In 1942, just months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nineteen Hundred Corporation joined hundreds of other American companies by converting all of its facilities to wartime production.

Innovation and ingenuity were watchwords even then. The company modified a shipboard anti-aircraft gun that was more accurate, while also reducing its cost from hundreds of dollars to $9.60. It manufactured a piece of the P-40 Kittyhawk fighter wing for less than $400, just one-tenth of the government's original cost. The company also produced more than 68,000 airplane propellers, mortars and a specialized tank steering device for the war effort.

Ultimately, America's tireless genius for manufacturing would lead the Allies to victory in World War II.

Shortly after the war, the company became the world's first to introduce a milestone product that has become a standard today: the top-loading automatic washer. In 1948, another first: the company markets a Whirlpool brand automatic washer, thus establishing dual distribution — one line of products for Sears, another for Nineteen Hundred.