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| 1929 Robbins & Myers, Inc., ¼ H. P. Electric Motor |
According to their website, Robbins & Myers, Inc. was founded in 1878 as a gray iron foundry for bicycles and agricultural machinery. The founders were Chandler Robbins and James Myers. They started producing castings for motor-powered fans, and then in 1897 they introduced their own line of fans. By 1900 they had a successful line of motors, eventually encompassing sizes from fractional horsepower up to 30 HP. 1920 saw the manufacture of automobile starters for the Delco division of General Motors. They also produced motors for Singer, Hoover and Addressograph-Multigraph companies and built the motors for the Norden bombsight during WW II. In 1929 the firm formed a hoist and crane division, 1936 a division to make progressive cavity pumps that were invented by Rene Joseph Louis Moineau and in 1949 Robbins & Myers, Inc. aquired Hunter Fan. 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.
In the 1960s, and possibly into the early '70s, Robbins & Myers manufactured Craftsman branded TEFC (Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled) motors for Sears, Roebuck & Co. Craftsman-branded motors made by Robbins & Myers have Sears model-number prefix 487.
By the 2000s, Robbins & Myers, Inc.'s organization included subsidiaries such as Robbins & Myers Canada, Ltd., and Robbins & Myers, Ltd. of England. The parent company ceased manufacturing motors in the early 1990s to focus on fluids management. In 2013 the company was acquired by National Oilwell Varco and the venerable Robbins & Myers name has largely disappeared.
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