Albert Howell, a creator of film projectors, and Donald Bell, an Illinois-based movie projector, established the Bell & Howell Co. in 1907. Bell & Howell produced machinery for the motion picture industry from their Skokie, Illinois, headquarters. It contributed to the adoption of 35-millimeter film as the industry standard, launched an avant-garde all-metal camera in 1912, a home movie camera in the 1920s, and was a significant supplier to Hollywood. Bell & Howell's Larchmont Avenue plant had roughly 500 workers, and by 1925, yearly sales had surpassed $1 million. A workforce of 2,000 people produced gun cameras and other optical equipment for the military during World War II. Following the war, the business expanded into the manufacture of microfilm equipment and other goods; in 1957, annual sales surpassed $50 million. Bell & Howell acquired the DeVry Technical Institute in 1966, a for-profit institution that provided training in electronics, which it later sold. Around 4,000 employees were employed by the corporation in the Chicago area by the middle of the 1970s, when its yearly sales were getting close to $500 million. With the acquisition of University Microfilms Incorporated and the development of the ProQuest Information service during the 1980s and 1990s, the firm increased its efforts in electronic imaging and information. With sales approaching $1 billion, the corporation announced plans to form distinct businesses that would reflect the firm's various interests in January 2000. Bell & Howell and Böwe Systec Inc. amalgamated to establish Böwe Bell & Howell in December 2002, and two of its divisions are now based in Lincolnwood.
Dimensions: 360 x 320 x 240H mm
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