| | Abstract: | Thompson Products Inc. was established in 1900, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland Cap Screw Company. It began producing automotive parts and underwent several reorganizations, becoming the Electric Welding Products Company (1908), the Steel Products Company (1915), and Thompson Products Inc. (1926). It expanded to include branch plants and the production of aircraft parts, and fostered a company union, the Automotive and Aircraft Workers Alliance (later the Aircraft Workers Alliance). It grew during World War II due to defense contracts. After the war it entered the jet and aerospace industries. It merged in 1958 with Ramo Wooldridge Corporation to become TRW Inc. Outside activities include the National Air Races and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The collection consists of press releases intended to introduce new products or announce new achievements in the field of aviation and space, and includes images of aircraft, aviation, and space related subjects. These images were used by Thompson Products as a photographic reference of industry developments in aviation and space. The development of jet airframe technology between 1950 and 1965 is well represented in the collection, as well as space exploration and reusable space plane designs. | |
