manufacturer see federal signal company . federal signal corporation type public traded as nyse fss founded 1901 headquarters oak brook illinois united states key people jennifer sherman president & ceo revenue 768 million usd reference 2015 10k number of employees 2 800 website www.federalsignal.com federal signal corporation is a global corporation with about 2 800 employees located in oak brook illinois . federal signal designs develops and deploys solutions intended to protect people property and the environment under brands including federal signal elgin guzzler jetstream vactor and victor . 1 federal signal is best known for its variety of emergency lighting sirens industrial equipment and public safety solutions . federal signal was founded in chicago illinois in 1901 as federal electric co. by john goehst and james and john gilchrist . 2 samuel insull later acquired the company . the company went public in 1969 under the leadership of robert t. gilchrist . currently the company has 12 manufacturing facilities in six different countries . 3 history edit federal signal was founded as the federal electric company in 1901 by brothers john and james gilchrist and partner john goehst manufacturing and selling store signs lit by incandescent lamps . by 1915 they began manufacturing and selling electrically operated mechanical sirens such as the q siren and the model 66 siren . during this time federal electric came under the ownership of commonwealth edison eventually becoming a part of the utility empire of samuel insull . by the 1950s the company was manufacturing outdoor warning sirens most notably the thunderbolt series primarily intended for warning of air raids or fallout during the cold war . many of these sirens have been removed but some still operate in tornado siren systems . longtime engineer earl gosswiller patented the beacon ray and twinsonic products which set the standard for emergency vehicle lightbars . in 1956 the company became a corporation renaming itself federal sign and signal corporation . by this time it made outdoor warning sirens police sirens fire alarms and outdoor lighting . by 1961 federal sign and signal had gone public trading on the nasdaq market . in 1976 the company became federal signal corporation . on feb 22 2000 federal signal corporation announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of p.c.s. company p.c.s. . 4 on june 27 2005 federal signal corporation announced the signing of a joint venture agreement to establish a chinese company federal signal shanghai environmental & sanitary vehicle company limited based near shanghai china . 5 on february 29 2016 federal signal announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of joe johnson equipment and the rights to the name and company . 6 references edit our companies . federal signal . retrieved 13 may 2016 . federal signal corp. . company histories . retrieved 14 may 2015 . who we are . federal signal . retrieved 14 may 2015 . federal signal corporation announces acquisition of p.c.s. company . federal signal corporation announces establishment of federal signal environmental & sanitary vehicle company ltd . federal signal executes agreement to acquire joe johnson equipment . pr newswire . retrieved 13 may 2016 . company history federal signal corp. funding universe external links edit chicago portal companies portal official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title federal signal corporation & oldid 741985445 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangefire detection and alarm companiesemergency population warning systemssirensoak brook illinoiscompanies based in dupage county illinoisemergency services equipment makershidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles containing video clips navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschpolski edit links this page was last modified on 30 september 2016 at 22 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view