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1885 Setting the tone for automation:
Invention of the furnace regulator
The introduction of home furnace heating presented its own inconvenience—having to directly adjust the furnace. Inventor Albert Butz patented the furnace regulator and alarm to launch the company that became Honeywell. The resultant "damper flapper” was a predecessor to the modern thermostat and the first of many Honeywell inventions. Remote adjustment of the furnace damper set the tone for convenience through automation.

The Consolidated Temperature Controlling Co. acquired Butz's patents and business, and by 1893, had renamed itself Electric Heat Regulator Co. In 1898, the company was purchased by W. R. Sweatt, who, by 1916, named the company Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company, expanded its product line and patented the first electric motor approved by Underwriters Laboratories.