History

After developing the U.S.'s first jet engine, GE proceeds to design and produce the world's most popular. GE begins work on what will become the world's most produced jet engine in history, the 5,000 pound-thrust J47, in Lynn, Massachusetts.

GE scientist Vincent Schaefer, a machinist and high school dropout, develops cloud seeding — the process of making rain by seeding clouds in the atmosphere. The idea today helps protect Midwestern corn and wheat fields from hail damage, and helped jump start the emerging postwar field of atmospheric science.

GE produces the first two-door refrigerator-freezer combination. In this 7.5 cubic foot unit, the freezer compartment keeps frozen food protected at zero to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, while the refrigerator maintains about 38 degrees Fahrenheit for normal food storage and does not have to be defrosted.

In another first for consumer convenience, GE's Hotpoint introduces the first custom-matched cooking equipment for fast food service operations. An electronic oven for restaurants is developed, designed to heat pre-cooked frozen foods to table temperature in about a minute.

Work begins on what will become GE's most famous military engine, the J79. The engine is designed around one of the most important jet engine developments in history, the J79's variable stator — a mechanical device used to achieve much sought after higher compressor pressures. The first tests produce such high efficiency that engineers working on the project initially believe their instruments are malfunctioning!

Seeking an improved wire enamel, GE chemist Daniel W. Fox makes discoveries leading to the development of Lexan polycarbonate resin — a transparent plastic of unsurpassed impact resistance. New applications for Lexan are still being discovered today, including the recent use of Lexan in the manufacture of CDs.

GE takes convenience a step further with the introduction of the first truly automatic portable dishwasher, the Mobile Maid®. It is shipped from GE's recently completed (1952) Appliance Park facility in Louisville, Kentucky.

Continuing to lead the way in aviation, GE introduces the first hermetically sealed micro-miniature relay for aircraft and aerospace applications. Numerous versions of this product are now in use in virtually every U.S. commercial and military aircraft.

The GE Research Laboratory announces the invention of the first reproducible process for making diamonds — a landmark achievement that had eluded some of the world's top scientists for centuries. This process became the basis for GE's man-made industrial diamond business, which is today one of the world's major sources of industrial diamond abrasives.

Innovations for the home continue with GE's invention of the world's first toaster oven: the T-93 Toast-R-Oven. This small appliance makes a big difference in the lives of singles and those pressed for time, as GE brings the modern conveniences to more and more people.

GE reaches another aviation milestone in producing the engine of the world's fastest jet transport, the Convair Skylark. The engine, the GE CJ805 is a "commercialized" version of the renown military aircraft J79 engine, and marks GE's entry into the commercial jet engine business.

GE continues to make innovative new discoveries in plastics as Allan S. Hay of the GE Research Laboratory discovers a technique for polymerization by oxidative coupling. It leads to polyphenylene oxide and finally Noryl resin, a widely used engineering plastic with unusual strength at high temperatures.