1940’s-1950’s
The story of Maximum Weather Instruments really begins in the 1940’s with our predecessor company Wilfrid O. White & Sons, This family-owned business was a well-respected maker of  compasses, depth sounders and other equipment for the U.S. Navy and commercial markets. When the patriarch of the family passed, his two sons took over the business. Gordon (shown here later in his career) handled engineering, while Robert ran the business side. The company achieved considerable success when Gordon invented the “Corsair”, an internally gimbaled compass that became very popular among recreational boaters in the 1950’s along with the first full line of wind and weather instruments. The company was purchased by The Eastern Company (Owner of Danforth Anchors) who merged the two companies as Danforth/White and moved operations to Maine.

196o’s and 70’s
Though the original company was sold to new owners, Gordon never stopped innovating. Going back to the drawing board in the basement of his Dover, Massachusetts home, Gordon set his mind to resolving a number of  engineering and electromechanical challenges to develop a new line of highly precise weather instruments. After being awarded patents for these inventions, Gordon launched Maximum Weather Instruments in the Summer of 1968.

1970’s passing the torch from Father to Son.
Gordon’s innovative instruments, including the first ever “Maestro” with its patented gust register and the revolutionary magnetic anemometer Gordon invented gained in popularity, the small company needed to relocate to a bigger facility in order to be able to keep up with demand from its various stocking resellers. The company moved operations 5 miles up the road to Natick, Massachusetts. It was around this time that Gordon’s son Ken finished Business School and soon purchased the company from his father. Gordon humorously described the transaction as one  “involving a lot of paper, none of it green.”

Continued Growth and New Leadership
With Ken at the helm of the business, Gordon continued to innovate on the product side and the brand cemented its reputation for outstanding quality and precision among the yachting community and other weather enthusiasts. A loyal former customer named Jim Brooks, who had signed on to oversee factory operations in the mid 1970’s, saw what he believed to be a tremendous opportunity for expansion and growth and made an offer to purchase the company. Jim took over in 1979

Under Jim’s Leadership
To grow the company, Jim encouraged development of an expanded number of models, including new instruments with digital readouts. To increase sales, he invested in marketing, producing a more upscale catalog that emphasized aesthetics as much as technical values. And on the production line, which he knew already, his focus was on increased efficiency. Maximum expanded its reach beyond the marine sector and its instruments were soon being sold by high end jewelry and furniture stores across the country and in into Europe.

Maximum Sells to Imtra
Throughout Jim’s tenure as owner of the company, one of its largest stocking Resellers was Imtra Corporation, a leading distributor of marine products with international reach. When Jim  felt he had taken the company as far as he could as owner and president, he engaged in talks with Imtra who expressed great interest and acquired the business. Imtra purchased Maximum in 1986 and kept the operation (and staff) in Natick before moving the company (and employees) to Imtra’s headquarters in New Bedford MA, where it remains today.

Maximum Today.
Operating as a separate company, Maximum shares space with Imtra in a large facility in New Bedford, MA. The building houses Maximum’s manufacturing, marketing, sales support and shipping operations. A team of 15 dedicated employees work every day to carry on the proud tradition of handcrafted quality and precision that Gordon initiated and that has been preserved for generations. The company is now headed by Peter Kilgore who has served as President since 1998.