Robert J. Smith Sr. and Henry P. Smith founded HMC shortly after the sinking of Kings Mine, one of the largest underground mines in Indiana for over 50 years. HMC’s original purpose was to serve this mine. HMC was originally owned by Princeton Mining Company, a subsidiary of Deep Vein Coal Co. These companies are Terre Haute, IN based corporations and part of our 5th generation family’s heritage that spans more than 100 years.
Pictured here is a photo of the surface operation of King’s Mine. Kings Mine, which was in King, IN, was located in what is now just considered to be Princeton, IN. The city HMC operates within.
One fun fact we like to inform our customers of is that Princeton Farms, established in the 1930’s by the Smith Family, was one of the largest farming operations in Indiana. A major part of its business was raising and packaging popcorn. Between the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s, Princeton Farms had a manager that became well known for his success in the popcorn industry. You might recognize a gentleman by the name of Orville Redenbacher, who got his start in the popcorn industry at Princeton Farms.
While Princeton Farms is no longer in operation, HMC still uses some of the buildings located where the farm operation was located.
In 1942, after the death of Robert J. Smith Sr., Henry P. Smith took over HMC. Henry directed and grew the company for the next 50 years.
The 1973 Oil Embargo caused one of the greatest economic inflations since World War II. Prices on every commodity escalated dramatically. Due to the supplementation of domestic big coal and oil companies and a chain of events that causes contract coal to skyrocket, the mining equipment OEM’s became inundated with new machine orders. Their lead times for delivery of replacement parts went out to as long as several years. Overnight many surface mines discovered that the replacement parts and service they required for their machines was nonexistent. This chain of events presented HMC with a huge opportunity.
The opportunity from the embargo, along with its profitability, allowed HMC to begin updating our company with advanced technology and resources. We were able to bring engineers and other technical associates on board and we began acquiring more equipment. By 1980 we were manufacturing quality gearing up to 10 ft. in diameter.
In the early 1990’s we developed a marketing campaign that would expose HMC to industries nationwide. Within a short period of time, this venture became promising enough to give us the confidence to move forward in 1994 with our Year 2000 expansion and updating plan. This planning encompassed new buildings, machine tools, inspection equipment, more welding technology, and the “beefing up” of many of our departments with additional technical resources.
By the year 2000, HMC’s large precision gears were furnishing or transmitting power for companies throughout the United State, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America for bridges, mining machines, steel and aluminum equipment, sugar mills, cement and other aggregate mills, and for the military. We continued to show the same quality, technology, responsiveness, commitment, dedication, and service as we had for decades to the mining industry.
In 2007, HMC completed building a new super-heavy welding and fabrication facility. This new facility allowed us to move our welding from our 18,000 sq. ft. high bay buildings and double our welding capabilities in this brand-new building. It is supported by two 50-ton cranes. Since the construction of the building, we have added a huge new stress-relieving oven, manipulators, turning rolls, layout tables, and much more.
Pictured here is a photo of the construction of our fabrication facility.
This gave HMC a “quantum leap” in efficiency with gears internal/external of up to 240” diameter and to tolerances of AGMA 15. The Rapid 6000 offers HMC unique inspection capabilities. HMC has the unparalleled capability to chart tolerances for lead, pitch, profile, and runout, on gears up to 6 meters in diameter.
We decided not to stop at 240” in diameter. In 2011, HMC added 8-meter manufacturing and inspecting capabilities to our arsenal. HMC now has the ability to specify, design, manufacture and verify gearing up to 315” in diameter. We are one of very few companies in the world possessing this capability.
In 2018, HMC decided to make huge investments in milling technology with several new machine tools. This was a tremendous leap forward for large close-gap double helical (herringbone) gearing. In addition, we added the capability of machining complex parts from solid using on one machine resulting in incredibly fast delivery times for gearing components such as pinion shafts.
Founded in 1921, HMC is proud to celebrate a milestone such as 100 years of business as well as 5 generations of family ownership. We continue to move technology forward while relying on our knowledge from our long history of producing high quality gearing for industries all over the world.
Our simple and easy to fill out online quote request the first step in allowing us to partner with you on your next gear project.
3010 S. Old US Hwy. 41
Princeton, IN 47670
1-866-990-9462
CAGE CODE# 08SH0
JCP# 0055535
