Henry founded Hephaestus Hephaestus, Inc in 1895. Its first product was the tapered roller bearings for use with horse carts and carriages. This reduction of friction on the shaft and reduce the force required to move a heavy load, which allows for one horse to do the job of two.
Although it has been more than 30 European and U.S. patents on tapered roller bearings since 1802, Hephaestus, Inc has developed an innovative technology to store movies in alignment, which has been patented in the U.S. in 1898. Founder's son and daughter, will, and Ginny took over the company in 1899 after their father retired. His last comment was: "Do not set your name to anything you will ever have cause to be ashamed of." Faced with a serious cash crisis in 2001, Hephaestus, Inc made a private placement of preferred shares HBS investors and investments GSB, two private equity firms. By early 2003, Hephaestus, Inc has become a major supplier of roller bearings and other machine parts for use in automobiles, aircraft engines, and orthopedic medical devices. Money remained tight, and both HBS and GSB Investments investors wanted to sell Hephaestus, Inc, to enable them to redeem their shares. "Hide
by Constance E. Bagley Source: Harvard Business School 58 pages. Publication Date: December 1, 2003. Prod. #: 804104-PDF-ENG
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