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New Departure Bell Company was formed in 1888 by brothers Albert and Edward Rockwell in Bristol, Connecticut as a manufacturer of doorbells. They began operations at one end of a clock factory, manufacturing doorbells. Soon after, they branched out manufacturing various other products.

In 1898, New Departure bearings introduced the bicycle coaster brake and in 1903 they also began making brakes for belt and chain-driven motorcycles. Large quantities of bicycle front and rear wheel hubs were produced.

In 1908, New Departure developed the double row bearing capable of handling both radial and thrust loads from either direction and in 1909 obtained a patent for it. In 1910, the company developed the angular contact or Radax single row bearing that took radial loads, as well as thrust loads from one direction.

In 1916, New Departure fag bearings, Hyatt Roller Bearing, Westom-Mott Axle, Remy Electric Company, Perriman Rim Company and Dayton Engineering Laboratories were purchased by William Durant, president of General Motors, and put under the United Motors Corporation name with Alfred Sloan as President. In 1918, General Motors acquired United Motors outright with Sloan becoming a GM Vice President and in 1923 he became the President of General Motors.

During World War II, New Departure bearings produced ultra precision instrument bearings that were used in the Norden Bombsight, one of the U.S. Air Forces most powerful weapons. In the 1950s, New Departure invented the Roller Clutch used in automatic transmissions, allowing for smoother shifting.

Having acquired the former New Departure bearings Hyatt wheel hub unit and timken bearing operations in Sandusky, Ohio, KBI continues the rich tradition and NDH heritage of ball bearing manufacturing that dates back to the late 1800's. KBI is a full service supplier with complete design, engineering, and testing and validation capability.

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s General Electric released a series of ads hyping their line of "New Departure bearings" In the ads, potential products of the near future were made possible by New Departure. The future was a utopia of easy to use products/services that made "modern" life a breeze.

It could well be that in less than a decade a compact new appliance for the home will clean and press a suit, coat or dress in seconds.

Of course, such a machine is yet to be developed. But one solid fact: when the “Valet-Mat” does arrive it will probably be new departure ball bearings that keep it operating smoothly and efficiently.

New Departure-Hyatt Bearings Division traces its roots to the New Departure Manufacturing Company, a producer of ball bearings that  became part of GM. New Departure was producing nearly 75 percent of all the ball nachi bearings used in all industries in the United States and 50 percent of those used in the entire world. Eventually, the operations were re-named New Departure-Hyatt Division.

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