Cornell Dubilier is a privately held, American owned maker of capacitors for electronic and electrical equipment with three ISO-9001 registered facilities. If you didn't know that it was founded in 1909 by William Dubilier with his invention of the mica capacitor, you wouldn't suspect that Cornell Dubilier is the oldest capacitor maker in the Western Hemisphere because it is growing rapidly with a flurry of new products. Cornell Dubilier's major capacitor types are aluminum electrolytic, polyester film, polypropylene film, mica, pulse, snubber, motor-run, motor-start and high voltage capacitors. Emphasis is on serving the power electronics markets and providing not just reliable capacitors but capacitor solutions with great service.
A chronology of this, Cornell Dubilier's first hundred years is tabulated here:
| 1909: |
William Dubilier replaces Leyden jars with his invention of the mica capacitor for radio transmission. |
| 1915: |
William Dubilier founds Dubilier Condenser Company in New York |
| 1933: |
Dubilier Condenser Company merges with Cornell Radio to form Cornell-Dubilier Electric (CDE) |
| 1936: |
Cornell-Dubilier opens the South Plainfield, NJ plant and introduces the first commercial aluminum electrolytic capacitors. |
| 1940: |
New Bedford, MA plant opens and by 1950 CDE grows to be largest maker of AC, high voltage, mica and aluminum electrolytic capacitors. |
| 1953: |
Acquires Radiart Corp., Cleveland making automobile radio vibrators, inverters, antennas and antenna rotors. |
| 1955: |
Cornell-Dubilier opens Sanford, NC plant for aluminum electrolytic, film and wet tantalum capacitors. |
| 1957: |
Cornell-Dubilier moves Radiart products to Fuquay Varina, NC and enters the relays market as a major supplier to the General Motors Corporation. |
| 1967: |
Opens 60,000 square foot plant in Taipei, Taiwan to make mica and later, film capacitors. |
| 1978: |
Cornell-Dubilier acquires the assets and facilities of the Electro Motive Corporation, a leading manufacturer of mica capacitors. |
| 1979: |
The Reliance Electric Company (then a subsidiary of the Exxon Corporation) acquires Cornell-Dubilier Electric. |
| 1983: |
A group of Cornell-Dubilier senior managers, headed by James Kaplan, purchases the company and forms Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc. |
| 1984: |
Establishes the C.D. Electronica de Mexico S.A. de C.V. in Mexicali, Mexico as the manufacturing site for mica capacitors and RF/ID coils. |
| 1987: |
Acquires the assets of the Components Division of Sangamo Weston in Pickens, SC from Schlumberger. The plant, a major maker of mica and aluminum electrolytic capacitors, becomes Cornell Dubilier Marketing. |
| 1987: |
Under NASA contract, develops Strategic Defense Initiative laser pulse Star Wars capacitor with energy density of 1400 J/kg. |
| 1991: |
Develops MLP flatpack, welded-seal capacitor for low profile power holdup: 50 year life, 25 year storage, 20 joules energy. |
| 1992: |
Introduces KVx mica polymer capacitors: 150 kV, 200°C |
| 1994: |
Develops MLS stainless flatpack, welded-seal capacitor: 125°C operation, 100 year life. |
| 1995: |
Cornell Dubilier Marketing moves into a new 103,000 square foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Liberty, SC and expands to 140,400 square feet by 2004. |
| 1996: |
All Cornell Dubilier plants registered to ISO-9001 |
| 2001: |
Corporate headquarters moves from New Jersey to new 3900 square foot addition to Liberty plant. |
| 2002: |
Acquires the distributor division of NACC Mallory Products Group in April and increases sales through distribution to greater than 40%. |
| 2002: |
Acquires the aluminum electrolytic capacitors plant of BC Components, Inc., Columbia, SC in December. Becomes largest NA supplier of screw-terminal aluminum electrolytic capacitors. |
| 2004: |
Acquires York Capacitor Corporation of Winooski, VT in February, a leading maker of AC capacitors for motor run, lighting and power factor correction applications. |
| 2004: |
Acquires the assets of the Silvered Electronic Mica Co. (Semco) in December, a leading maker of RF mica capacitors. |
| 2005: |
M level MIL approval for CLR79/81 wet tantalum capacitors |
| 2005: |
For the first time the company's largest customer is in Asia. Cornell Dubilier becomes major supplier of screw-terminal aluminum electrolytics to Far East. |
| 2006: |
R level MIL approval for CLR79/81 wet tantalum capacitors; only 2 other suppliers at this level. |
Cornell Dubilier has become a preeminent, worldwide supplier of capacitors for power electronics. Principal markets are power supplies, motor drives, HVAC, motors, welding, aerospace, telecom, and UPS systems. The unifying theme is power electronics and differentiation from other capacitor makers by a high level of customer service and technical support from a staff of 20 engineers and 20 customer service account managers. And, of course, better capacitors. As an illustration the latest UPS bus capacitor permits two, rather than three, in series for a 940V bus voltage because it is rated 675V.
While the company's growth and active customer base of more than 35,000 has come from daily management of stocking programs, making next-day delivery routine and ISO-9001 quality, Cornell Dubilier's culture sees its roots in technological innovation. It still boasts about the inventive genius of its founder, William Dubilier, his more than 355 patents - a third of Thomas Edison's total - and his accomplishment of inventing the mica capacitor that revolutionized early radio transmission. Dubilier became chief electrician of the Continental Wireless Co. at the age of 19. In 1915, he founded Dubilier Condenser Corp. of New York, where he pioneered the development of self-healing, metallized dielectrics for capacitors, high-voltage transmitting capacitors, and antenna-shortening capacitors. In 1933, Dubilier's company merged with the Cornell Radio Company to form the Cornell-Dubilier Electric Corp.
William Dubilier is responsible for the many improvements in capacitors since the era of the Leyden jar. He held innumerable radio patents pertaining to telegraphy, telephony, high-frequency apparatus, and a system for detecting submarines which he devised during World War I. He was knighted by the Queen of England for his contributions to electrical science. What motivated the award was that Dubilier's new mica capacitor withstood the shock waves from arterial guns firing and didn't break like the Leyden jars thus allowing reliable radio communication with the British infantry.
But there's an even better story: Three years before he invented the mica capacitor the then 22 year old William built a precursor to the cell phone. His precursor had the drawbacks of just fitting in a suitcase and requiring connection to a household AC power circuit, but its 100 kHz transmitter enabled clear telephone conversations between phones up to fifty miles apart with no connecting wires and performed reliably between Tacoma and Seattle Washington.
In 1933 his company won a precedent-setting patent legal case. In United States v. Dubilier Condenser Corp. the Supreme Court concluded that an employer owns an invention only if the employee is specifically hired to invent. If, as in the factual scenario of Dubilier, the employee merely uses the employer's resources to invent, the most the employer retains is a "shop right" - the non-exclusive right to practice the invention. Of course attorneys soon moved the control back to the employer. Federal statute now determines the rights of federal employees, and most civilian employees must sign Patent Disclosure and Assignment Agreements.
What's prophetic about this 1933 case is that it is about inventions of Dubilier employees Francis W. Dunmore and Percival D. Lowel while they worked at the U.S. Bureau of Standards. The inventions allowed replacing the batteries needed to electrify loudspeakers and radios with direct connection to ac lighting circuit power. These were the first power supplies, and power electronics remains Cornell Dubilier's largest capacitors market today. Cornell Dubilier is the power electronics capacitor company with a focus on technological and service solutions that delight customers. |
