Diamond Chain Co.

Diamond Chain Company
Pentax IQZoom 170SL
Kentmere 400
HC-110 B
2022

Recommended Reading is taking a two-week break. I’m consumed with some other things right now and need the time back that I usually give my weekly blog-post roundup.

Steel roller chain was key to the Industrial Revolution because gear teeth could grip it and the chain could withstand the forces of high RPMs in industrial machines. could In 1898, the company that became Diamond Chain created an improved steel roller chain by adding a tiny bush bearing on every roller. Henry Ford’s Model T assembly line ran on Diamond Chain! You can also find this kind of chain on your bicycle.

Diamond Chain’s factory stood at 402 Kentucky Avenue in Downtown Indianapolis. The company sold to Ohio-based The Timken Company last year. Timken quickly began relocating operations to a plant it owned in Illinois, and announced that it would close the longtime Indianapolis facility.

The owner of the Indy Eleven soccer team has purchased the property and will redevelop it, building a soccer stadium, apartments, a hotel, office buildings and retail space.

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Comments

4 responses to “single frame: Diamond Chain Company”

  1. TBM#FAN Avatar
    TBM#FAN

    Plant leased???
    https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/indianapolis/2020/02/04/indianapolis-diamond-chain-plant-closing-moving-illinois/4655557002/

    New annoyance: black screen telling me to log in hovering over the log in links preventing me from logging in now.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      That’s a Gannett newspaper for you.

  2. Carrie Savage-Zimmerman Avatar
    Carrie Savage-Zimmerman

    FYI, Diamond chains also ran the eight gears on Wright Bros. First Flight airplane at Kittyhawk, namely due to DC’s supply to Wright Bros. bicycle repair shop near Dayton and their Indiana connection to Wilbur’s (?) Hoosier birthplace.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Nice! Thanks for adding this information.

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