Featured Risdon Corp, CT, WWII

I thought some of the "machinery" folks might like to see a photo taken at Risdon Corp during WWII. My grandfather was a design engineer there (he's 3rd from the back on the right in the photo.) The original photo is an 8x10, so you can see some of the machinery more clearly in it.

This was some sort of employee appreciation "party":

 

with some folks still in their shop clothes.....maybe a company milestone party.

 

Is that the owner's son (front left)?

 

No people with girly parts there....

 

Here are the two hanging posters:


Free Labor Will Win from the War Production Board (Anton Bruehl photog.)
United We Win from the War Manpower Commission

 

If that kid's still around, he'd be in his 90s now. (well.. maybe not, but close.)

 

Hi, Gramps!
Now THAT's a HAIRLINE!

 

Any idea what they made there?

 

I think there's a woman sitting just right of the front door.....
& that sign...Stock & Kool Room ??? looks like it's nex to a cold room door...

 

Ya...they made guys in suits !!!

 

So they smoked KOOLS in that room? (Menthols?)

I can see ROOM but can't tell exactly the other 2

 

ew

 

Hopefully them loose suits weren't pulled into the machinery.

Yeah - I prefer a Marlboro Menthol every now and then!!

 

ew

 

Sitting on a river bank fishing after a homemade egg salad sandwich. During grilling on a hot summer evening!! MMMM!
Or, better yet - NOW, LOL!!!!!

 

Off to the left: that's someone's hat hanging on a drill press?

What's behind the guy at the head of the table? Looks like some kind of vats.

I think the sign says "Stock and Tool Room"

 

that sounds better.....& by how clean it is....it could be the companies museum room.

 

Oh, I see that now. Band saw looks to be 16" but wood or metal?

 

Well, everybody, thanks for your comments! I didn't mean to "post and run", but it was a gorgeous day, and my daughter said, "I want to go see my horse. Will you take me?" and there went my day... (DD has moved to NH, but her dear horse, whom she's had since she was 8, still lives in Amherst, MA - where she is retired after a long show career with DD. The poor horse is too old to be moved, and it's awful that the two of them can't be together, but that's a story for another day.)

ANYWAY...

Okay, more about Risdon.

Here's a bit of history from a "100 year anniversary" article in a CT newspaper
http://archives.rep-am.com/2010/12/07/the-twists-and-turns-of-risdon/ :

The company' story began with 114 people, including namesake Sydney Risdon founding the company in 1910. It rose to great heights, then endured a sputtering end after a century in business. At one point, former company officials estimated Risdon and companies in region made 95 percent or more of the lipstick cases on the market. Risdon captured a huge market share in the 1980s after it overtook competitors. But the company, acquired by private investors in 2006, closed last year following an increase in overseas manufacturing competition and a dispute over the repayment of multimillion dollar loans. The status of a lawsuit and countersuit regarding those loans was unclear Friday.

Risdon wasn’t only in the lipstick business. It initially made eyelet machine tools before transitioning in the 1930s to cigarette lighters and, eventually, lipstick cases.

Like other manufacturers, during wartime Risdon’s output shifted to bullets and defense products. In World War I, the company made cartridge clips for automatic pistols. It made other armament parts during World War II, but lipstick remained a priority.

“They considered lipstick to be an important product for national morale,” said McArdle, explaining: “So many women were working in factories and they wanted them to feel their best.”

… At one point ..., Risdon sent a truck a day to Revlon.

(Of course, that explains why we ALWAYS had so many compacts, eye shadows, telescoping makeup brushes and lipsticks around the house when I was growing up!)

During both WWI & WWII, Risdon made magazines for automatic pistols. Here are a couple for a Colt, dated 1945:

sale info: https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/lot/33042455/LotDetail.asp?lid=33042455

During WWII, Risdon also made certain surgical implements and very specific aerosol valves. (NO idea how those valves were used in the war!)

Basically, as one of the company mottoes claimed, craftsmanship has made Risdon the prime source for concerns needing metal parts of outstanding quality.

Bakers, I have no idea who the kid in the photo might be.

MOS, thanks for the shots of those posters!
Yes, there is indeed a HAT hanging on that machine!
And, yes, that is the Stock & TOOL room! (Reducing the photo to fit these pages made it lose an awful lot of detail!)

And Gila, Pop kept his full head of hair until the day he died - in 1979!

Thanks again, everybody!

 

Where the fooey did my post go?
I thought the bandsaw looked more like 20".