Reading an old Shawmut label

Pull a fuse out of an old panel and the name on its label tells you roughly when it was made. Whatever that name is, it comes from the same product family Mersen makes today.

Names on Shawmut and Ferraz labels, and the years each was in use

The label says	Made about	What it is now
Chase-Shawmut	1893 to 1976	Mersen
Gould Shawmut	1976 to 1999	Mersen
Ferraz (France)	1928 to 1999	Mersen
Ferraz Shawmut	1999 to 2010	Mersen
Mersen	2010 to today	Current name

How one fuse line got five names

The line starts in Boston, where the Shawmut Fuse Wire Company was founded in 1885. A merger with Chase & Co. in 1893 made it Chase-Shawmut, and in 1905 the company moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts. The I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company bought it in 1953 and kept the Chase-Shawmut name. When Gould bought I-T-E in 1976, the fuses became Gould Shawmut.

In 1999 Carbone Lorraine of Paris bought Gould Shawmut and merged it with its French Ferraz division, which gave the name Ferraz Shawmut. On June 16, 2010, Carbone Lorraine and all of its subsidiaries, Ferraz Shawmut included, took a single new name: Mersen. It was a change of name, not a sale. Product brands such as Amp-Trap® 2000, Surge-Trap®, UltraSafe™, TPMOV® and Tri-Onic® kept their own names.

Have an old part number?

If the fuse is from another maker, our condensed cross reference lists the Ferraz Shawmut series that replaces it. For a Shawmut or Ferraz part, send us the number and every name on the label and we'll find the part Mersen makes today. You can also call +1 (262) 252-1600.

More: the full history, and where the name “Mersen” comes from · Mersen's 2010 name-change announcement (PDF)

Sources: Mersen's North America quality manual; Mersen's June 16, 2010 name-change announcement; trade reports of the 1999 acquisition.