This firm was best known for their automobile clutches, but in their early years they also made the "Borg universal column-stave machine", a specialized woodworking machine for making porch columns and the like. Founded in about 1904, the company moved to Chicago in 1918 but they were likely out of the woodworking machinery business by that time. In 1928 the company merged with others to become auto parts giant Borg-Warner Corporation.

Advertisement from the June 1908 The Wood-Worker

Information Sources

• Advertisement in the June 1908 The Wood-Worker.
• From Swedes in Moline, Illinois: 1847-2002, by Lilly Setterdahl, 2003.

  Manufacturers
  Borg & Beck Company
  Automobile Clutch Manufacturer
  (1903-1910) 3rd Avenue and 4th Street (1911-1913 in East Moline)

  Charles W. Borg was born May 7 ,1861 in Gryt, Östergötland, and emigrated in 1881. He lived for nine years in West Burlington, Iowa... The family came to Moline via Rockford, Illinois. Charles Borg was the superintendent of the Moline Furniture Works for three years. Between 1894 and 1903, he was a pattern maker for Deere & Mansur Company. He also constructed an exposition plow for Deere. He then established his own machine company in Moline. Many of his inventions were patented. The most successful invention was the sliding clutch for automobile engines, which Borg developed with the halp of his employee, Gus Nelson. Borg entered into partnership with Marshall Beck, and their firm, Borg & Beck, took on a leading role in the manufacturing of clutches for automobiles. In 1918, the company moved to Chicago. The son, George W. Borg (1887-1960), became the first president of Borg & Warner Corporation...