Hyatt Roller Bearing Company
Advertisement from The Saturday Evening Post of 5 June 1915
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| Industry | Roller Bearings |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired by General Motors |
| Founded | Harrison, New Jersey, 1892 |
| Founder | John Wesley Hyatt |
| Defunct | 1916 |
| Headquarters | United States |
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Key people
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Alfred P. Sloan |
| Products | Roller bearings |
Hyatt Roller Bearing Company was a manufacturer of roller bearings from 1892 to 1916, when it was acquired by General Motors. It continued as a distinct division of GM for many years. The company struggled at first, then entered a phase of profitable growth under the leadership of Alfred P. Sloan (later president of General Motors). The innovative design of Hyatt's roller bearings made them more durable and efficient than others. They were widely used in early automobiles by various manufacturers, and in industrial vehicles and equipment.
John Wesley Hyatt was a printer by trade and a prolific inventor who secured over 250 patents, the first issued in 1861 for a knife grinder. His chemical experiments led to the invention of celluloid. In 1888 he was working on a mill for crushing sugar cane, but lacked adequate bearings. His solution was a roller bearing where the rollers were made from coiled strips of steel, and he patented his invention. The helical-shaped rollers made from flat spring steel were more flexible than solid-cylinder rollers, did not heat up and lock due to friction, and lasted longer. Later Hyatt introduced refinements, with the bearings assembled within a closed cage.
Seeing broad potential for the invention, he founded the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company in 1892. The company was originally based in Newark, New Jersey, but soon moved to Harrison, New Jersey.
In 1895 the company had about 25 employees and sold about $2,000 of bearings each month. That year Hyatt hired the 20-year-old Alfred P. Sloan as a draftsman. Sloan had recently obtained a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had been struggling to find a job, and was recommended to Hyatt by John E. Searles, president of the American Sugar Refining Company, a friend of his father and a major investor in Hyatt. Sloan wrote later,
Well, I am bound to admit the first sight of my opportunity was disappointing... Not far from a city dump on a weed-grown, marshy plain was an old weather-worn building, like an overgrown barn. In its indefinite yard there was a small mound of coal and a great mound of reddish-gray cinders and ashes; also a disorderly accumulation of discarded machinery ... Once the factory had been painted brown. Only one word describes it: "dirty." Smoke from the dump carried an acric odor. Eventually across the wall nearest the railroad track there was lettered in black this legend: HYATT ROLLER BEARING COMPANY.
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