Worcester Business Journal

W o r c e s t e r 3 0 0 : C i t y o f I n n o v a t o r s 25 1822-1921 pottery-maker of stoneware pots, bottles, pitchers, jars, and jugs, hiring out at $5 per week. Deteriorating business conditions in the 1870s cost Jeppson his job and led Norton to consider a move into ceram- ic grinding wheels, a develop- ment Norton had apparently heard of from someone in Detroit. So, while Jeppson, then with a young family, scrambled for work, Pulson at F.B. Norton developed a ceramic grinding wheel formula that would prove more durable than sandstone wheels then in use. Jeppson rejoined the firm in 1880, becoming an expert at producing the new grinding wheels. By the early 1880s, the company had as much as 10% of the national grinding wheel market. But Frank B. Norton wasn't committed to the new business, considering it a sideline, and leaped at the op- portunity to sell when Jeppson and a team of outside investors offered. at group included names that are part of Worcester's industrial lore: Milton P. Hig- gins, George I. Alden, Fred H. Daniels, and Horace Young. ey purchased the company, launching Norton Emery Wheel Co. in 1885. Many of the investors took neither salary nor profit from the company in the early years, putting all the money they could spare into a new facility which remains the location of operations today – in north Worcester with close access to rail service. To save money, Worcester Polytechnic Institute stu- dents were hired to conduct the surveying work and the cost of each expansion was paid from growing sales volume. By 1900, Norton Co. was the world's leading abra- sives producer. e firm would introduce a line of grinding machines, dozens of which were acquired by Henry Ford for his Model T production process- es. Norton products could hold up to the hardened steel alloys utilized in the growing vehicle industry. Jeppson remained as chief engineer until his death in 1920. While the company continued to grow under the auspices of his son George, critics noted its conservatism had caused missed opportunities such as capitalizing on a new synthetic abrasive. e inventor who offered it was rebuffed, and instead, launched the Carborundum company, which became a major competitor almost overnight. However, Norton survived and prospered. Purchased in its entirety by Compagnie de Saint- Gobain in 1990, it continues to manufacture for a global market from Worcester today. – Alan R. Earls e beehive kiln helped the Norton company provide industry-leading abrasives. Many of Norton's early investors took neither salary nor profit, putting all the money they could spare into a new facility which remains the location of operations today. Image | Worcester Historical Museum

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