| The year 2007 marks the
60th year in existence for Allen Aircraft. In 1947, Allen Aircraft was a vision in the eye
of Neil Mann. While working at Wright Airfield in Dayton after World War ll, Neil had the
idea for a more efficient drop-tank valve to be used on the government's long range
military aircraft. Returning
to his hometown of Ravenna, he set up shop in the corner office of a friend, George
Walter. With the aid of another friend, Hugh Riddle, Neil was able to design and
manufacture his valve. To raise capital for future ventures and ideas, Neil and Hugh
organized Allen Aircraft Products, Inc. (named in memory of Douglas Allen Mann) and sold
80 shares of stock to investors in the Ravenna community.
Our first order was from
Boeing for a drop tank disconnect valve for use on the B-50 Bomber which was an upgrade of
the B-29. Over the years our #1 customer has continued to be Boeing with parts on all
Boeing Commercial Aircraft since the 707, as well as on all military aircraft including
the B-52.
| In 1949, the development and manufacture of a new line of valves and the
addition of a patented solid film lubricant, which was the beginning of our Metal
Finishing Division, caused Allen to move into a 1,200 square foot facility at Cotton
Corners, a building that was formerly the Vicker Trailer Agency on the comer of Woodbine
Avenue and Newton Falls Road. In 1952, Allen doubled its size by the construction of an
office addition. By this time, the company had developed more than 50 different products
for the aircraft industry. In addition to the drop tank valve, the line had grown to
pressure relief valves for hydraulic systems, drain valves for fuel tanks, oxygen
couplers for unpressurized cabins, landing gear, and other hydraulic actuators. |
Phosphatized Components in
our Metal Finishing Division |
By 1962,
Allen Aircraft expanded its operations for the fifth time at this location by constructing
a new 6,000 square foot building, onto the existing one at Newton Falls Road. Along with
this expansion. Allen's ranks had grown to 60 employees. Also at this time. Allen had
become the world's only manufacturer of the automatic fuel transfer jet pump. During the
war, pilots had to manually throw a switch in the cockpit to activate an electric motor
driven pump to transfer fuel from one tank to another. With the development of this new
pump, aircraft could become lighter, more reliable and less
expensive.
In 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, and again in 1976, Allen Aircraft was nominated for the
"Small Business Subcontractor of the Year" award, which was presented by the
U.S. Government's Small Business Administration. Of the 12,000 capable small business
subcontractors in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Allen was one of only 20 to receive this
consideration.
 In 1978,
Allen Aircraft again felt the need for growth and promptly fulfilled this need by
purchasing the former Ravenna Porcelain Company building on East Lake Street. The
13,000 square foot plant and its seven acre site was acquired from the A.C. Williams
Company to house Allen's manufacturing facilities. The expansion resulted in
approximately eight more jobs with the company and increased the total employment to more
that 80 positions.
As time continued, so did the demand of the aircraft industry. In 1985, Allen Aircraft paved the
way for yet another expansion by the purchase and rehabilitation of the building at 6168
Woodbine Avenue. Several divisions of the company were relocated to this facility to
enable a centralization of the company. Among the departments now operating there are:
Engineering, Sales, Accounting, Purchasing, Personnel, Data Processing; also, Aircraft
Assembly, Shipping, Labs, and Quality Control.
In 1987, Allen Aircraft continued it's role as a successful supplier of aircraft
components by being awarded a contract for the B1 bomber. Allen received a two million
dollar contract to manufacture more than 20 different components for the aircraft.
