The Toughest Casters on the Planet
Computer companies aren’t the only business ideas that were hatched in a home garage. Hamilton Casteris a manufacturing company that was founded in 1907, when John Weigel began a caster business right from his garage in Hamilton, Ohio. The company would grow to have expansive offerings, from shoe rack casters to heavy duty casters, stainless steel casters, pneumatic casters, polyurethane wheels and industrial casters. Each new product demonstrated Hamilton Caster’s innovative ability as well as its commitment to manufacturing quality parts.
John Weigel began his business venture making small shoe rack casters – a single product, but one known for quality and reliability. In 1925 Weigel overcame innovation challenges by developing a kingpinless caster, dubbed “the Economic.” He boasted that it was the strongest caster of its kind east of the Mississippi, according to HamiltonCaster.com. His next foray was making casters for the floor truck market. Ralph Lippert, Weigel’s son-in-law, took over the company in 1939. Ralph summarized the spirit of Hamilton Caster, remarking “The history of this business could be summed up in just two words: hard work.” For a business that would survive the Great Depression and continue to thrive, hard work was imperative.
After struggling to stay afloat following the war years, Hamilton Caster continued adding to its product line with industrial casters, carts and polyurethane wheels. The polyurethane wheels, branded Duralast, are used in aerospace. Hamilton Casters also remained competitive by improving its mode of business with printed modern catalogs, a larger distribution network and a quick-ship program. The company improved its manufacturing process with CNC machines and robotic welding. The next endeavor was a change of focus driven by the concept of lean manufacturing.
With more than 100 years in business, Hamilton Caster has built a reputation making the toughest casters, wheels and trailers. Its recent accomplishments include Spinfinity Maintenance-Free casters, HPI swivel technology and developing 200-ton capacity casters.
Hamilton Caster works with distributors and dealers across the United States, as well as in other countries. This allows customers to quickly receive products. Access Casters is one of these distributers, making many products from Hamilton Caster available online. The Access Casters list of products includes heavy duty casters, platform trucks, dual wheel ground support casters, workhorse casters, swivel casters, rigid casters, pneumatic casters and more.