Corporation (commonly known as was an American manufacturer of machinery and

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, Boring (manufacturing), boring, grinding (abrasive cutting), grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some s ...

s located in suburban

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, United States. The company was in operation from 1919 to 2006.

History

United States

The company was established in 1919 as Tool and Manufacturing Co. by a group of

tool and die maker Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries. Tool and die makers work primarily in toolroom environments—sometimes literally in one room but more often in an environment with flexible, ...

s, all of whom were former employees of

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

. The site of the original shop was located in

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An enclave of Detroit, Highland Park is located roughly north of Downtown Detroit, and is surrounded by Detroit on most sides. As of the 2020 United ...

. This location is a few blocks from the world's first automobile assembly line, at the

Highland Park Ford Plant The Highland Park Ford Plant is a historic former Ford Motor Company factory located at 91 Manchester Street (at Woodward Avenue) in Highland Park, Michigan. It was Ford's third factory, it was the second American Model T production facility ...

. Newton "Woody" Woodworth served as the first president and general manager. In its early years, around sixty percent of the company's business was manufacturing parts and fixtures for aircraft. Due to its focus on the aviation industry, the company name was changed to Aircraft and Tool Corporation in 1927. At this time, they also made grinding machines (including Carboloy-branded grinders that Carboloy, Inc. sold) and air-driven grinding spindles. In 1937, Woodworth left the company, which was then reorganized as Corp. The more general name was chosen to reflect their increasingly diverse product lines, which included high-precision thread grinders, boring machines, facing machines, and lapping machines. was part of the

Arsenal of Democracy "Arsenal of Democracy" was the central phrase used by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a Fireside chats, radio broadcast on the threat to national security, delivered on December 29, 1940—nearly a year before the United States entered t ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, they manufactured the following products for military use: * Nozzle plates for rockets * Aircraft engine parts * Boring machines * Thread grinding machines * Center lapping machines By the mid-1960s, the company was based in

Troy, Michigan Troy is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Troy is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 87,294, ...

. In 1986, was acquired by defense industry conglomerate

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna b ...

for $77.50 per share in cash, totaling about $1.1 billion (about $3.1 billion in 2023 dollars). Under the merger agreement, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Textron. began laying off all employees on April 28, 2006.

Canada

Corporation of Canada, Ltd. manufactured heavy machine tools such as ram-type milling machines. The business was located at 120 Weston Street in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

India

The Indian branch was founded on March 10th, 1958, as Messrs. Amerind Engineering Company of Bombay, later known as Ex-Cell-O India Ltd, with technical and equity support from the American branch. The company mainly manufactured propeller shafts, machine-tools, and steering gear assemblies at this time. In 1978, the company bought itself, becoming fully Indian-owned and independent from the American branch, changing its name to XLO India Limited.

Acquisitions

The following partial list is a history of acquisitions by the Corporation.

Company name

The following list is a chronology of the various names used by Corporation throughout its history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ex-Cell-O Corporation Manufacturing companies based in Michigan Manufacturing companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in Michigan Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies