Parr Instrument Company has been rooted in the Quad Cities for more than a century and its products have helped researchers change the world since 1899. As the historic company celebrates 125 years and prepares to break ground on a major expansion and equipment upgrade, Quad Citians are waking up to the quiet manufacturer’s rich […]
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Mr. Parr invented an instrument – the calorimeter – for measuring the heating value of coal at a time when such devices were not generally available. He also discovered the alloy illium, an acid-resistant substitute for platinum, which helped Illinois find a market for its large reserves of bituminous coal. It also would later be used in boilers.
In 1911, Mr. Parr moved his manufacturing operations to the Root and Vandevoort Engine Co. in East Moline. Following World War I, the company moved to Moline, though a discovery made during the process of clearing Parr’s construction site makes it hard to determine where Parr moved and when.
While demolishing a large brick building that once housed a foundry and the Moline Body Company, workers uncovered an old wall bearing Parr’s first nameplate, the Standard Calorimeter Company. It also advertised illium, the aluminum alloy created by S.W. Parr and named for the U of I. Parr Instrument was familiar with that building, having rented space for its sheet metal operations there when it was owned by Artolite Electric. Even after Parr Instrument bought the building from Rock Island-based Crawford Co., which purchased it from Artolite, the current owner remained unaware of the company connection because the now exposed wall was still covered up by a later addition. Mr. Nelson speculated that when Standard Calorimeter left the Root and Vandervoort building, it may have moved into that brick building that once stood next door to the current Parr location. The original Standard Calorimeter Company would eventually team up with the C.F. Burgess Laboratories of Madison, Wisconsin, to form Burgess-Parr Company. That company split in 1933, with Burgess interests retaining all interest in the stainless alloy operation and a new corporation, Parr Instrument Company, retaining the calorimeter and laboratory equipment business. Harold L. Parr, son of the founder, was named its first president.