COMPANY HISTORY

The following is a short history of our company in the Paper Ruling business :

In 1844, William Orville Hickok established the EAGLE WORKS and became a manufacturer of bookbinders' specialties. His brilliant inventions would soon revolutionize the paper ruling industry. Sometime between 1844 and 1850, Hickok's ideas began to click. He invented an "Improved Ruling Machine" and his EAGLE WORKS plant grew quickly. By 1853, the Ruling Machines were in constant use in every state of the Union. But the ideas of improved technology were still stirring. At that time, ruling machines were essentially pens that were lifted and dropped to rule at predetermined positions on the paper. But what was really needed was a ruler with a striking mechanism operating in timed relation with the paper. In 1874, W.O. Hickok perfected the O-A Striker Machine, which solved the problem. It involved a unique use of gears and cams. These would be the fundamental principles of machine ruling in use today.

Hickok's inventive genius had foreseen that science, technology, and machinery were a great combination for the future. His policy was not to merely keep abreast of the market, but to keep ahead of it. In 1880, the W. O. Hickok Manufacturing Company came out with a ruling machine which would rule feint lines on both sides of the paper sheet in one operation. In 1890, the "L" Style Rulers were introduced by Hickok. This "DUAL- L" type, ruled one side of the sheet in both directions all at one operation. Later in 1912, the company made another advance in ruling machine manufacturing, this was the introduction of the Paper Feeder.

In 1922, the index card ruling machine was introduced. Later in 1933, the all metal SR Job Ruling Machine was placed on the market. This was a machine that proved to be remarkable step ahead in increased speed and efficiency. Occupying half the floor space of its predecessors, it was equipped with 4 striker beans and fed by automatic rotary suction-cup feeders, capable of handling many mediums besides regular paper such as : Onion skin and Cardboard.

In subsequent years, the W. O. Hickok Manufacturing Company introduced advanced CNC processing technology anddiversified into many areas of machine manufacturing, such as : Corner Cutter Manufacturing, Special Machine Parts manufacturing, Engineering-Drafting services, Welding services, Machine Shop services and other CNC machining services. That perfect combination of skill, technology in machinery would take many special projects FROM PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION with great success. Today, our Full-Service Manufacturing facility is successful because of the same traditional principles : Skill, Technology, Quality, and excellent Customer Service.