In 1988, Allen Aircraft was presented with the McDonnell Aircraft Company's
"Preferred Supplier Quality Team Award" This prestigious award signified that
Allen Aircraft continued to maintain an excellent quality system and superior quality
products in the eyes of the industry.
| In 1990, Allen Aircraft became a key supplier in the very secretive and
much talked about B-2 advanced technical "Stealth" bomber. All in all. Allen's
check valves, jet pumps, ball selector valves, and float valves represent a significant
portion of the B-2 fuel delivery system. By 1994, Boeing was developing the 777 which was the first
aircraft designed solely with the use of computers. Allen was a big part of this
development with a number of new products in the fuel and water systems on board the
aircraft. |
The B-2 Stealth Bomber
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In 1997,
Allen purchased a product line of chip detectors, oil level indicators, and sight gauges
from Lisle Corporation of Clarinda, Iowa. These products will add 25% sales growth to our
aircraft products business and represent new market penetration with aircraft engine
manufacturers and major aircraft subsystem suppliers.
Chip detector assembly was located in our building at 6145 Woodbine Avenue which was
formerly a storage facility for our Metal Finishing business. September 19, 1997 marked
the first shipment of chip detectors from Allen.
 Throughout the 1990's Allen's most significant expansion has come in the way of equipment
and utilization of that equipment. The combination of some of the latest technology in CNC
machines along with quick change tooling and cellular techniques have made our machine
shop one of the most capable in the area.
The 1990's have also been a time of strategic alliances with major customers. Today, Allen
enjoys long term relationships with companies such as Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed, Raytheon
(Beech), Bombardier, Israel Aircraft, as well as with other original aircraft
manufacturers and all airlines world wide. These relationships secure our long term
interests in the aircraft community and forms the basis of our commitment for continuous
improvement in all the things we do.
The ground work of Metal Finishing started in 1949. Certain components required the need
for dry film lubricant, which was being performed by Electrofilm Corporation, located in
California. Allen was required to send their parts all the way to California for this
operation. This was not only expensive but consumed enormous amounts of time just in
shipping. The idea was set into motion to get the approval for Allen to perform this
operation in house and eliminate this time factor. A person was hired and sent to
California to learn how this process was performed and Allen received the license to
perform dry film by Electrofilm. Since parts had to be pretreated before this
application could be applied, small phosphate tanks were installed in a small area in
the southwest comer of the existing building on Newton Falls road.
Parts being immersed in a
large hardcoat tank
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| Next
came anodizing. Since most of the valve components were made of aluminum they needed to be
anodized to protect the base material from corrosion. There was a lack of a good Anodizers
that could provide the quality of service that Allen required; therefore, small anodizing
tanks were installed in the same area as the phosphate tanks and in-house processing
began. |
Allen had to
be approved by all Aircraft Manufacturers to do Anodizing and Phosphating. Once approved,
this became a major attraction for other companies in the Akron Cleveland Area. In
response to this expanded customer list an addition was constructed in 1960 that
provided increased processing capabilities to other companies. Larger tanks were installed
to do Hard Anodizing, Sulfuric Anodizing, Chromic Anodizing, Manganese and Zinc Phosphate.
Chemfilm and Cadplating were added to the process list.
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The Metal
Finishing Department has processed a wide variety of items over the many years it has been
in existence. There were military components such as track adjusters, periscopes, and
wheels for tanks. In addition, landing gear, body structure parts, door skins, pumps, and
other components served both Military and Commercial Aircraft. Allen also provides coating
for the Space Shuttle program as well as other programs for NASA. The Mark 46,48, and 50
Torpedoes for the Navy were among the largest programs in which Allen Metal Finishing was
involved. Also, the Mark 30 unmanned submarine was anodized by Allen. In the commercial
field, items such as warmer plates for coffee makers, machining vises, bus shelter
structure parts, hot melt glue components, pneumatic valves, food processing equipment,
and fuel transferring components for ships are just a partial list of items that have been
processed by the Metal Finishing Division.
In 1974, another addition was added to expand the Anodizing capabilities and today Metal
Finishing consumes the entire Newton Falls road facility. Allen Aircraft Metal Finishing
is known as one of the best processing houses in the United States. It has achieved this
goal by everyone's total commitment to quality, service, and continuous improvement. |
