There is a number of mutually connected but not identical companies and brands:
- Pfanstiehl
- Fansteel
- Balkite
- Balkeit

In the literature as well as in advertisements there is no unambiguous allocation and use of a.m. names. To avoid doublets and erroneous combinations we are concentrating all products at Fansteel, since it is the longest lasting of all names. The erroneous spelling "Pfansteihl" is found e.g. in "the Radio Collectors Directory...1921 -1965" by R.E.Grinder.

Pfanstiehl changed the name during WW 1 (1917) to the less German sounding Fansteel.
Fansteel used the brand Balkite for radios from about 1928/29.
Balkite was the brand name for rectifiers, chargers, and battery eliminators before, while radios ran under Pfanstiehl name.

In April 1930 the Balkite plant and equipment were sold. Being off the radio sector, Fansteel continued its activities: electrical contacts for the automotive industry (as it did in 1914 under Pfanstiehl Lab.), as well as fabricating components for the Space Shuttle. Alan Larsen: "Fansteel Products Co. actually produced the Balkite rectifiers and the separate Pfanstiehl Radio Company produced the radios."

Fansteel is still in business (Sept 2017).