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Welcome to Hanna Cylinders
Like so many great companies, Hanna was started on the basis of one man’s idea to improve a process.
In 1893, our founder Elmer E. Hanna arrived in Chicago from Montana to
head up the engineering and manufacturing functions of the Gates Iron
Works company. While at Gates, Hanna observed men sifting sand by hand
to separate the coarse sand from the fine sand needed to make the sharp,
clean molds used in the foundry. The sifting was time consuming and was
typically done by the more experienced mold makers.
Hanna
experimented with the idea of a pneumatic cylinder attached to screen to
separate the sand. After years of designing and experimenting, he
developed a machine dubbed a “Screen Shaker” which was then used by
Gates Iron Works within their operations. Soon other foundries, hearing
about the Screen Shaker, asked where it could be purchased. Since Gates
Iron Works was doing very well in the mining machinery business, company
management did not want to set up a facility for a completely new and
different product line. As a result, Elmer Hanna requested permission
from the president of Gates to set up his own company to manufacture the
Screen Shaker.
Hanna opened E. E. Hanna company in 1900. The
Screen Shaker was an immediate success. In 1901 the company was
incorporated as the Hanna Engineering Works. In 1902 the company moved
into a new factory built on a five acre tract of land at 2059 N. Elston
Avenue. The company remained at this location until 1917, when it was
forced to move to 1765 N. Elston due to a reconfiguration of Ashland
Avenue.
In 1903 Elmer Hanna invented and patented the Hanna
Riveter. Hanna Engineering Works also produced special machinery
including units that compressed cotton seeds to produce cotton seed oil
and other equipment for baling loose cotton. Hanna produced all the
cylinders and valves used on the various machinery they sold. 1914,
Hanna began to manufacture air cylinders and valves for sale to other
manufacturers.
By the end of WWII, riveting was being replaced by
welding for many metal fastening applications. Company management
recognized riveters was not a growth market and decided to concentrate
on manufacturing and marketing hydraulic and pneumatic cylinders and
valves. In 1954 Hanna introduced the T750 air cylinder product line.
More than fifty years later, we are still producing this remarkable
cylinder. Virtually unchanged since it’s introduction, the T750 is used
on high speed packaging equipment. A testament to its durability,
includes a T750 cylinder sold in 1961 that operated 12,000 times a day,
five days a week for 30 years. That’s more than 50 million cycles! To
this day, it is not unusual for Hanna to get a repair request for a
cylinder that us 40 or 50 years old. Durability is a hallmark of ALL
Hanna cylinders, not just the T750 line.
IN 1963, Hanna
Engineering Works was purchased by Chain Belt Company of Milwaukee, WI.
Chain Belt soon became Rex Chain Belt and after a subsequent merger with
Nordberg, the company was renamed Rexnord, Inc. Hanna Engineering Works
became the Hanna Cylinder Division of Rexnord and remained so until
1980. In 1980, the Rexnord Cylinder Division was sold to a group of
employees and became known as Hanna Corporation. Hanna then became part
of The Chatwins Group in 1986.
In 1990, Hanna purchased Chicago
Fluid Power/Roto-Thrust Corporation, further expanding the product lines
offered by Hanna. In 1994, Hanna acquired T. J. Brooks Company of
Milwaukee, WI. Brooks added a line of welded and mobile cylinders to
Hanna’s product offerings.
In 2001 the Brooks plant was moved to
Libertyville, a northern suburb of Chicago, occupying space leased by
Chatwins. Hanna remained at 1765 N. Elston until 2004 when it joined
Brooks at 828 E. Park Avenue in Libertyville. For the first time since
the Brooks acquisition, all of Hanna’s manufacturing capabilities now
reside under one roof. Hanna’s approximately 150,000 square feet
includes over 25,000 square feet of available expansion space.