The Rand Kardex Merger

The Rand Kardex Merger

In the 10 years after 1915 the two Rands, father and son were great business rivals. The success of the American Kardex Company had led the Rand Company to adopt a similar type of product, and both firms had gone their separate ways. In the early part of 1925, James Rand Sr, and James Rand Jr, reconciled their differences and agreed to merge their two large firms into one great organization. This merger took place on April 1, 1925, and the firm was called the Rand Kardex Company.

In New England just such a product had been manufactured for a number of years. The product, known as Index Visible, was invented in 1908 by Professor Irving Fisher of Yale University. He patented the product in 1912 and began manufacturing it in a small plant. Mr Rand Jr, decided that Index Visible would be a valuable addition to his company’s service, so on July 1, 1925, Index Visible was merged with the Rand Kardex Company.