The company known for circuit protection expands its switch offerings.

Acquisitions take place all the time. Often, it’s startups being acquired by larger companies or companies being acquired by competitors. In the case of Littelfuse’s acquisition of C&K, it’s the merger of two long-established electrical/electronic component companies. The recently completed acquisition of C&K greatly enhances Littelfuse’s line of switches.

Founded in Chicago during 1927, Littelfuse has been a mainstay in circuit protection. Today, the company’s wide product line include varistors, power semiconductors, relays, ESD protection devices, and of course, fuses and fuse holders. I visited the company’s Chicago-area facility in November 2007 to write a profile on how they company tested its products. Sometimes, the only way to test a circuit-protection product is to destroy it.

C&K began its life in 1957 in Newton, Mass. The company’s first product was magnetic computer memory units. Current C&K headquarters are in neighboring Waltham. The company was part of the conglomerate ITT from 1974 to 2007. Today’s C&K’s product line consists of toggle, rocker, rotary, slide, and DIP switches.

To me, C&K is best known for toggle and DIP switches. Who hasn’t used C&K DIP switches to configure a base address on a digital board? C&K DIP switches often appear in breakout boxes. My former colleague Steve Leibson used DIP switches to build his own RS-232 troubleshooting box.

What have you done with Littelfuse or C&K products?