Historical Highlights 


Turning Toward the Future

The key to our success throughout the decades has been our willingness to transform our business to meet the demands of the market – and the needs of our customers.

 

1899: Timken Roller Bearing Company incorporates.
1901: Timken moves from St. Louis to Canton, Ohio, and opens a bearing and axle plant; it is later renamed The Timken Roller Bearing Company.
1909: Timken first enters overseas markets through a licensing agreement in England.
1911: The Timken bearing equipped Marmon Wasp wins the inaugural Indy 500.
1917: Timken invests in steelmaking operations by opening its first steel plant in Canton, Ohio.  The move ensures a reliable supply of steel for use in making Timken bearings at a time when the WWI effort is consuming most U.S.-made steel.
1919: Timken bearing applications expand more aggressively into non-automotive fields, such as mining and agriculture.
1922: Timken stock is publicly traded and the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
1925: Timken bearings are used in railroad cars for the first time.
1928: Timken continues to expand internationally through subsidiaries in Canada and France.
1930: The Four Aces, a Timken-equipped locomotive, goes into service to demonstrate railroad bearing and steel applications.
1933: Based on the designs of engineer and employee E.K. Brown, The Torrington Company receives three patents for a new bearing invention – the needle bearing.  Many decades later, Torrington will become part of Timken.
1937: Timken grows its research and development capabilities by investing in large scale product and bearing life testing equipment.
1941 - 1945: Timken contributes bearings and steel tubing for a variety of military applications during WWII, as well as wartime production of large gun barrels.
1947: Timken opens its first automated high-volume production bearing factory in Bucyrus, Ohio.
1951: Timken expands its global manufacturing network by opening a plant in Benoni, South Africa.
1954: Timken AP™ bearing, a revolutionary bearing assembly design, is introduced for use in railroad freight cars.
1961: Timken opens a plant in Colmar, France, strengthening its European presence.
1966: Timken opens a new centralized research and development facility in North Canton, Ohio.  It is the first of 12 technology centers the company will open globally.
1971: Timken invests in automated mass production bearing operations with a new plant in Gaffney, S.C.
1978: Timken reaches $1 billion in sales.
1985: Timken invests $500 million to build Faircrest, a state-of-the-art steel mill, at a time when other steel makers are struggling.
1989: Timken grows a presence in India by investing in a joint venture for bearing production in Jamshedpur.
1990: Acquisition of MPB Corporation expands Timken's portfolio to include miniature precision bearings and new aerospace capabilities.
1995: Timken reaches $2 billion in sales.
1996-1997: Acquisitions and joint ventures expand bearing manufacturing in England, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, China and the United States.
1999: Timken celebrates its 100th anniversary.
2003: Timken acquires The Torrington Company, a major bearing producer.  The acquisition significantly expands the company's product range and global presence.
2005: Timken reaches $5 billion in sales.
2007: Timken expands bearing manufacturing in  Wuxi, China and begins construction of bearing plants in Chennai, India and Chengdu, China. 

 

Today, we continue our tradition of working with customers to solve problems.  Our portfolio includes a full line of products and services that reduce friction and transmit power, not to mention an endless offering of technical solutions that help customers design, protect and maintain their own products.


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