Incorporated in 1955, Taylor Devices, Inc. is the leading manufacturer of Shock Absorbers, Liquid Springs, Shock Isolation Systems, Seismic Isolators, Vibration Dampers, Powerplant Snubbers, and other types of Hydro-Mechanical Energy Management Products.  Our products form the cutting edge of technology in our marketplace, and are backed by our 50+ years of successful experience in the shock and vibration control field.  Our products offer a turn-key solution to shock and vibration problems, with Taylor Devices providing full analysis, development, manufacturing and testing capabilities to satisfy the most exacting customer requirements.

Design Evolution of the Taylor Devices Shock Absorber, Damper, and Liquid Spring

During his ten years of experience as an Aeronautical Engineer for Beech Aircraft and Curtiss-Wright, our founder, Mr. Paul H. Taylor, became aware of the work of Sir George Dowty in the field of fluid compressibility, and similar work by Amagot, Constaninesco, and Bridgeman.

These early studies of compressibility phenomena led to the development of various compressible material devices during Mr. Taylor's tenure as Vice President of Research at the Wales-Strippit Corporation, a machine tool manufacturer.  The highlight of these developments was a mass-produced liquid spring.  Over 20,000 of these were built and sold for commercial uses for dies, aircraft, ordnance, etc., during the early 1950's.

In 1955, Mr. Taylor formed Taylor Devices, Inc. for the purpose of developing an original aircraft liquid spring landing gear design that combined a spring and shock absorber into a single package.  Variations of this basic product produced a pure shock absorber, a double acting damper, and a pure liquid spring.  Special machines were developed to automate the production of ultra-finished bores having a half millionth of an inch surface finish (.5 micro inch), essential to the proper performance of these early, super-precision, hydraulic components.

In 1962, Mr. Taylor filed for patents on what is now the Teflon® sealed, rod-type, liquid spring-damper, the first new type of liquid spring design in over 30 years.  By 1972, Taylor Devices had manufactured over 500,000 liquid springs and liquid spring dampers utilizing the Teflon® seal design.  This seal has since been improved upon, with the associated improvement patents, to the point that millions of cycles of totally leak-free operation can be achieved without maintenance or seal replacement.  In addition to Teflon® , other structural plastics are used in manufacturing seals to meet specific customer requirements, such as nuclear radiation resistance, high vacuum, or operation in environments containing caustic substances.

As a parallel program, an improved low pressure seal design was also produced, proving the basis for standard commercial shock absorber and damper designs where conventional hydraulic seals had proven to be inadequate due to leakage. In the 1970's, patents were issued on the Taylor Devices Fluidic Damping System, the first major technical improvement in shock absorber design since 1927.

At the turn of the century, production of Taylor Shock Absorbers and Liquid Springs was well over 2.5 million units.  More than 750,000 units were used as automobile bumper shock absorbers in the 1973-1976 model years.  To date, over 90 U.S. patents in the field of compressible fluid technology have been issued to members of the firm.  The superior design qualities and reliable operation of Taylor Liquid Springs, Liquid Spring Shocks and Shock Absorbers are well known throughout the world.  Taylor Devices is now in its sixth decade as a supplier of critical shock isolation components to the United States Government.  Some major armed forces programs utilizing energy management components of Taylor Devices include:

  1.   Arresting Gear, Navy F-8 and A-7 Aircraft

  2.   Shock Isolation System, NASA Apollo Program

  3.   Arresting Gear, Navy S-3 Aircraft

  4.   Shock Isolation System, Army Skycrane Helicopter

  5.   Shock Isolation System, Navy PHALANX Gun

  6.   Shock Isolation System, NASA Space Shuttle

  7.   Energy Absorber, Navy MK 86 Antenna

  8.   Energy Absorber, Navy MK 88 Antenna

  9.   Energy Absorber, Navy MK 92 Antenna

10.   Energy Absorber, Navy SPS 49 Antenna

11.   Shock Isolation System, Navy Terrier Missile

12.   Energy Absorber, NATO Seasparrow Missile

13.   Energy Absorber, Army and Marines TOW-Cobra Missile

14.   Shock Isolation System, Navy VLS Tomahawk Missile

15.   Shock Isolation System, Navy and DEA Soft Mount Guns

16.   MX Missile, Shock Isolation System, MPS Basing Mode

17.   MX Missile, Shock Isolation System, CSB Basing Mode

18.   MX Missile, Shock Isolation System, DBWS Basing Mode

19.   B-2 Stealth Bomber, Classified Application

20.   Seawolf Submarine, Classified Application

21.   Shock Isolation System, NATO VLS Sparrow Missile

22.   Shock Isolation System, Navy Standard Missile, Block IV

23.   Active Shock Isolation System, Army THAAD Missile

24.   Active and Passive Dampers, NASA EELV Program

25.   Shock Isolation System, Navy Q/70 Family of Electronics Enclosures

26.   Virginia Class Submarine, Classified Application

27.   Shock Isolation System, M-777 Howitzer 

These are major programs; a host of smaller programs also utilize Taylor Devices'components.

