 In the 1950s, A. O. Smith acquired Whirl-A-Way Motors of Dayton, Ohio, and consolidated its electric motor manufacturing operations there.The motor division later introduced the hermetic motor, a critical component of air conditioning and refrigeration compressors.Its water heater division introduced the first glass-lined commercial water heater, the "A. O. Smith Burkay B-65", and later the company established a glass fiber division to replace steel in many applications.