Type Subsidiary Key people Nolan D. Archibald ceo Revenue 6.09 billion USD (2008) Net income 293.6 million USD (2008) | Traded as BDK Products Power tools Number of employees 27,000 | |
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Industry Power tools, home improvement products, hardware, fastening technology Founder S. Duncan Black
Alonzo G. Decker Headquarters Towson, Maryland, United States Founded 1910, Balti, Maryland, United States Subsidiaries Black & Decker International, Kwikset, Pfister Parent organization Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. Profiles | ||
Black & Decker Corporation is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products and technology based fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland. On March 12, 2010, Black & Decker merged with Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker. It remains as a wholly owned subsidiary of that company.
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History
Black & Decker Corporation was founded in 1910 by S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker as a small machine shop in Baltimore. Decker, who had a seventh grade education, had met Black in 1906, when they were both 23-year-old workers at Rowland Telegraph Co.
In 1917, Black & Decker invented the familiar portable electric drill, obtaining a patent for a hand-held drill combining a pistol grip and trigger switch. Its logo, a hexagon, was used in one form or another from 1912 to 2014; it represents a hexagonal nut, a universal fastener.
For many decades, the director of design was Glenn Calvin Wilhide, a friend of Walter Gropius and other leading industrial designers of the day. Wilhide filed many US patents for Black & Decker, including, granted in August 1941, the patent for a portable power driven tool unit USD129046 S which is the famous drill known today.
Current Brands and Subsidiaries
Black & Decker (the corporation) is distinct from the "Black & Decker" brand; more than one corporation uses the brand. In particular, "Black & Decker" branded household products in the Americas (but outside of Brazil) are marketed by a division of Spectrum Brands, a consumer products corporation based in Madison, Wisconsin. In December 2012, Spectrum Brands also purchased Black & Decker's hardware and home improvement division.