Chicago Flexible Shaft Co., which would eventually be known as Sunbeam, was founded in Chicago in the early 1890s by John K. Stewart and Thomas J. Clark, who made mechanical horse clippers and sheep shearers. Between 1908 and 1936, Chicago Flexible Shaft operated as a subsidiary of Wm. Cooper & Nephews, an English company. During this time, the company began to manufacture a variety of electrical appliances, including irons, mixers, coffeemakers, and toasters; its plant on West Roosevelt Road employed about 500 people. In 1946, 10 years after Cooper sold the company, it became the Sunbeam Corp., with annual sales of about $15 million. After World War II, when it continued to introduce new appliances, Sunbeam employed over 1,000 people at the Roosevelt Road plant. Meanwhile, it continued to expand outside of Chicago; by the end of the 1970s, as the leading American manufacturer of small appliances, Sunbeam enjoyed about $1.3 billion in annual sales and employed nearly 30,000 people worldwide. In 1981, after Sunbeam was bought by Allegheny International Inc. of Pittsburgh, its Chicago-area factories were closed and the headquarters left the Chicago region.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.