Crane & Co.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crane & Co., Inc.
Type	Private
Founded	Dalton, Massachusetts, U.S. (1801)
Founder	Zenas Crane, Henry Wiswall and John Willard
Headquarters	Dalton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area served	North America
Key people	Eric Fast, President and CEO Doug Crane, Vice President^[1]
Industry	Paper
Products	U.S. Currency
Revenue	▲ 206 Million USD ^[1]
Employees	1,400 ^[1]
Website	crane.com

Crane & Co., based in Dalton, Massachusetts, makes rag based paper for the Federal Reserve Note. They also make stationery.

[edit] History

Stephen Crane was the first in the Crane family to become a papermaker, calling his mill "The Liberty Paper Mill" ^[2]. He sold currency-type paper to engraver Paul Revere, who printed the American Colonies’ first paper money. In 1801 Crane was founded by Zenas Crane, Henry Wiswall and John Willard. The company's original mill had a daily output of 20 posts (1 post = 125 sheets). Crane developed a method to embed parallel silk threads in banknote paper to denominate notes and deter counterfeiting in 1844.

In 1879 Crane grew when Winthrop M. Crane won a contract to deliver U.S. currency paper to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C.. Crane produced both the yellow (issued in 1883-84) and the white (1884-1894) watermarked security papers for the nation's Postal Notes. These early money orders were produced for sale throughout the postal system by the Homer Lee Bank Note Company (1883-1887), the American Bank Note Company (1887-1891), and Dunlap & Clarke (1891-1894). In 1922 Crane & Co. incorporated, with Frederick G. Crane elected as president. In 1970 Crane’s pollution-control system won an award.

Crane remains the predominant supplier of paper for use in U.S. currency. Legislative attempts to open up the market to foreign suppliers have been defeated by action of Massachusetts' U.S. senators.

In 2002 Crane purchased the company Tumba Bruk from the Central Bank of Sweden (Riksbank) and operates this today as Crane AB.