Norton hardware worcester ny

Name A-Z. Cooperstown General Store Hardware Stores. Norton Hardware Hardware Stores. Cherry Valley Hardware Hardware Stores. Aubuchon Hardware Hardware Stores Paint. Norton Sales Hardware Stores. By Norton was the undisputed industry leader. The company was profitable each year including and paid "conservative" dividends each year with the exception of , the result of the move. What was not paid out in dividends went into reinvestment and cash reserves.

These cash reserves allowed the company to self-finance construction of an office building in the s and an abrasives plant in However, the firm's conservatism also had a downside. It sometimes passed up innovation. For example, in Edward Acheson sent an electric current through a mixture of clay and powdered coke. The resultant crystals, which he dubbed carborundum, scratched glass, and, according to Acheson, diamonds.

This new technology opened the way for artificial abrasives: the components of grinding wheels could now be controlled in ways that naturally occurring compounds could not. Norton turned down Acheson's request for financing. Acheson then turned to banker Andrew Mellen for help in forming the Carborundum Company, and by the early s, Acheson's company was Norton's major competitor, with a big head start. It was not until the early s that Norton entered into the realm of artificial abrasives.

In the company did, however, enter into a partnership with Charles H. The machine tool business was quite a departure for Norton and was undertaken gingerly. Charles Norton was a machinist who came to the company with an idea for building stationary grinding machines that could replace expensive workmen. What they got in was a versatile production grinder capable of high volume. Moreover, the grinder was able to work with pieces up to pounds and had the ability to grind to the unheard of tolerance of.

Sales were slow at first because of resistance in the machine shops, although there were some sales to early auto makers. The company was slow to recoup this investment. At the turn of the century, Norton was merely the largest enterprise in a tiny industry. Grinding and the use of abrasives was seen primarily as a way of smoothing rough edges, not as a precision tool.

That was to change with the popularization of the automobile. Prior to the automobile, it was very rare for a job to require tolerances tighter than. A skilled machinist could, with great effort and concentration, achieve that on a lathe.

However, automobile engines and other parts, such as crankshafts, required tolerances of. These could only be tooled efficiently, accurately, and economically by grinding. This was where Charles Norton's production grinders made all the difference. In Ford is said to have commented that "the abrasive processes are basically responsible for our ability to produce cars to sell for less than a thousand dollars. Were it not for these processes these same cars would cost at least five thousand dollars, if indeed they could be made at all.

In Norton estimated that 95 percent of an automobile's moving parts required grinding. At that time, the industry bought about 55 percent of Norton Grinding Company's output and had more than 68, grinding machines. In fact, the automotive industry had became Norton's biggest customer. Automobiles, though, were not the only factor in Norton's growth. Norton, like many other companies, received a tremendous boost from World War I.

Tanks and airplanes were among the vehicles whose parts required grinding. Another factor in Norton's growth was the increase in the size of the machine tool industry to cope with industrial demand. Machine tools had always been a significant user of abrasives.

In the s, however, Norton failed to maintain its role as an innovator in grinding machines. Its piece-by-piece construction of grinders was at odds with the needs of industry. Some products went 28 or more years without significant improvements. It also gave up leadership and business to companies that developed more efficient "centerless" external grinders. In part, this stagnation was due to management's primarily Jeppson and Higgins, the owner-operators loyalty to their original product, abrasives.

Charles Norton, after all, had been an outsider. And Charles Norton himself opposed the new machines, favoring his own. In the early s, in an attempt to correct the situation, the company reorganized and redesigned its product line, although resources were withheld from the machine division and put into the construction of abrasives plants.

This company, Norton's first acquisition, added coated abrasives and sandpaper to Norton's line. In fact, these products became the most profitable for Norton well into the s, while the company's grinders and bonded abrasives languished. However, the two companies rarely cooperated or pooled their talents and know-how. Behr-Manning became a leader in the development of belt sanders in the s, although its main competitor, 3M Company, consistently led it in sales.

By the late s, Behr-Manning monthly profits actually outstripped those of the parent company. Rust Removal. Steel Conditioning. Stock Removal. Surface Grinding. Surface Prep. Tool and Cutter Grinding. Tool Sharpening. Machine Machine. Bench and Pedestal Grinders. Bench Grinder. Manual Backstand Grinder. Pedestal Grinder. Cut-Off Machines. Chop Saw. Chop Stroke Machine. Fixtured Rail Saw. Portable Cut-Off Tool. Belt Floor Sander. Drum Floor Sander. Floor Grinder. Rotary Floor Buffer.

Foundry Snagging Equipment. Floorstand Grinder. Swingframe Grinder. Hand Sanding. Hand Sharpening. Sanding Block. Sanding Board. Not Applicable. Other Portable Tools. Handheld Buffer. Power Drill. Tool Post Grinder. Portable Belt Sanders. File Belt Sander.

Portable Belt Sander. Portable Disc Sanders. Handheld Disc Sander. Pistol Grip Air Sander. Random Orbital Sander. Portable Grinders.