The BG Service Company, Inc.

History

The BG Corporation

The BG Corporation was founded circa 1918 in New York by Charles Brewster and Arthur Goldsmith. Brewster, an engineer, and Goldsmith, a jeweler, established the company for the purpose of developing a reliable aircraft spark plug for an aircraft industry that was in its infancy. The company’s pioneering work in mica insulator design, heat transfer, and electrode configuration yielded such good results that commercial success quickly followed. In the aviation world, the “BG” name came to symbolize quality.

World War – Industry Changes

During the Second World War, the BG Corporation became a major supplier of spark plugs to the U.S. military. A new market also emerged: BG’s platinum electrode spark plugs provided exceptionally long service life in the stationary, industrial gas engines used principally in the oil & gas industry. In the two decades following the war, the transition in the aircraft industry from reciprocating engines to jet engines significantly reduced the need for the company’s products. In 1964 the BG Corporation was disbanded and The BG Service Company was formed for the purpose of supplying BG spark plugs for stationary gas engines.

The BG Service Company

The industrial gas engine market posed new challenges. Industrial engines ran continuously day and night, year after year. The environment was dirty. Downtime was expensive and the emphasis was on production. Engine maintenance was often poor. Spark plug cables and connectors often failed before the spark plug, unable to handle the ever-increasing demand voltages that were the product of “clean burn” engine technology advances.

Almost from its inception The BG Service Company began to focus on development of peripheral products as a way to reduce ignition problems. BG’s innovative engineering has resulted in a portfolio of products that include the world’s first single piece ¾”-20 shielded extension, the first coil adapter for integral coils, the first non-shielded Flashtite™ extension accepted by regulatory bodies in the Gulf of Mexico, the first non-metallic high tension leads to be approved by the Canadian Standards Association, the first FAA approved igniter lead for VLJ’s (Very Light Jets), and a host of other cabling and connector products that improve engine performance and extend spark plug life.

Today BG is a leading designer and manufacturer of cable assemblies and connecting devices for gas engines – both reciprocating and turbine. Applications include industrial, automotive and aerospace.

Products include a wide range of spark plug extensions and primary & secondary ignition cables, turbine igniter leads, as well as cable assemblies and devices for control of signal processing. The company also manufactures industrial spark plugs using a proprietary silver-cast manufacturing process that results in optimum heat transfer and longer plug life. Products are marketed through a worldwide distribution network. Custom products and engineering services are sold directly to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s).