Our History

Rathbone was founded by Andrew B. Rathbone in 1905 in Palmer, MA, as a small pinion wire-making manufacturer that serviced the clock industry in central New England. Mr. Rathbone started his business in his garage, which grew as he was joined by several brothers shortly thereafter. He moved the business to its current location in Palmer, MA in 1912 where Rathbone continued to grow as a family-owned company. 

Rathbone Precision Metals continued in Rathbone family hands until it was purchased in the 1970’s by Handy & Harmon. They were prominent in the metals industry and purchased complimentary companies to expand/diversify their portfolio.

Subsequently, Rathbone was then acquired in 1988 by entrepreneur Frank Carter, who was formerly the President of Thomson Linear. He proceeded to sell the business in 1997 to Carpenter Technologies. They are a prominent stainless-steel mill located in Pennsylvania who acquired Rathbone Precision Metals as a complimentary company to expand their portfolio to include metal profiles.

Then in June 2008, Calvi S.p.A., a leader in special steel profiles in Europe, purchased Rathbone to expand their presence in North America. 

Rathbone pioneered the manufacture of cold drawn, special-shape bar and wire in the United States. Its profile products and markets changed as American industry’s requirements changed.

In addition to serving American industry over the years, Rathbone’s contributions to success in World War II are little known. In fact, Rathbone’s metal profile shapes helped the United States industrial base produce vast amounts of a wide variety of material required to win the war. Read how Rathbone’s profiles contributed to the Allies war effort in the article, The “Secret Weapon” That Helped to Win the Battle of Production.

Rathbone produces thousands of custom metal profile shapes for many markets including water pipe gaskets, power generation, firearms, automotive, aerospace, medical and many others. For over 100 years, Rathbone has been a producer of the highest quality cold drawn and cold rolled metal profiles.