Historical Facts
Spectrum Brands has played a role in historic voyages of discovery during the years. In 1928, Charles Lindbergh carried two Rayovac flashlights as part of his emergency equipment during his first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Six decades later, Rayovac batteries were again aboard a historic flight when Spaceship Columbia made its debut in the first space shuttle mission.
All Rayovac battery production was diverted to the armed forces during the World War II to power everything from bazookas to radio communications, and the company invented a new longer-lasting battery technology in response to the special needs of the hot and humid climate of the Pacific theater.
The company’s battery plant on Dickinson Street in Madison, Wisconsin was destroyed by fire in 1915 at the height of November production.
Construction on the former Madison Plant that operated on Winnebago Street began in January 1916 with $65,000 allocated for the facility.
James (“J.D.”) Ramsey, an enterprising and persistent young Madisonian, founded the company in 1917 at the age of 35 and continued with the company in various capacities until his death at the age of 83.
By 1943, virtually all the company’s battery production went to the military rather than civilians to assist with the war effort.
On the Fourth of July 1944, the company’s carbon division plant in Lancaster, Ohio was the only factory in the city which stayed in production on the national holiday. That same fall, Madison employees voted to work full schedules on Thanksgiving Day.
The Madison plant became the first (and for many years the only) U.S. battery company to be singled out for the Army-Navy “E” (for excellence) award, which was presented on the factory lawn on April 21, 1943. The plant would eventually earn eight such awards.
The 10-building Signal Battery complex in MIwaukee was the largest battery plnat in the world during World War II as government quotas reached 60 million batteries per month. The company required more and more employees and expanded into 77 different shifts to accommodate off-duty citizens who wanted to help.
As the war ended a hungry public clamored for batteries and from August to the end of 1945, 65,572,382 Leak Proof Ray-O-Vac batteries were sold and in 1946 the full-year sales were 100,000,000.
The one billionth Leak Proof cell rolled off the assembly line in 1950.
The company’s “right angle” flashlight was commissioned especially for soldiers in World War II. It could be hung from the belt on a clip, but threw its light straight forward.
The company introduced the first “Power Center” in 1959, a retail display that featured a complete assortment of the fastest-moving products in prime store locations for maximum impulse buying.
A legendary company employee Carl “Doc” Swenson was the focus of a Look magazine feature article in 1965. He started work at the new Madison plant at age 51 and continued to work at his daily job…several months past the age of 100. In fact, he received a promotion at age 76. He was told by company management that as long as his health remained good and he wanted to continue working, he had a job at (then) Ray-O-Vac. At age 95, Doc and his daughter Carol, also an employee, presented 95 years at the company.
Arlene Rickli, another employee in the Doc Swenson mold, retired in 2002 after 60 years with the company.
In 1981, the Ray-O-Vac company debuted a new logo and a corporate name minus the hyphens, Rayovac.