Our History

As a young man, Max Wastl immigrated to the United States and studied Electrical Engineering at the prestigious Purdue University. Using his education and experience as a guide, he established Lafayette Instrument Company in 1947 with a single employee and a small shed. Over time, in addition to physiological recording instrumentation and psychology testing, Lafayette began to explore the sports and polygraph markets.

With ongoing expansion came international attention, and as a result, Campden Instruments was acquired in 1998 to be an extension and complement to Lafayette's market-leading Neuroscience product line. In 2016, having seen a growing need for scientifically-driven credibility assessment training, PEAK Credibility Assessment Training Center was born. In 2022, Limestone Technologies Inc. was acquired to further reinforce Lafayette's commitment to the polygraph market. 2023 was a busy year at Lafayette Instrument with Aurora Scientific and Actimetrics joining our life sciences team. We are thankful for each member of our growing team!

Our Mission

Deliver industry-leading data acquisition, measurement, and analysis instrumentation and software to advance safety, security, science and medicine.

Our Values

Lafayette Instrument prioritizes people and ethics above all else. We are constantly striving to innovate, perfect our products and processes, and delight our customers.

History of the Lafayette Polygraph System

1972

First Examiners Polygraph - The first standard instrument was the result of intensive testing by professional polygraph examiners in the field. Features included a transportable captive-inking system, a one-piece stainless-steel pen shaft with sapphire jewel bearings, in-the-case accessory storage, and durable sealed galvanometers with increased sensitivity and sweep.

1973

The first Lafayette Polygraph featuring Electro-Cardio was delivered and rapidly became their most popular instrument. The patented Electro-Cardio, operating at 60 mmHg or below with no subject discomfort, provided individual sensitivity adjustments of pulse amplitude, response activity, and notch clarity.

1974

Lafayette Company introduced a fully electronic polygraph featuring Electro-Pneumo and Thermal Writing pens to eliminate messy and inconvenient inking systems.

1975

The first "Courier" polygraphs were produced featuring a compact attache case with AC line and/or rechargeable battery operation. The Courier-series polygraph system would see additional improvement with the addition of the Electro-Cardio in 1976.

1978

Lafayette introduced a new line of modular polygraphs. With the new modular instrumentation concept, Lafayette sought to overcome the design deficiencies of previous models and provided the polygraphist with the most flexible instrument possible. A few key improvements were: Modular Recording Channels, a swapable Electro-Cardio/Electro-Pneumograph Module, and a Plug-In Power Supply Board.

1979

Lafayette Introduced a five-channel polygraph instrument that stimulates electronic/mechanical recording of cardio and pneumograph responses. They also introduced the portable subject chair for the examiner who traveled in the field.

1981

Lafayette introduced the Diplomat and Ambassador series polygraph systems. The Diplomat included a carrying case, an in-case calibrator, and a storage area. It also featured a new quick connect/disconnect attachments which eliminated time-consuming conventional hose attachments and allowed the examiner to easily disconnect the hoses between examinations. The connectors were color-coded to input valves to eliminate confusion. The Ambassador shared similar features as the Diplomat except for the case and a rechargeable chart drive.

1984

Lafayette introduced the Factfinder with a 10-inch chart, which allowed five pens to be used simultaneously with large pen swing creating easier to read charts and leaving plenty of room for notations.

1986

Lafayette introduced the GSG Skin Conductance response amplifier, which was a minor change from the traditional GSR Channel as well as an activity sensor for measuring body movement to help the examiner detect examinee movement during a polygraph examination.

1992

Lafayette debuted the LX1000. This 5-channel instrument would have been their first fully computerized polygraph instrument, but it never progressed beyond the prototype phase.

1993

Lafayette introduced the LX2000 computerized polygraph instrument. Lafayette offered eight different computerized polygraph systems: four for the Macintosh® and four for the IBM®. The systems combined conventional polygraph procedures with the convenience and long term storage of a computer. Question list templates could be created and stored for frequent use. Each chart was a permanent digital record of each question asked and in the order that the question was asked.

1997

Lafayette introduced the LX3000. The LX3000 was smaller than the LX2000 and added more innovations to the software to make it more user-friendly and efficient.

1998

Lafayette introduced the portable activity sensor - the unit was smaller and could be folded to fit into a briefcase.

2002

Lafayette introduced the LX4000. The LX4000 was smaller and lighter than the LX3000 and had many innovations: more input channels, the capability to audio/video and store it in the same pf file as the examination, USB interface that enables the LX4000 to communicate with virtually any Windows®-based computer, does not require batteries, it is capable of simultaneously displaying and recording seven input signals and had a Redesigned EDA Circuit giving it a greater operating range, increased sensitivity, and subject isolation.

2007

Lafayette introduced the LX5000. The LX5000 was designed as a robust system that is significantly smaller in size. It was capable of simultaneously recording up to nine channels, providing a Data transfer rate of up to 360 samples per second across all channels, a 24-bit analog to digital conversion, expandable up to nine additional channels, extended measurement ranges, selectable GSR or GSC channel, and dedicated PLE channel.

2017

Lafayette introduced the LX6. With a footprint slightly larger than the LX5000, the LX6 was designed to be a more rugged system, but it also saw other significant hardware upgrades - new quick-release input connectors, ability to simultaneously record up to 10 channels, a data transfer rate of up to 360 samples per second across all channels, and a 32-bit analog-to-digital conversion. Selectable GSR or GSC channel, dedicated seat sensor, and PLE channel, with 3 additional auxiliary channels. Compatible with current LXSoftware and LXEdge - Lafayette's next-generation software.

2023

Lafayette released LXEdge. LXEdge shared many features with LXSoftware, but also boasted a modernized interface with improved efficiency and customization.