1987 FIN – Elgin Becomes a New Name in Fastener Industry

August 29

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By Dick Callahan, FIN Editor
January 9, 1987 FIN – The fastener industry has a new member – Elgin National Industries of Chicago, Illinois. Elgin makes its entry into the fastener field through the purchase, for about $17 million, of a number of fastener producing companies and a fastener distributing group from Nortek Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island.
The industrial fastener companies which Elgin is acquiring comprise a large part of the fastener business which Nortek welcomed to its family with the purchase of Monogram Industries of Santa Monica, California back in 1983 for about $65 million.

When Nortek bought Monogram, that company’s Metals Products Group included Monogram Aerospace Fasteners, Ohio Rod Products, Cornell Manufacturing Co., Natco Division, Chandler Products, World Fastener Division and Forges et Boulonneries D’Ars-Sur-Mossele in France.

The package which Elgin is acquiring includes Chandler Products, Cornell Mfg. Products Inc., Ohio Rod Products and Fasteners, Inc. Here’s a thumbnail description of each of these units:

• Chandler Products, Cleveland, Ohio, started in 1929, manufactures cold headed precision fasteners for the transportation industry, including the off-the-road, farm and truck markets. These products are produced in an 101,040 sq ft facility in Euclid, Ohio. Jim Hanson is general manager.

• Cornell Manufacturing Co. Inc., Orangeburg, New York, manufactures brass, aluminum and stainless steel precision nuts and fasteners for the electrical and industrial markets in a 33,000 sq ft facility in Orangeburg. Lou Schnur is general manager.

• Ohio Rod Products, Versailles, Indiana, produces bicycle spokes and nipples, headed and threaded long bolts, studs and trophy rods, in a 61,800 sq ft facility in Versailles. Charles Hall is general manager.

• Fasteners Inc., Michigan City, Indiana, sells replacement parts used in maintenance and repair of capital equipment in the transportation and commercial markets. Jim Pastula is general manager.

All these companies were part of Nortek’s Aerospace & Industrial Products segment. Another part of that segment, American Pneumatic Tool, which produces rivet hammers and other pneumatic tools, in Gardena, California, was sold by Nortek to Deutsch Fastener Corp., El Segundo, California, last year.

Nortek is retaining the Aerospace Fasteners group, Los Angeles, acquired from Monogram, which manufactures proprietary temporary and permanent fasteners for use in the production of such aircraft as McDonnell Douglas’ F-18, Rockwell’s B-1 and Boeing’s 737s. Nortek also is retaining Forges et Boulonneris D’Ars-Sur-Moselle, France, which produces fasteners for railroad tracks, mine roof bolts and special and standard cold headed bolts and nuts at a 485,000 sq ft facility.

Milton S. Gould, 77, is chairman of Elgin and a senior partner with Shea & Gould Attorneys in New York City. President and CEO is Richard G. Miller Jr., 68, who is also president of the Specialized Engineering group and Roberts & Schaefer. Executive vice president is Elmo J. Hurst, 57, who is also president of J.O. Lively Construction and Lively Manufacturing; Robert F. McDonald, 65, is vice president-finance; and Warren W. Browning, 60, is vice president, secretary and general counsel.

Hurst will probably be responsible for the fastener companies, which FIN understands will operate autonomously with most of their present management.

With the coal business down in the doldrums these days and with the growing competition for its horological business from overseas, it’s not surprising that Elgin is looking for some other lines of products and services to bolster its bottom line.

The fastener companies acquired from Nortek will “fit nicely into Elgin’s Specialized Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction Group,” Warren Browning told FIN.

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Elgin Products Include Watches With NFL Logos, Concrete Construction, and Coal Mining & Processing Products.

January 9, 1987 FIN – Elgin National Industries Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, was incorporated in 1962 in Delaware and in 1969 became successor to a company founded n 1864, which manufactured and sold watches and clocks. In 1969 Elgin was merged with TST Industries Inc., a Delaware corporation, which was organized in 1928 under the name Thompson-Starrett Co. Inc.

Elgin is primarily engaged in two major activities: the design, manufacture and construction of equipment used in the coal and other mineral processing industries; and the importation, assembly, and sale of consumer horological products (watches, clocks, etc.). The two major units engaged in these activities are the Specialized Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction Group and the Consumer Products Operation.

• The Specialized Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction Group, accounts for about 78% of Elgin’s yearly sale and consists mainly of the Roberts & Schaefer Co., Chicago, Illinois, and its subsidiaries.

Roberts & Schaefer is principally engaged in the design, engineering and construction of coal preparation and mineral beneficiation plants and material handling facilities. Wholly owned subsidiaries of Roberts & Schaeffer Co. include:

J.O. Lively Construction Co. and Lively Mfg. & Equipment Co., Glen White, West Virginia, which are engaged in activities similar to the construction group. The Lively companies’ principal offices and engineering and design facilities are housed in a 19,500 sq ft facility at Glen White. Toner Construction Co., a division of J.O. Lively Construction, is engaged in concrete construction, and ENI Engineering Co., Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a division of Lively Mfg. & Equipment, is engaged in engineering and sale of thermal dryers.
2. Langley & Morgan Co., Harlan, Kentucky, which is engaged in concrete and other construction work. At Harlan there’s a 5,000 sq ft warehouse and 3,000 sq ft of office space.
Centrifugal & Mechanical Industries Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, which designs, manufactures and sells centrifuges and replacement parts for centrifuges, mostly for the coal processing industry at a 54,000 sq ft facility in St. Louis.
Tabor Machine Co., Bluefield, West Virginia, which manufactures vibrating separating screens for coal and other mineral processing plants at a 44,000 sq ft facility at Bluefield.
Mining Controls Inc., Beckley, West Virginia, which manufactures, renovates, sells and distributes electrical controls and lighting equipment for the coal mining and mineral industries at a 24,600 sq ft facility in Beckley.
Clinch River Corp., Tazewell, Virginia, which manufactures and repairs light mining machinery (conveyor belt drives, underground personnel carriers, etc.) at a 24,000 sq ft plant in Tazewell.
Norris Screen & Manufacturing Inc., Princeton, West Virginia, which manufactures profile screen cloth for vibrating screens, wire screen baskets for centrifuge-type dryers and sieve screen for sieve bends for the coal industry at a 10,000 sq ft facility in Princeton.

• The Consumer Products Group includes:

The Bradley Time Division, Chicago, Illinois, which imports, assembles and distributes children’s clocks and inexpensive children’s character watches under the Bradley trademark. Bradley, formerly had a contract to produce and sell watches with Disney characters ( Mickey and Minnie Mouse etal), but this contract expired in late 1985. It still manufactures watches with various NFL logos on them. Bradley formerly had its administrative and sales offices in New York City, but these were moved to Chicago in 1986.
The Welby Clock Division, Chicago, Illinois, which imports, assembles and distributes decorator, specialty and alarm clocks under the Welby and Elgin trademarks. It also distributes weather instruments. Welby shares administrative and office space with Harwood Manufacturing (see below) in Chicago.
Harwood Manufacturing Co., Chicago, Illinois, a wholly owned subsidiary, which does assembly and light manufacturing for the Consumer Products Group and others at a 247,000 sq ft facility at 1800 West Fullerton Avenue in Chicago.

Sales for Elgin in 1985 (the last full year figures available) were $136.9 million, of which $106.1 million came from the Specialized Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction Group and $30.8 million came from the Consumer Products Operations. These sales were almost all from domestic operations.

For information on permission to reuse or reprint this article please e-mail: FIN@GlobalFastenerNews.com

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