# Products made by a company known mainly for a completely different type of product **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274 "2011-09-23T00:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/1 "2011-09-23T00:09:20Z")
Hard to explain in the title. What I’m looking for are commercial products very different from the types of products the manufacturer is best known for. For instance, Panasonic used to make bikes, and you can buy Goodyear garden hoses. Perhaps my favorite is the [Thiokol Snowcat](http://www.tahoebasin.com/snowcats/images/mvc-002t.jpg), brought to you by the same company that made the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters. What can you expect from a company that started out in the synthetic rubber business and ended up building rockets? Similar situation with Aerojet. It was a division of General Tire for many years. Their board meetings must have been interesting. “Gentlemen, in conclusion we are strongly positioned in the growing market for tractor tires. Next item on the agenda: a progress report from the boys in R&D who’ve been working on a booster engine for the Titan missile.” In both cases the connection between rockets and rubber is that solid rocket propellant is rubberlike. But General Tire also owned some radio stations as well as the RKO movie studio. Talk about diversification. Another one: the Frigidaire appliance brand used to be owned by GM. I vividly remember an old fridge in my uncle’s basement with a big nameplate reading “GENERAL MOTORS” vertically down the front. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/2 "2011-09-23T00:20:53Z")
How about the GE [Vulcan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan). The same guy’s that made my dishwasher made this BFG. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/3 "2011-09-23T00:35:42Z")
Sears once sold a car called the Allstate. It was produced by Henry J. Kaiser, of the short lived auto company Kaiser-Fraser. Kaiser was a builder of ships during WWII, if my memory is correct. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/4 "2011-09-23T00:55:24Z")
If you go back, the Regina company – makers of the Regina vacuum cleaner – made music boxes as it’s main product. I also used to have American Express auto and home insurance, though they spun off that business now. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/5 "2011-09-23T00:56:35Z")
_Bic_, the company familiar to everyone for selling pens, razors, and lighters also has a [watersports division](http://www.bicsport.com/) that sells surfboards, kayaks, and the like. They also used to be in the funeral products and services business, until 2010 when they sold off that division. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/6 "2011-09-23T01:00:26Z")
The [Brunswick Corporation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Corporation), in business in one form or another since 1845, has gone from billiard tables, to records and phonographs (and a brief fling with refrigerators), to bowling equipment and boats - with quite a few interesting ventures in between (WW2 drone aircraft?). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/7 "2011-09-23T01:12:22Z")
Not currently, but AMF, the folks that make bowling equipment, owned Harley-Davidson motor cycles for a while ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/8 "2011-09-23T01:18:10Z")
Most of big Korean megacorporations are in a huge amount of sectors. [Take Samsung for example](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung#Products.2C_customers_and_organizational_structure). ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/9 "2011-09-23T01:26:02Z")
Peugeot, the car company, originally made pepper mills, and they still do. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/10 "2011-09-23T01:26:45Z")
Reported. ETA: Reported **fiasco135** , not **Manduck**. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/11 "2011-09-23T01:48:58Z")
Didn’t General Mills own Playskool at one point? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/12 "2011-09-23T03:01:18Z")
I can’t remember if it’s urban legend or not, but, ‘Mattel made the stocks for M-16s’ is the one that springs to mind. hh ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/13 "2011-09-23T03:04:22Z")
That is definitely a myth, but IBM did manufacture M1 Carbines during World War II. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/14 "2011-09-23T03:09:42Z")
Pringles chips were made by Procter and Gamble up to April 2011. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/15 "2011-09-23T03:21:11Z")
Nintendo originally made playing cards. The company did well selling decks of cards but figured there was no obvious place to expand that business. So they tried a variety of different areas such as taxi services, hotels, television production, and snack food. Most of these ventures failed but one of them - video games - was a big success. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/16 "2011-09-23T03:30:04Z")
Pixar started out designing medical equipment. They developed some in-house animations as part of a sales promotion for some computer monitors they were selling. The animations were very popular, so they did more, and eventually they ended up selling off their medical equipment business to go into animation fulltime. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/17 "2011-09-23T03:36:02Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Perhaps my favorite is the [Thiokol Snowcat](http://www.tahoebasin.com/snowcats/images/mvc-002t.jpg)… The cool thing about Thiokol snow cats is that you can turn them into [one of these](http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/01/the-chariot-from-lost-in-space.html). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/18 "2011-09-23T03:39:24Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I can’t remember if it’s urban legend or not, but, ‘Mattel made the stocks for M-16s’ is the one that springs to mind. > > hh The way I heard it was that the first M-16s had really crummy plastic stocks. The soldiers who were armed with them joked that it was the first gun made by Mattel. Granted, _that_ isn’t necessarily a true story, either. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/19 "2011-09-23T04:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=C. Montgomery Burns] Kaiser was a builder of ships during WWII, if my memory is correct. [/QUOTE] And when they decided to have a go at taking care of the shipyard workers’ health, that became what is now a giant HMO called Kaiser Permanente. Ironically, some of the ships that were being built at the Kaiser yards were thrown together so quickly, they had an unfortunate tendency to break and sink, earning them the name “Kaiser Coffins.” Western Electric is best known for making telephones, but in their early years, they also made small appliances such as desk fans and sewing machines. We could also use a category for mega conglomerates like GE, Siemens and 3M: [ul] [li]GE makes everything from clock radios, light bulbs, CT and MRI scanners, medical records systems, nuclear reactors and consumer credit. [/li][li]Siemens makes mobile phones, locomotives, power generation and health care equipment.[/li][li]3M produces a wild array of adhesives, abrasives, medical products and pet treats.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274/20 "2011-09-23T04:22:33Z")
Nokia started as a paper mill, and later merged with a company that made rubber boots. Eventually, they got into mobile phones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/products-made-by-a-company-known-mainly-for-a-completely-different-type-of-product/597274.md?page=2)