Gleason Celebrates 140-Year Anniversary

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This year The Gleason Works celebrates its 140th anniversary. William Gleason founded the company in 1865 to manufacture a general line of metal working tools and machines, with special emphasis on engine lathes and planers. In 1874, he invented the first bevel gear planer. This development proved to be the beginning of a new industry–the bevel gear industry–and opened vast new possibilities for the transmission of motive power.

Bevel gears permit power to be transmitted at an angle, such as from the drive shaft to the rear-axle of a vehicle, as opposed to cylindrical gears, which transmit power in a straight line, for example in a transmission of a front-wheel drive vehicle.

Today, Gleason designs, manufactures, and sells a complete line of machines and tooling for the production of bevel and cylindrical gears.

The original Gleason plant was located in Brown’s Race, high on the banks of the Genesee River. Workers were summoned to their jobs by a bell located at the nearby Rochester Cotton Mill Co. When the mill burned down years later, James E. Gleason–son of the founder and president of the company at that time–purchased the bell, cast in 1847, and brought it to the University Avenue facility where it remained for many years. Later the bell was moved to the company’s recreation facility located in Honeoye Falls. But on Friday, July 15, 2005, the bell was returned to the Gleason plant on University Avenue. The company held a special dedication ceremony that day, which was hosted by James S. Gleason, Chairman of the Board, to commemorate the event and the company’s milestone anniversary. In attendance were Rochester Mayor, William Johnson, and Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, as well as Gleason employees.

"It is important and fitting to pause on an occasion such as this to look back with pride over an incredibly long history, and to pay tribute to all those who made it possible," Gleason said. "But this bell should also be a symbol reminding us of what our real focus must be: to aggressively seek the opportunities and meet the challenges of the next 140 years."

John J. Perrotti, president and chief operating officer for Gleason Corporation, added that "In today’s business world, it is indeed a rare occurrence to see a company celebrating its 140th anniversary. The fact that Gleason has been operating in essentially the same industry and same city for all of those years makes us even more unique. We are extremely proud of our company’s legacy and long-standing leadership within our industry, and on behalf of Gleason employees in Rochester and around the world I can say we very much look forward, and are committed, to building on the accomplishments of our past."

Gleason Corporation is a world leader in the development, manufacture, and sale of gear production machinery and related equipment. The company’s products are used by customers in the automotive, truck, aircraft, agriculture, construction, power tool, and marine industries, and by a diverse set of customers serving various industrial equipment markets. Gleason has manufacturing operations in Rochester, New York; Rockford, Illinois; Dayton, Ohio; Plymouth, England; Munich and Ludwigsburg, Germany; Bangalore, India; and Biel, Switzerland. It has sales and service offices throughout the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

To learn more go to [www.gleason.com].