris bought the company. One hundred and four years after its founding, Lennox International Inc. decided to go from being a family-owned company to selling its stock publicly on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), although according to an April 19, 1999 News article, the company would still “be overwhelmingly controlled by Norris family members.”

Lennox going public had been expected for several years. In 1995, chairman John Norris Jr. told employees that moving to Wall Street was in Lennox’s future.

At the time of the article, Lennox spokesman Bill Moltner pointed out that the SEC filing “merely permits a public offering, but it doesn’t guarantee that it will occur.” It did occur however, and Lennox International became a public company on July 28, 1999. It was listed on NYSE under the letters LII.

Molter said that the proceeds would be used “in part to pay down debt, finance future expansion, and purchase more Lennox dealerships.”

Publication date: 04/16/2001