Igloo Coolers history

He received a patent for the “Portable Ice Chest and the Like” in December 1953.

After Queen Stove Works was sold in 1957, the Coleman Company acquired the patent for the ice chest.

Soon after merging with Production Tooling Company in 1960, Igloo took on that firm's sales and marketing operation, the John T. Everett Company.

In recognition of Everett's Nashville headquarters, the merged firm's name was changed to Texas Tennessee Industries (TTI) in 1961.

The company's first all-plastic ice chest was introduced in 1962 by James F. Hutchison.

In 1967, the company formed a Container Division to manufacture plastic drums for the chemical industry.

One of the company's longer-lived diversifications was its 1968 acquisition of Impact Extrusions, Inc., a manufacturer of thermoplastic sheet.

S.A.G.E., a chain of discount stores in Texas and California, was bought in 1969 and sold three years later, as was a manufacturer of exercise equipment.

By 1971, Texas Tennessee Industries, Inc. was planning to change its name to Igloo.

Igloo patented and introduced the Playmate series of beverage coolers, featuring a "tent-top" design, that same year, adding the unique push-button lock and release to the lid in 1972.

Corporate sales multiplied rapidly on the strength of its expanded product line and broadened distribution network, increasing from about $25 million in 1975 to $70.9 million by the end of the decade.

Corporate ownership changed in 1980, when Houston's Anderson, Clayton & Co. conglomerate acquired Igloo for $46.6 million.

Increasing advertising budgets under the new ownership helped push Igloo's sales to about $80 million by 1982.

Encouraged by its parent company to diversify, Igloo also launched a line of collapsible outdoor cooking devices in 1985.

The Quaker Oats Company's purchase of Anderson Clayton in 1986 presaged another transfer of ownership for Igloo.

The company expected to sell one million wheeled coolers in 1995 alone.

The Houston-based firm was acquired by Brunswick Corp.--famous for its eponymous billiard tables and bowling equipment--late in 1996 and became part of the $3 billion conglomerate's growing Outdoor Recreation Group.

The Krewser is a cooler scooter that gives new meaning to the word “portable.” For about $2000, you can even get one that’s custom wrapped and fitted with speakers.

Private investment firm Westar Capital purchased Igloo from Brunswick in 2001.

In 2004, Igloo announced that it was consolidating its operations to its current complex.

Two brothers, Ryan and Roy Seiders, started Yeti in 2006.

The cooler even made its film debut in the 2008 Pixar film, Wall-E!

http://researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com/2012/04/thomas-moores-refrigerator.html Maryland farmer Thomas Moore invented the ice box.

In June 2013, police reported a crazy number of Yeti cooler thefts in Orange Beach, Alabama.

In March 2014, ACON, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, purchased Igloo from J.H. Whitney, which will maintain a small stake in the Company.

Still, it’s not all bad news! In 2017, three young inventors named Ashton Cofer, Luke Clay, and Julia Bray figured out a way to convert Styrofoam into filtered water for a science project at school.