While Simpson Electric Company, chartered in 1934, is a firm with a distinguished past, it is just as importantly an organization with a dynamic present and a definite future. The famous 260 Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter put Simpson on the map and cemented a reputation for quality that still defines Simpson in the marketplace today. Yet, the Simpson Electric story is about more than one product. It is about people, who with Ray Simpson, started the instrument industry, building sensitive electrical products that perform reliably in tough, industrial conditions to a diversified line of digital and analog panel meters and test instrumentation products.

Simpson Electric’s prominence in the panel and test instrument industry dates back to 1927, when their founder, Ray Simpson, built the indicating mechanism for the earth inductor compass that Charles Lindbergh relied upon when he flew “The Spirit of St. Louis” on the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. For thirty-three hours, Lindbergh’s life and success of his historic flight depended largely on this navigational instrument, while the world awaited his arrival in Paris.

This honor was only the beginning of Simpson’s ground-breaking innovations for their customers. The first of many patented designs from Simpson featured a full bridge type meter movement with soft iron pole pieces which were anchored, providing a rigid frame to keep the movement in proper alignment.

In 1985, Simpson Electric was purchased by the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. The tribal council made the purchase to preserve the existing work force and to create a more diversified economy for north central Wisconsin.