Carpenter Technology history

Carpenter's branching into specialty steel operations began with a May 1890 contract with the United States Secretary of the Navy.

Complicating the decline in business was the death, in March 1898, of founder James Carpenter.

Even the Wright Brothers' maiden flight in 1903 had been achieved with Carpenter steel-based engine components.

Factors that tended to immunize Carpenter better than most steel producers against recession were noted in a 1982 Forbes magazine article. Its nationwide warehouse and service center system, begun in 1907, now numbered 21 facilities, and had put Carpenter in the unique position of hearing its customers' conundrums first-hand; this allowed the company to develop custom markets for itself.

Most of the "runabout" vehicles of the day ran on Carpenter steel, and "Old 16," the racer that won the Vanderbilt Cup in 1908, comprised front and rear axles, crankshaft, gears, and other parts fabricated from Carpenter steel.

With the 1917 entrance of the United States into World War I, wartime munitions and supplies overtook automotive steel as Carpenter's principal product. It also turned out its first batch, in December 1917, of what would become its principal product: stainless steel.

Strip also began to be welded into tubing, and in 1927, Carpenter's Welded Alloy Tube Division became the earliest commercial supplier of stainless tubing, with applications in chemical processing, oil refining, generation of electricity, and food and beverage processing.

In 1928, the company introduced the first free machining steel.

In 1934, during the Great Depression, the company introduced new stainless steels with additives of selenium, tellurium, and chrome and nickel.

In 1951, Carpenter bought a wire redrawing plant in New Jersey, thus acquiring the capability to produce extremely fine wire for applications such as surgical sutures and knitting machines.

In 1957, after Northeastern Steel filed bankruptcy, it was acquired by Carpenter.

In 1961, the company acquired NTH Products of El Cajon, California.

The company also announced that it was spending five times as much on R&D as were other steel manufacturers, and proudly opened a new $3 million R&D center in Reading in 1967.

In 1968, the company changed its name to Carpenter Technology Corporation to reflect its research and development initiatives.

In 1969, the company acquired Gardner Cryogenics, but sued its former shareholders a year later after finding irregularities.

Beginning in 1970, the company had implemented a pollution control plan, installing ducts, exhaust fans, and 2,400 filter bags to trap exhaust fumes and iron oxide dust that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.

In May 1983, the company acquired Eagle Precision Metals of Fryeburg, Maine, a precision drilling facility that produced high quality hollow steel bars.

In 1984, the company acquired a wire-finishing plant, capable of redrawing steel wire to extremely fine sizes from AMAX Specialty Metals of Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Economic cycles continued to affect Carpenter's balance sheet; the 1991 recession once again forced restructuring and downsizing, and as with many basic-industry companies, recovery seemed more elusive than with the economy as a whole.

In February 1992, the company received a patent for a super-strong Aermet alloy, first used for the landing gear on aircraft carrier-based jet fighters.

In 1993, the company developed 14 alloys for knife blades.

Second, the acquisition of Aceros Fortuna, Mexico's number one specialty steel distributor, resulted in the bulk of Carpenter's increased 1994 sales.

In September 1997, the company acquired Talley Industries for $185 million.

In July 1998, the company sold John J. McMullen Associates and Waterbury Companies.

In 2006, Carpenter Technology Corporation appointed Anne L. Stevens as their Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Robert J. Torcolini.

In October 2009, the company introduced the cobalt-based BioBlu 27 alloy for the jewelry industry.

In March 2010, the company introduced the ACUBE 100 alloy, a beryllium-free material for bushings and bearings.

In January 2011, the company acquired Amega West Services for $54 million, which expanded its business in the oil and gas drilling market.

In February 2012, the company purchased the former Dana Incorporated industrial site for about $6 million.

In June 2015, Tony R. Thene was named president and chief executive officer of the company.