National Presto History
National Presto Industries, Inc.
National Presto Industries, Inc., based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin traces its history back to 1905 with the founding of the Northwestern Iron and Steel Works in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. There first production was cement mixers. By 1908, they were making pressure cookers, first for canning companies, then for hotels and in 1915 for home use.
In 1929, the company added a line of cast-aluminum cookware. In the late 1930s, a better gasket system provided the fastest as well as the safest method of preparing food at that time. But in 1941, as the United States prepared for war and put their talents toward the war effort. After the war, almost bankrupt, two men turned the company around and eventually received five Army and Navy E Awards for its contribution to the war effort, including orders for about 500,000 “victory pressure canners” at the request of the Department of Agriculture.
Post-war diversification began in 1945 with buying a California company and introducing a 16 quart pressure canner for home use. In 1949, they introduced its first electric appliance, a steam iron; next was a thermostat-controlled deep-fryer. 1953, the company name was changed to National Presto Industries, Inc. During the 1950s, Presto’s consumer products division had introduced the first in a line of immersible electric cooking appliances. The cookware, including an electric skillet, griddle, and coffee maker, featured a removable “Master Control” heat unit, allowing the appliance to be washed safely in water.
In the mid-1970s, National Presto began introducing kitchen appliances designed for a changing American lifestyle and continued to expand its product line. In the 80s and 90s, National Presto shut down its defense operations in Eau Claire in 1960 but contracted with the government to maintain the manufacturing equipment in a state of semi-readiness. The tide would soon turn again as the company resumed production of artillery shells in 1964, as U.S. ground troops were being sent to Vietnam, and between 1966 and 1975, National Presto produced more than 92 million 105-millimeter artillery shells. It also produced two million eight-inch artillery shells between 1967 and 1971. At the height of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia, employment at the defense plant in Eau Claire reached 3,000, a figure that fell off dramatically after the United States withdrew from Vietnam in 1973. The defense plant was again closed in 1980, two years after Phillips’ death, but the government continued to contract with National Presto to keep the plant on stand-by through the 1990s. Defense requirements were eventually ceased in 1993, and in the mid-1990s, the company was planning on how best to dispose of the special purpose manufacturing equipment.
In the 80s and 90s, despite costly involvements in litigation, Presto continued to grow and attributed its success largely to its product innovations in new versions of the National Presto pressure cookers, griddles, and deep fryers, as well as new electric knives and sharpeners, percolators, and electric can openers. Today, the company has from grown in the 21st century and feels it be could assuredly proud of its long history as an innovator in the industry.