Datasheet

www.linemaster.com
29 Plaine Hill Road
POB 238
Woodstock, CT 06281-0238 USA
Call: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Fax Toll Free (US Only): [phone]
8
USE OF FOOT CONTROLS ON MACHINERY LACKING EFFECTIVE
POINT OF OPERATION SAFEGUARDS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS
INJURY TO THE OPERATOR.
Foot controls should only be used where “Point of Operation” and
“Pinch Point” guarding devices have been properly installed and are
utilized so that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the operator’s hands or fingers to
remain within the point of operation during the machine cycle.
POINT OF OPERATION-The point or area of the machine or
equipment where the work piece or material is actually positioned
and work is being performed during any process such as cutting,
shearing, punching, forming, welding, riveting, assembling, etc.
PINCH POINT-Any point at which it is possible for a portion of
the body to be caught and injured between moving machine or
equipment or work piece parts.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER to determine the suitability
of a foot control for the user’s intended use and to determine that
the foot control chosen by the user and wring up and installation of
same will comply with all Federal, State and Local safety and health
regulations and codes.
Due to the unlimited variety of business equipment, instruments,
machines and vehicles on which our foot switches are used, the
thousands of standards, and customers’ varying interpretations
of the standards covering these applications, it is impossible for
LINEMASTER
®
personnel to be experts on standards and requirements
for all these products. We offer over 150 stock foot switch models
and guards plus a large variety of specials which are made to
customer specifications. We can advise you what is available in our
foot switch line and you can examine models to see what meets your
needs. We believe our customers’ engineering departments should
be the qualified experts in their own product field and know what
specifications or details they may require in a foot switch for their
equipment. If one of our stock models meets their needs, they can
specify it, or possibly ask for a modification of a stock model if that
is required.
SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR IF ANY OF THE ABOVE
WARNING IS UNCLEAR, PLEASE CALL LINEMASTER
®
SWITCH
CORPORATION.
LINEMASTER
®
SWITCH CORPORATION reserves the right to
discontinue or change specifications, designs or materials, without
notice consistent with sound engineering principles and modern
practices.
WARNING
The roots of LINEMASTER
®
extend back to the great depression of the 1930’s.
With a generous gift of $500.00 from his Aunt, and a business machinery
loan from the Reynolds Company in Providence, Rl, Albert Simonds,
incorporated the Simonds Machine Company in Southbridge, Massachusetts
in 1937. From this modest beginning, he produced the Lensmaster optical
machinery line to grind lenses of all sizes. As his business grew, he found a
need for a good, reliable foot switch to operate his equipment that required
the operator to maintain hands-free capability at all times. Consequently, he
invented the foot switch, and LINEMASTER
®
was born. His first foot switch,
the Senior, came to fruition through the sale of Al’s optical machinery to a
company called New Era in Chicago. The management of a tool shop in the
same building saw it and asked if they could acquire some of those switches.
This request was forwarded back to Al at Lensmaster, and the ball began to
roll.
The Second World War interrupted the growth of Lensmaster and delayed
the development of LINEMASTER
®
; however, in the early 1940’s, the Junior
and Duplex models were added to the Senior family and expanded Al’s
offerings. The housings of the switches were made of cast iron manufactured
by the Connecticut Foundry and the interior switching mechanisms were
designed and developed by Arrow-Hart & Hegeman of Hartford, CT. The
Treadlite, Compact and Electro-Lok followed in rapid succession at the close
of the war and Mr. Simonds felt that LINEMASTER
®
was now capable of its
own business destiny. Lensmaster was growing quickly and LINEMASTER
®
needed to move to a quieter, more desirable location. When Al Simonds
married Nancy B. Blakely in Woodstock, CT during November 1951, they
started to look for a future home for LINEMASTER
®
in the Woodstock area.
Bald Hill Acres was available and on April 11, 1952 was purchased as their
home, office and manufacturing facility. On May 1, 1952, Linemaster Switch
Corporation was officially established as a privately owned and operated
manufacturing facility in the state of Connecticut. Soon the Simonds family
needed additional space and added the first of many structures to the small
wooden carriage house on the property. The mansion remained Al’s and
Nancy’s home and office until 1964.
LINEMASTER
®
acquired the components for the assembly operation from
other small companies in the area. Connecticut manufacturers were favored,
however, firms throughout the country aided the growth of LINEMASTER
®
.
During the ‘50’s, additional models were added to the foot switch family.
Led by the burly Hercules, an onslaught of different designs and application
specific switches were introduced to the American public. The Nautilus,
Cadet, Clipper, Executive and Deluxe models, to name a few, increased the
company’s core product line. To this day, most remain the bread and butter
of Linemaster Switch Corporation. Al Simonds’ untimely death in 1966 left
the company with a strong legacy that its employees have maintained. His
wife, Nancy, who had been very active in the business since 1942 at Simonds
Machine, became President and Treasurer and has carried on in the same
manner until her retirement in 2002. Their daughter, Nancy Iris, has held
many key positions with the company.
Joseph Carlone joined LINEMASTER
®
as Vice President/General Manager
in April 1996, bringing to the company his knowledge and experience in
manufacturing. He was named President in 1998, and is responsible for the
engineering enhancements and cutting edge technologies that ensure
Linemaster’s continued growth and integrity. Mr. Carlone purchased
Linemaster Switch Corporation in June 2002 and takes great pride in guiding
“America’s Foot Switch Leader” into the new millennium.
The growth of LINEMASTER
®
and its facilities is the story of a small business
success that has repeated itself many times across America. Small business
is the backbone of American industry that fires the ingenuity in all of us. Over
the decades, LINEMASTER
®
has continued to grow while remaining faithful
to its original small company focus of service, quality and integrity. America’s
Foot Switch Leader offers a complete range of electric, air-powered and
variable speed foot switches. Today, the manufacturing facility is situated
in the heart of the 91 acres that is still referred to as Bald Hill and has
expanded to over 50,000 square feet. It produces over 200 standard catalog
items featuring heavy, medium and light-duty switches. These switches are
found in industrial, medical and commercial based applications of all types
worldwide.
LINEMASTER
®
has become the foot switch of choice to those who require
exceptional quality and engineered technologies that are uncommon and not
standard. The changing needs of our customers have brought LINEMASTER
®
to new levels, embracing new technologies such as solid modeling design
and stereo lithography. LINEMASTER
®
is currently able to design and test new
foot switches in only a fraction of the time it took LINEMASTER
®
in the past.
New models such as the Air Seal, Atlas and Aquiline are examples of foot
controls designed to meet tomorrow’s standards today. LINEMASTER
®
looks
forward with great enthusiasm to the challenges of the new millennium,
striving always to provide excellent service and uncompromising quality in
its 50 year old tradition.
Corporate History