Harris Corporation
The "Harris Automatic Press Company" was founded by Alfred S. Harris in Niles, Ohio, in 1895. The company spent the next 60 years developing lithographic processes and printing presses before acquiring typesetting company Intertype Corporation. In 1957, Harris acquired Gates Radio, a producer of broadcast transmitters and associated electronics gear, but kept the Gates brand name alive by putting the Gates sticker on the back of numerous transmitters that were labeled Harris on the front panels.
Milton Harris (scientist)
With the beginning of US involvement in World War II, Harris’ group began advising the Army Quartermaster about textiles, as well as helping to solve a myriad of problems for the NBS. Harris aided the research and redesign of sandbag sacking, tent cloth, and the chemical additives in military underwear that were used to protect soldiers from the effects of a gas attack. At the end of World War II, while the Textile Foundation was relocated to Princeton, New Jersey, Harris elected to stay in Washington, D.C. With the help of some colleagues, Harris started the Harris Research Laboratories, which operated as a consulting laboratory for the Gillette Company and American Enka Company, among others.
Harris’ association with the Gillette Company grew with the development of his consulting business. In 1955, Gillette bought the Harris Research Laboratories and appointed Harris Vice President of Research. Just before his retirement from Gillette in 1966, Milton Harris was approached by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors and asked if he would accept a nomination to the board. He accepted and served as head for six years. In 1975 Harris headed an ACS panel which produced a study instrumental to the National Academy of Sciences’ recommendation for widespread cultivation of the jojoba shrub.
Harris died of cancer September 12, 1991. His papers were donated to Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections in November 1995.