Hughes Tool Company

[2] After Hughes Sr. died of a heart attack in 1924, his son Howard Jr. inherited the majority interest in the company, and then convinced his relatives to sell their shares to him as well.

Hughes Aircraft thrived on wartime contracts during World War II (though not on the only two contracts it received to actually build airplanes), and by the early 1950s was one of America's largest defense contractors and aerospace companies with revenues far outpacing the original oil tools business.

At the end of Prohibition in the United States, Hughes agreed to construct a brewery on company property.

Automation replaced handiwork, and the company standardized on drill bit sizes, while embarking on an advertising campaign.

The company also opened plants in Ireland and West Germany, taking advantage of cheaper labor, and lower transportation costs to clients in Saudi Arabia and Russia.

In the late-1960s, Hughes Tool ventured into the hotel and casino business with the acquisition of the Sands, Castaways, Landmark, Frontier, Silver Slipper, and Desert Inn, all in Las Vegas.

Hughes Tool also briefly owned Los Angeles Airways, a small airline operating a commuter service with a fleet of helicopters.

[7] It also manufactured a line of truck and crane-mounted earth augering machines ("diggers") that were most commonly used to produce holes up to a depth of about 120 feet (37 m) for building and bridge foundations.