 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2014) |
 | |
| Industry | Agricultural equipment |
|---|---|
| Founded | Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1892 |
| Headquarters | U.S. |
Key people | Christopher W. LeValley |
| Products | Chain belts |
Chain Belt Company was an agricultural equipment manufacturer in the US. It produced chain belts specifically to replace leather-based belts, which were used inside engine-powered agricultural equipment at the time.
The company was established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by inventor Christopher W. LeValley, who also went by C.W. Levalley, and two foundry operators, that provided him with $11,000.00 in starting capital, [1] F.W. Sivyer and W.A. Draves. [2] It was incorporated on February 20, 1892. [3] The company applied the concept of chain belts on farm machinery to construction machinery and conveying equipment. Its building was formerly owned by Alonzo Pawling and Henry Harnischfeger of Pawling & Harnischfeger, [1] which eventually became Harnischfeger Corporation.
In the 1890s the company manufactured chain-driven material handling conveyors and bucket elevators for Milwaukee breweries such as the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. By 1894 the company began to develop international markets, exporting chains to Europe and opening a sales office in England.
By 1913 annual sales reached $1 million. At that time the company's products were organized into three major divisions: chain products for power transmission; chain-driven construction machinery; and chain-powered bulk conveying equipment.
In 1914 it introduced the Rex brand-name, which was first used on a chain-driven concrete mixer. It soon became a widely recognized trademark.
In 1923, C.R. Messinger of Chain Belt Company served as President of the American Foundry Society for a one-year term.
In 1941 it won the combined Army and Navy Award for Excellence in War Production. [4]
By 1943 it was manufacturing: Rex Chain, Rex Concrete Mixers, Rex Sprockets, Rex Traveling Water Screens, Rex Elevators, and Rex Conveyors and was working on conveyor for chemicals. [5]
By 1944 it was producing rifles, howitzers, anti-aircraft guns (rifles), tank turrets, ammunition hoists for navy vessels and turrets, tracks and gunshields for Alligator armored vehicles. [6] [7]
By 1959 its business was involved in four distinct categories: Construction Machinery, Heavy Bulk Material Handling Systems, Mechanical Power Transmission, Sanitation and Industrial Waste Treatment Equipment. [8] [9]
In 1964 the company changed its name to Rex Chainbelt, Inc. Nordberg Manufacturing Company was acquired in 1970, and in 1973 the company name changed to Rexnord. [10]
In October 2016, Rexnord announced plans to move its bearings manufacturing plant, with its 300 union jobs and 75-80 supervisory jobs, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Monterrey, Mexico, in June 2017. [11] [12] President-elect Donald Trump criticized Rexnord for firing 300-plus American employees, via Twitter on December 2, 2016. [13]
A conveyor belt is the carrying medium of a belt conveyor system. A belt conveyor system is one of many types of conveyor systems. A belt conveyor system consists of two or more pulleys, with a closed loop of carrying medium—the conveyor belt—that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler pulley. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport large volumes of resources and agricultural materials, such as grain, salt, coal, ore, sand, overburden and more.
A Woodworking machine is a machine that is intended to process wood. These machines are usually powered by electric motors and are used extensively in woodworking. Sometimes grinding machines are also considered a part of woodworking machinery.
A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining.
Komatsu Ltd. or Komatsu (コマツ) is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures construction, mining, forestry and military equipment, as well as diesel engines and industrial equipment like press machines, lasers and thermoelectric generators. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The corporation was named after the city of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, where the company was founded in 1921. Worldwide, the Komatsu Group consists of Komatsu Ltd. and 258 other companies.
Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial settings such as factories, flour mills, sawmills, textile mills, steel mills, refineries, mines, and ore mills.
A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining.
Tsubakimoto Chain Co. is a Japanese manufacturer of power transmission and roller chain products. It was founded in Osaka in 1917 as a bicycle chain manufacturer. Later it became the first roller chain manufacturer in Japan approved by Japanese Industrial Standards. Tsubakimoto Chain has the world's largest market share for steel chains for general industrial applications and enjoys the world's top market share for timing drive systems for automobiles. The company is headquartered in Osaka, with its main manufacturing base in Kyotanabe, Kyoto.
A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow quick and efficient transport for a wide variety of materials, which make them very popular in the material handling and packaging industries. They also have popular consumer applications, as they are often found in supermarkets and airports, constituting the final leg of item/ bag delivery to customers. Many kinds of conveying systems are available and are used according to the various needs of different industries. There are chain conveyors as well. Chain conveyors consist of enclosed tracks, I-Beam, towline, power & free, and hand pushed trolleys.
Heyl & Patterson Inc. is an American specialist engineering company, founded in 1887 and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
P&H Mining Equipment sells drilling and material handling machinery under the "P&H" trademark. The firm is an operating subsidiary of Joy Global Inc. In 2017 Joy Global Inc. was acquired by Komatsu Limited of Tokyo, Japan, and is now known as Komatsu Mining Corporation and operates as a subsidiary of Komatsu.
Stedman Machine Company is a manufacturer of crushing equipment in Aurora, Indiana, United States, that was founded by Nathan Rockwell Stedman in 1834.
Altra Industrial Motion is an American manufacturer of mechanical power transmission products – brakes, clutches, couplings, and the like. The company is headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts.
Joy Global Inc. was a company that manufactured and serviced heavy equipment used in the extraction and haulage of coal and minerals in both underground and surface mining. The company had manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, Australia, Canada, China, France, South Africa, Poland and the United Kingdom. In 2017, Joy Global was acquired by Komatsu Limited and was renamed Komatsu Mining Corp.
Link-Belt Cranes is an American industrial company that develops and manufactures heavy construction equipment, specializing in telescopic and lattice boom cranes. Link-Belt is headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, and is a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, Sumitomo Heavy Industries.
William Dana Ewart invented and patented the linked belt, a square detachable link for chain belts, on September 1, 1874. The metal chain "linked belt" replaced the leather and strap belts used on agricultural equipment at the time.
Elecon Engineering Company Limited is an Indian multinational company headquartered in Anand, Gujarat. The company specializes in the manufacturing of industrial gear and material handling equipment. Elecon is one of the largest Asian manufacturers of industrial gears and material handling equipment for core major sector like power, steel, cement, sugar, paper, mining, rubber and many more. Elecon group has subsidiaries such as Eimco Elecon Ltd, Elecon Hydraulics, Elecon Information Technology Ltd (EITL) and Tech Elecon Pvt. Ltd. (TEPL).
Henry Harnischfeger was a pioneer in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, mining industry.
Nordberg Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, large diesel engines, pumps, hoists and compressors for the mining and quarry industries located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
KYB Corporation is a Japanese, Tokyo-based automotive company.
Rexnord Corporation is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based subsidiary of Regal Rexnord Corporation. It was founded in 1891 by Christopher Levalley and incorporated in 1892 as the Chain Belt Company. It had "$67.5 million in profit and $1.9 billion in sales" in 2016. The company was the focus of a critical investigation by the New York Times, as a Milwaukee-based facility was to be moved from the US to Mexico in 2017.