Engineering Legacy: Diamond Chain Company (1890)

The "Engineering Legacy" series gives historical context to mechanical power transmission components featured in PTE. First up, Diamond-Drives by Timken. If you'd like your company featured in "Engineering Legacy" contact Matt Jaster at jaster@agma.org.

A Brief History

Diamond Chain Company got its start in 1890 as Indianapolis Chain & Stamping Company, manufacturing bicycle chain in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company’s founders selected the diamond as their trademark because it symbolized perfection. After being bought by plant manager L. M. Wainwright, the company was renamed Diamond Chain & Manufacturing Company. Diamond Chain’s products were integral in many historical breakthroughs, including the Wright Brothers’ first flying machine, Henry Ford’s first automobile, and numerous motorsport champion vehicles. Today, Diamond's high-performance roller chain is relied on by global power transmission markets. The company name continues to represent strength, durability, and serves as a constant reminder of the company’s commitment to producing the best quality products possible.

Drives, Inc. began operations in December 1959 in Fulton, Illinois, manufacturing steel detachable chain for driving mechanisms including elevators, spreaders, and other farm machinery. Throughout the years, the company expanded its capabilities as well as the footprint of its manufacturing plant and corporate offices to better serve its customers in the agriculture, oil and gas, mining, construction and other industries. To support the company’s growth in the auger industry, Drives also added new processes for mounting raw flighting onto shafts for agricultural OEMs, began mounting sectionals for heavier duty augers and made other key improvements. Over six decades later, these chain and auger products are still trusted to deliver high performance for the world’s toughest applications.

Diamond and Drives are now together as part of The Timken Company’s growing portfolio of engineered bearings and industrial motion products. Diamond-Drives employs more than 660 team members with a combined manufacturing space of 562,653 square feet in Illinois, Iowa, and Weifang, China.

Historic Events

Variable Speed Machine Used in 1969 Flood

As water rises due to the springtime snow melting, flooding is always a concern in river towns like Fulton, Illinois and Clinton, Iowa – where Diamond Drive's facilities are located. Going down memory lane, the company once used their variable speed machine to fill 4,300 sandbags per hour.

Sand was dumped from trucks onto a conveyor and dropped into a hopper. Bags were fitted under the hopper tube and held in place by spring clips. After the bags were filled, they were put onto another conveyor and sent out to waiting trucks. The trucks then carried the bags to emergency sites along the river.

A Famous Customer 

Diamond first got its start manufacturing and selling bicycle chain in 1896, as Indianapolis Chain and Stamping Company. In a receipt dated May 28, 1896, Henry Ford purchased ten feet of bicycle chain from Indianapolis Chain and Stamping Co.

Founding of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 1909 

Arthur Newby was the president of Indianapolis Chain and Stamping Company, which later became Diamond Chain. He was also instrumental in founding the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with James Allison, Carl Fisher and Frank Wheeler. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts the Indy 500, a 500-mile annual automobile race located in Speedway, Indiana. The first race took place on August 19, 1909, and there continues to be an Indy 500 race at the track every year.

Wright Brothers

Not many know that Diamond chain was once used by the Wright brothers.

In a letter dated May 24, 1919, Orville Wright wrote to Diamond’s General Manager, L.M. Wainwright, “I have never forgotten the interest you took and the help you gave us when we were building our first flying machine.”

High-Performance Solutions

Today, Diamond-Drives by Timken offers an entire range of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) precision roller chains specialty chains, and attachment chains meeting or exceeding ANSI standard B29.1 and British Standard ISO 606:2015. They also offer high strength chains that meet the new ANSI B29.28 standard. Drives’ engineered class chain is manufactured utilizing state-of-the-art equipment to a ensure a high-quality, high-value product.

Additional Reading

Food & Beverage Case Study

Metal Processing Case Study

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