H. Wilson Company

H. Wilson Company

The H. Wilson Company is the premier manufacturer of utility carts, audio visual carts, video tables, computer work stations, overhead projector tables, mobile cabinets, TV and speaker mounting systems, tripods, literature racks, and more! We cater to the educational, office, library, and industrial furniture markets. With dealers in all 50 states, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia we have become the worldwide leader in the manufacture of high-quality specialty furniture. The H. Wilson company was founded in 1959 by a visionary named Howard Wilson (hence our company name). It all started back in the 1950’s when Howard was working for Radiant Screen Company in Chicago as the Regional Sales Manager. Howard had a particular affinity for the audio-visual portion of his responsibilities and marketing efforts of Radiant Screen. When he decided to open his own business, he knew it would be in the AV market.

Howard looked for a product for which there was a need but not presently being made and supplied. This was back in the days when many schools had what they called an “AV Room” to watch filmstrips in, because the classrooms were not dark enough. Radiant Screen and other manufacturers were busy trying to manufacture projectors that would project onto screens in a lighted room. They were not successful, so Howard had a mobile Rear Projection Unit made. This unit projected movies, filmstrips, or slide programs in a fully-illuminated room. There was no doubt in Howard’s mind that the Rear Projection Unit would work.

In 1959, before he introduced his Rear Projection Unit, Howard founded H. Wilson and built a modest dealer base selling projector tables. The projector tables were all he sold until July of 1960, when at the NAVA convention he publicly introduced his Rear Projection Unit. By this time, Howard had a solid nucleus of dealers working with him. The Rear Projection Unit was eagerly accepted by the educational market and ultimately went on the be the first in a long line of H. Wilson’s very successful products.

Howard’s greatest achievement came in the early 1970’s when H. Wilson was the first company to successfully apply the emerging technology of structural foam injection molding as an alternative for manufacturing steel mobile carts. Structural foam is nearly indestructible, and it made shipping disassembled products practical and cost-effective. The rise of this technology gave birth to the Tuffy® Table, which established a new standard and created a new industry. To this day, H. Wilson is still the only company to manufacture plastic AV carts in seven different colors.

In October of 1976, Howard Wilson sold his growing business to EBSCO Industries of Birmingham, Alabama.

While H. Wilson is strongly identified with plastic manufacturing technologies, our steel manufacturing capabilities are second to none. We utilize Vulcan Industries, one of our sister EBSCO divisions, unique design, manufacturing and finishing facilities to produce both our steel and wire products.

H. Wilson serves world markets through leading audio-visual dealers, school equipment distributors, library equipment distributors, microcomputer dealers, office products dealers and other specialty furniture channels of distribution. Our general offices are maintained in Waukegan, IL (near Chicago) and we have warehousing and distribution facilities in both Waukegan, and Birmingham, AL.