Hotpoint is a British brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas through its purchase of GE Appliances in 2016. History Pacific Electric Heating Company The company name Hotpoint comes from the hot point of the innovative first electric iron. Invented by American, Earl Richardson (1871–1934) in 1905, he subsequently formed his 'Pacific Electric Heating Company' in Ontario, California, in 1906. The device became known as the Hotpoint iron, with its hottest point at the front and not the center. Hotpoint Hotpoint was founded in 1911 by Earl Richardson. Hotpoint Electric Heating Company In 1912, the company began making electric irons, and in 1919, electric cookers in the United States. Earl Richardson also invented the first iron that switched off automatically when a maximum temperature was reached. It is claimed to have developed one of the earliest electric toasters in 1908, known as the El Tosto, and later, under GE, the Hotpoint brand name became one of the most popular brands of toaster in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Richardson founded his own settlement, Adelanto, California, in 1915. Edison Electric Appliance Company In 1918, the company, known as the Hotpoint Electric Heating Company' , merged with the Heating Device Section of General Electric, becoming the 'Edison Electric Appliance Company'. Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company In 1920, it established a joint venture with competitor General Electric, forming the '''Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company' Limited (HEAC) to market GE (USA) branded goods in the United Kingdom. Edison General Electric Company In 1927, GE bought the factory and entire company. It became known as the Edison General Electric Company' in 1931. Most Hotpoint production moved to GE's mammoth Appliance Park manufacturing complex in Louisville, KY in the beginning of the 1950s. To this day, many Hotpoint appliances are made at Louisville, the largest appliance plant in the world. GEC In 1929, HEAC joined the Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) group, itself bought by The General Electric Company in 1967. By the 1960s it was the market leader in household electrical appliances in the United Kingdom, followed by Sweden's Electrolux. GDA Hotpoint continued as a subsidiary of GEC until 1989, when it was merged into a new division of GEC called General Domestic Appliances (GDA). 50% of GDA was purchased by