Surface Combustion history

The firm was initially headquartered in The Bronx, New York, but in October 1924 oil industry executive Henry L. Doherty purchased Surface Combustion and merged it with his own natural gas industrial appliance company, Combustion Utilities Corp., under the name Henry L. Doherty & Co.

In 1927, Surface Combustion introduced the Janitrol brand of home heating and cooling appliances.

Doherty moved the company's headquarters to Toledo, Ohio, in 1928, where he believed the company would thrive due to a closer proximity to the Midwest's manufacturing centers and easy access to the large number of engineers being produced by the region's colleges and universities.

In 1930, Surface Combustion purchased the Chapman-Stein Company, a subsidiary of the C.J. Cooper-Bessemer Company of Ohio Cooper Bessemer and the Columbus Heating and Ventilating Company, a manufacturer of industrial and consumer gas heating and cooling equipment.

By 1940, Janitrol had expanded into the aircraft and aerospace industries, providing small, self-contained petroleum- and gas-powered heating, de-icing, and other units.

In November 1959, steel manufacturer Midland-Ross Corporation bought Surface Combustion for $23 million.

Midland-Ross purchased the Fandaire division of Yuba Consolidated Industries in February 1962 and merged it with Surface Combustion.

In April 1969, Midland-Ross sold Surface Combustion's Janitrol and Webster divisions to Laird, Inc.

On July 1, 1986, the private investment firm Forstmann Little & Company acquired Midland-Ross for $450 million.

In 1987, the investment firm sold Surface Combustion to a consortium consisting of Surface Combustion management.