The Starrett Company

Eons ago, or what seems like it, I mentioned that the L.S. Starrett Company was one of the few remaining factories in the greater metropolitan Athol area.  This week, we were lucky enough to get to tour this facility.  Starrett makes precision tools for machinists and tool and die makers...things like micrometers, calipers, gages, squares, and bandsaw blades.  Laroy Sunderland Starrett, the company's founder, was originally a farmer (!) in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  He is the inventor of the combination square, and if you've done any carpentry work, you know how very, very handy it is.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside...apparently some top secret stuff happens here.  I took a few pics in the factory museum (no worries...all on the up-and-up) which give you a sense of the products they make.

Every day, I drive past these buildings on my way to the farm.  I had no idea how extensive it was!  Here's a cool old drawing I found on Wikipedia:

 

Seems like we walked for miles and miles on our tour.  It's hard to give you an idea of how enormous this factory is; it spans both sides of the Millers River and must be in the tens of thousands of square feet.  Each area contains pieces of machinery that perform very specific tasks, with an operator sitting at each station. It's loud and smells like machine oil.  There's an old-fashioned-sounding bell that goes off for break time.

It's interesting that this company has survived and thrived when many others have not, and there are some good reasons for this.  They're diversified and have factories in other US cities, Brazil and China.  They have a specialized niche and a reputation for quality and innovation.  All the same, they've kept their world headquarters in Athol.

The museum was fascinating.  The system of belts ran the factory machines back in 1800's.

                                        

  

 It was nice to get back outside.  But I think all that machine oil went to our heads.