Built in Philadelphia.
Measured over time.

The original company was established in 1905 under the name of Philadelphia Thermometer Company. Its original founders were F. Stuhl and S. L. Baily Jr. After several owners, the company became wholly owned by Hugo Engelhardt Sr. and J. Leonard Schwartz Sr. With their retirement, the company’s new owners became Hugo Engelhardt Jr. and John L. Schwartz Jr., starting the second generation of thermometer manufacturers.

The name was changed to Philadelphia Instruments and Controls, Inc. when the company was incorporated in 1995. The third generation of the founding families continued the company’s thermometer-manufacturing tradition.

Glassblowing skills have been passed down from generation to generation. The company was originally located in Center City Philadelphia and moved to its current location on North Sixth Street in Philadelphia in 1943.

In the early years most of the production dealt with the manufacturing of thermometers. Food, candy, laboratory, and industrial machinery were among the company’s areas of work. During World War II, thousands of Destroyer Escort thermometers were made to supply naval ships and submarines.

In the 1950s, new lines of products were introduced that slowly changed the nature of the company and its name. Thermostats, otherwise known as contact thermometers, and thermoregulators were invented, allowing the company to move into the temperature-controlling field.

Patents were granted for the thermoregulator line under names such as Micro-Set and Roto-Stat. Philadelphia Thermometer and Controls was selected by NASA to supply thermostats for the Apollo Project and thermometers for NASA launch pads.

Over the next few decades the company became active in the poultry incubation field and continued its line of candy, industrial, laboratory, and HVAC thermometers with craftsmanship passed down through generations.