Industry Manufacturing Website www.armstrongtools.com Founded 1890 | Products Industrial tools Headquarters Chicago Parent organization Danaher Corporation | |
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Type Subsidiary of the Danaher Corporation Profiles | ||
Armstrong Tools is an American industrial hand tool manufacturer. It is a brand of Apex Tool Group, LLC. The company manufactures the majority of its tools in the United States and focuses mostly on aerospace, government, and military users.
History
Armstrong was founded in 1890 as the Armstrong Bros. Tool Company in Chicago, Illinois by the four Armstrong brothers. The brothers manufactured bicycle parts and tools for repairing and manufacturing bicycles from the brothers' backyard shed and managed a retail store in downtown Chicago.
In 1895, Armstrong introduced a tool holder for lathe cutting bits. Rather than individual forged cutting tools, this product used a single forged shank with interchangeable cutting bits, drastically reducing the cost of such bits. The success of this product allowed Armstrong to build a factory in Chicago in 1900 (followed by a larger factory in 1905). In 1948, the company moved to its current facility, and in 1974, it opened a second facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
In 1994, Armstrong was acquired by the Danaher Corporation, where it operated as its industrial hand tools division.
In 2010, Armstrong, as part of Danaher Tool Group, became part of Apex Tool Group, LLC. In 2017, Apex announced that it would layoff 170 workers at its Sumter, South Carolina plant and cease production of the Armstrong and Allen brands by March 31st.