About
Thomas and Skinner Inc.
Founded in 1901, Thomas and Skinner Inc. has a rich history of producing high-performance alloys tailored to our customers’ unique design and application requirements. Building on the research and development initiated by our founder, John Esterline, an electrical engineering professor at Purdue University, we thrive in innovation.
Our commitment to customizing and reformulating metal alloys enables us to achieve performance levels that exceed industry standards, making us a preferred supplier for clients worldwide.
At Thomas and Skinner, we pride ourselves on our vast expertise, long-tenured employees, and an accessible, flexible, and responsive approach. We pay meticulous attention to detail and are dedicated to finding solutions that meet our clients’ quality-focused needs. Simply put, we deliver what others cannot.
Fun Facts
Fun Facts
Employee Owned
Employee-owned: Since 1979, we have had an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), which means we’re not working for a far-away, disconnected ownership group. We work for ourselves, with a deep sense of pride in what we provide for our customers.
Family Culture
We create a work environment where our employees are valued and thrive.
High-Tech Manufacturing
We use the latest technology and automation to ensure our customers get the product right the first time. This means they experience less cost and less frustration.
Confidentiality
We protect our customers, their ideas, and their unique designs. We work with you on your ideas, and make sure they stay your ideas.
Tinkerers Welcome
We help solve our customers’ complex problems and design issues and work to deliver the best outcomes for their needs.
Modern Technology
We’ve invested millions of dollars to modernize our manufacturing processes. This includes utilizing robots to expand and enhance our production. Continual innovation of our processes and technology is what keeps our company strong and viable.
How We Got Here
Our History
Thomas & Skinner, Inc. has played a pivotal role in magnetic material manufacturing. Key milestones and visionary leaders have led this company to be a world-class manufacturer of high-performance metals.
Thomas & Skinner was founded by John Esterline, an Electrical Engineering professor at Purdue University. Professor Esterline, inspired by the demonstration of commercially viable electricity he witnessed at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1895, recognized the need for permanent magnets to be used for residential and commercial power metering within the burgeoning electrical utility industry. Esterline understood that magnetic materials were crucial for converting electricity into practical uses, such as motion and signaling.
He formed The Esterline Company in Lafayette, Indiana on the banks of the Wabash River and began producing tungsten and chromium alloy permanent magnets in 1901. After meeting Carl G. Fisher and Thomas Allison in 1913, Esterline found himself at the forefront of the growing automobile industry in Indianapolis, alongside the formation of the Indianapolis 500. The timing of the meeting was perfect, since Prof. Esterline was looking for investors for the Esterline Company. The investment by Fisher and Allison brought financial stability to the fledgling magnet company, and allowed the company to make plans for expansion. They saw a bright future for the company and wanted it to survive.
As the company was expanding the Lafayette plant and adding equipment, the 1913 Wabash River flood changed things dramatically. The flood proved to be a pivotal moment for The Esterline Company, prompting a strategic relocation to Speedway, Indiana, that would prove to be a turning point in its history.
Moving the company’s manufacturing to Speedway offered numerous advantages, including access to a larger labor pool and ample land for expansion. The central part of Indiana, with its growing industrial base and strategic location, provided an ideal environment for the company. The relocation enabled The Esterline Company to tap into new markets, leverage better transportation links, and attract skilled workers, all critical for its continued expansion.
In late 1923, James Thomas and Oramel Skinner purchased the technology and equipment to produce the transformer lamination product line from Prof Esterline and incorporated as Thomas & Skinner Steel Company. At the time, these products were used in the fast growing radio industry. After the acquisition, Thomas & Skinner implemented several key changes that set the company on a path of growth and innovation. They focused on enhancing the company’s production capabilities, expanding its product range, and investing in new technologies. One of the key developments in the history of Thomas & Skinner was the acquisition of the foundry of the Pioneer Brass Works in 1926. The new location on 23rd Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, offered the space and facilities to advance their production capabilities. This move provided the company with the necessary foundry building for further expansion.
Basic research carried out in the mid 1930’s around the globe resulted in numerous patents for new permanent magnet alloys. One of the most promising was an alloy created from ALuminum, NIckle, CObalt and Iron, or as it became known as, Alnico.
In the decades following the development of Alnico, advanced casting techniques were created , such as pouring molten alloys into heated molds against cold steel chill plates to promote crystalline grain growth, experimentation with heat treatment, specialized magnetic orientation fixtures, and rapid quenching and long-term annealing that resulted in superior magnetic properties and temperature stability.
Powdered metallurgy was later added to offer the ability to produce Alnico alloys in a variety of shapes to near finished dimensional conditions with product densities that allow magnetic properties to rival those of cast alloys.
Additional development and refinement of casting techniques, alloy chemistry, heat treatment and magnetic orientation processes has continued throughout Thomas & Skinner’s long history. Today Thomas & Skinner produces sub-grades of the most common Alnico alloys that are tailored to meet our customer’s specific needs, working within difficult load lines, or balancing coercive and inductive properties for demanding applications.
T&S is now reintroducing tungsten back into it’s product line portfolio. In a way, we are coming full circle with the products Professor Esterline began producing. Tungsten, a metal produced by T&S during the early 1900s, is now being incorporated into T&S Tungsten Heavy Alloys (WHAs). The US market for WHAs is currently dominated by large, foreign-owned producers, and changes to domestic production requirements for defense items makes this a fast-growing opportunity for a smaller, more nimble domestic producer like Thomas & Skinner.
Today, Thomas & Skinner, Inc is a 100% employee-owned manufacturer of high performance metals, including magnetic materials, magnetic assemblies and tungsten heavy alloys. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, T&S is a well-known and respected supplier to the Aerospace, Industrial, Defense, and Medical Markets.
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