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.

History

The company was established in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

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, F.W. Sivyer and W.A. Draves. It was incorporated on February 20, 1892. 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, which eventually became

Harnischfeger Corporation 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, Tex ...

. In the 1890s the company manufactured chain-driven material handling conveyors and bucket elevators for Milwaukee breweries such as the

Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was adve ...

. By 1894 the company began to develop international markets, exporting chains to

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and opening a sales office in

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. 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. 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. By 1944 it was producing rifles,

howitzers A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...

anti-aircraft guns Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

(rifles), tank turrets, ammunition hoists for navy vessels and turrets, tracks and gunshields for an armored vehicle called an Alligator. 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. 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. 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 Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, to Monterrey,

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, in June 2017. President-elect

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

criticized Rexnord for firing 300-plus American employees, via

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on December 2, 2016.

References

External links

Rexnord website
{{Milwaukee Based Companies Manufacturing companies based in Milwaukee