Thread Repair Inserts,
Drill Bushings:
About Acme Industrial Company

The year 1914 is noted for two significant events in Chicago history; it was the year the Cubs first played in Wrigley Field and secondly, Acme Industrial Company started as a manufacturer of shaft seals, drill bushings, dowel pins, and liner pins.

Acme Industrial Company published its first printed catalog of its products in 1921. The company also moved to a larger plant. In 1927 Acme Industrial Company suffered extensive damage from a fire that caused it to shutdown for a few months. Business was slow during the depression years but began to return to normal levels in 1934.

Most of Acme Industrial Company’s production went to support the war effort during the beginning of the 1940’s. After the war, Acme Industrial Company continued to grow and prosper. It formed Acme Scientific Company to specialize in mold polishing, diamond paste production, and chamfer micrometers. In the 1950’s it developed the Hydrive attachment to automate existing manual turret lathes. It also produced the Hytron, a fully automatic 1-1/8 inch capacity turret lathe. Acme Industrial Company entered into the punch and die business by offering both ball-lock and shoulder punches and die bushings in both round and odd shaped configurations.

In 1970, manufacturing facilities moved to their present location in Carpentersville, Illinois. Jergens, Inc., a tooling component manufacturer located in Cleveland, Ohio, purchased Acme Industrial Company in 1973. All of the other divisions were sold so that Acme Industrial Company could concentrate on drill bushings.

Acme Industrial Company began manufacturing industrial grade Keylocking Thread Repair Inserts for Jergens in 1988. Jergens was Acme Industrial Company’s only customer for about a year until Acme could produce larger volumes. See Comparing Threaded Inserts: Acme vs. Heli-Coil® Inserts and Acme vs. Keensert® Inserts to review Acme’s product to similar thread repair products. Acme inserts provide substantial advantages versus Helicoil and Keensert brand products.

Quality products have always been an important part of Acme Industrial Company. ISO 9002 certification was achieved in 1998. Our quality system has been recertified and upgraded to AS9100:D & ISO9001:2015.

In 2001 Acme Industrial Company purchased one of its oldest competitors, Economy Bushing Company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Economy’s bushing production and inventory were moved to the plant in Carpentersville in March of that year.

Acme Industrial Company began producing and selling keylocking inserts manufactured to military and national aerospace specifications in 2002. In 2005 Acme Industrial Company began manufacturing keylocking studs to military and national aerospace standards. In 2010 Acme started manufacture of Swage-Sert® thinwall threaded inserts.