Cerberus Pyrotronics History

[TheCarson116]

@Mhgk

I think Cerberus gave permission for Baker to produce other detectors (possibly including the DI-4A and DI-7L, which have ads in this folder).

Could have sworn reading that the agreement was specifically for the DI-3 detector but okay.

@Mhgk

The first note at the end reads “The 1973 agreement supersedes an exclusive licensing agreement entered into by the parties’ predecessors in interest on Jan. 17, 1951.” This 1956 ad is the earliest Pyrotronics ad I found, and it is still a division of Baker at this point, together with the “Cerberus licensed” Pyr-A-Larm.

It seems that Pyrotronics has always been a division of Baker, which itself was split from another part of Pyrene-C-O-Two. I have not heard of any other divisions of Baker that would have formed at this time.

Ah okay. I searched for Baker’s previous name as mentioned in that document & found this wiki page, which would mean that Baker (& thus possibly Pyrotronics too) goes back as far as 1925!

@Mhgk

The first note at the end reads “The 1973 agreement supersedes an exclusive licensing agreement entered into by the parties’ predecessors in interest on Jan. 17, 1951.”

Wait…does that seriously mean that Cerberus might have had a deal with the company that would eventually become Baker Industries all the way back then, & that only in the early 80s did they finally object to such a deal for seemingly no reason?

[Mhgk]

@TheCarson116

Could have sworn reading that the agreement was specifically for the DI-3 detector but okay.

It reads, “Defendant Cerberus owns certain patent rights relating to the manufacture of ionization smoke detectors. On April 1, 1973, Cerberus entered into an agreement with Baker under which Cerberus granted Baker an exclusive twenty-year license to make, use and sell detector devices using Cerberus’s patents in the United States, Canada and Mexico.” There is no reference to the DI-3 in particular, which I did not see any ads for until the early 1980s.

@TheCarson116

Wait…does that seriously mean that Cerberus might have had a deal with the company that would eventually become Baker Industries all the way back then, & that only in the early 80s did they finally object to such a deal for seemingly no reason?

1982 was also when Gamewell started partnering with Cerberus to distribute the R-7, according to this ad. The DI-3 may have been intended for Gamewell to distribute as an ionization alternative to the R-7.

[TheCarson116]

@Mhgk

It reads, “Defendant Cerberus owns certain patent rights relating to the manufacture of ionization smoke detectors. On April 1, 1973, Cerberus entered into an agreement with Baker under which Cerberus granted Baker an exclusive twenty-year license to make, use and sell detector devices using Cerberus’s patents in the United States, Canada and Mexico.” There is no reference to the DI-3 in particular, which I did not see any ads for until the early 1980s.

Oh, okay.

@Mhgk

1982 was also when Gamewell started partnering with Cerberus to distribute the R-7, according to this ad. The DI-3 may have been intended for Gamewell to distribute as an ionization alternative to the R-7.

Alright. We still don’t know exactly when Baker/Pyrotronics & Cerberus first struck up a deal then?

[Mhgk]

@TheCarson116

Alright. We still don’t know exactly when Baker/Pyrotronics & Cerberus first stuck up a deal then?

The footnote mentioned above claims there was an earlier agreement from 1951, but there could have been another 20 year agreement before that (around 1931). According to the wiki page you found, Pyrene acquired C-O-Two in 1933, which might mean 1951 was a typo that should read 1953 (20 years after a hypothetical agreement in 1933 and 20 years before the updated 1973 agreement).

[Mhgk]

It also seems that Baker owned the patents for the XL3 addressable protocol, despite Gamewell apparently using a similar protocol on the Flex 500. I think Baker may have licensed this protocol to Cerberus after Cerberus acquired Gamewell.

This increases the chances that Cerberus acquired the entirety of Baker, since the MXL had a loop card for XL3 devices, which could have been more complicated if Baker still held the patents as a separate company.

https://www.freepatentsonline.com/4394655.html

[Caleb_Culwell (Locks and alarms)]

The flex-500A used a protocol made by Cerberus

[chris_s]

Bit of a necro, but:

Siemens bought Cerberus Pyrotronics in 1998. Gamewell wasn’t apart of it at that time.

Cerberus Pyrotronics had the System3 panel which came out in the 70s (maybe before) and wasn’t discontinued until the mid 2010’s. Later they had the IXL panel, then in 1992 introduced the MXL which phased out the IXL shortly after. The XLS came out in 2002ish under Siemens. The MXL continued on until 2013. The XLS still exists but has been rebranded “Desigo”. The “Desigo” brand name is very confusing though since it was given to a whole host of products by Siemens.