ROBBINS & MYERS INC history

According to their website, Robbins & Myers, Inc. was founded in 1878 as a gray iron foundry for bicycles and agricultural machinery.

They started producing castings for motor-powered fans, and then in 1897 they introduced their own line of fans.

In 1910 Charles Kettering called on Robbins & Myers to help him design and manufacture a very efficient armature for his revolutionary DELCO (Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company) automobile starter motor.

1920 direct-drive bandsaws for sale, and described as made by Robbins & Myers.

EMF electrical year book, Volume 1, 1921 page 483

In 1938 Carl Norden, inventor of the "Norden bombsight," asked R&M to build the motors used in these strategic devices.

A 1962 Popular Science magazine ad shows a Hunter Division produced 6" bench grinder (see Image tab).

By 1977 they had four divisions, small, highly engineered electric motors; Moyno brand progressing cavity pumps; hoists, cranes and monorail handling systems; and comfort conditioning products.

The Standard of the Industry; the Story of Robbins & Myers, Inc., by Fred G. Wall, 1978, is a book about this company. used copies are often available on Amazon.com.

The company recorded annual losses in four of the decade's first five years, a string of negatives that culminated in the departure of company President Fred Walls in 1986.

The new CEO lead Robbins & Myers to its first profit in two years in 1987, in part by divesting unprofitable divisions.

The acquisitions of Pfaudler, Inc., and Edlon, Inc., in 1994 gave R&M a leading position in the global market for glass-lined storage and reactor vessels.

These subsidiaries, which began to be merged in 1995, designed and manufactured mixing equipment for virtually all the industries already served by Moyno, from food manufacturing to waste water treatment and from chemicals to polymer makers.