Taylor Devices Facilities

Taylor Devices currently has six production facilities located in North Tonawanda, New York.  Four of the five buildings are located on a seven acre tract on Tonawanda Island, located 1,000 feet offshore from the mainland on the Niagara River.  The island is serviced by a two lane highway bridge.  Personnel and air cargo access is available through the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport at Buffalo, New York, located 20 minutes from North Tonawanda.  Private aircraft access is provided by both the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport and the airport at Niagara Falls, New York.  The Niagara Falls International Airport is located fifteen minutes from North Tonawanda.

Facilities consist of the following:

a. Two interconnected production plants, designated as "Small Manufacturing" and "Large Manufacturing".

b. Seismic damper assembly plant, capable of producing individual seismic protection devices up to 45 feet in length.

c.  Research and development center.

d. Repair and bonded storage facility, located on the North Tonawanda mainland.  This building currently accommodates a depot level repairs facility for Taylor Devices military products.  To maintain absolute quality assurance, all production plants report to a common Quality Control Department, Test Department, and Engineering staff.  Each plant maintains its own assembly staff.

Small Parts Manufacturing

The Small Parts Division is configured to produce all Taylor products less than two inches in diameter.  Our small parts facility includes a complete small machine shop and tool room, with a separate assembly and pre-test room.  Assembly of space qualified products is performed in a controlled atmosphere clean room, with a laminar flow assembly bench certified to Class 100 requirements of U.S. Federal Standard 209E.

a. Manual lathes include six machines by Hardinge, Wacheon, etc., used for turning, boring and milling.

b. Deep hole drilling equipment consisting of Eldorado Gun Drills.

c.  Computer Numeric Control turning capability is provided by three Hardinge CNC Turning Centers (1992, 1996, and 2009) with automatic bar feed, utilizing FANUC OT, FANUC 18T, and FANUC 0i-TC computer controls.

d. Milling Machines include three Bridgeport CNC Milling Machines (1985, 1989 and 1990) and two manual Bridgeports with digital readouts.

Large Parts Manufacturing

The Large Parts Division is configured to produce all Taylor Products over two inches in diameter.  The facility consists of a complete machine shop, using predominately custom-built machinery for boring, deep hole drilling, gun drilling, and turning of large parts. Two assembly zones are used, both are deep pit areas capable of assembling and pre-testing  products up to 45 feet in length.  Material handling equipment includes both overhead and jib cranes up to 10 tons capacity.

a. Manual lathes include a custom built Poreba Lathe for deep hole boring.  This machine has a 12 inch hollow spindle, double chucked, with external roller type steady rest.  Tubes up to 24 feet in length can be accommodated with ease.  Bed length is 120 inches. Swing is 36 inches.

b. Deep hole drilling equipment:

1. Warner & Swazey 3A Turret Lathe, with 5 inch diameter hollow spindle and 40 horsepower drive.  Redesigned and rebuilt for Taylor Devices for deep hole drilling up to 3-1/2 inches in diameter.

2. Warner & Swazey 4A Turret Lathe, built in 1972 and rebuilt by the manufacturers representative in 1994.  This machine has full versatility with cross feed and threading capabilities on both front and rear turrets.  It has a 102 inch bed length, and features a 12 inch hollow spindle and 75 horsepower motor.  Taylor Devices has equipped the machine with ejector type drill tooling with the capability to drill a high tolerance bore up to 8-1/2 inches in diameter.

c.  Computer Numeric Control Turning Equipment

1. One American Eagle Universal CNC Turning Center (1983), recently rebuilt.  This machine can bar feed up to 3-1/2 inches diameter and has a 30 horsepower drive.  Control is provided by a Bendix 5 M Controller.  The machine has a 62 inch slant bed with analog turret and a 20 inch swing.

2. An Okuma LC40 slant bed, chucking and turning center built in 1998 and refurbished for Taylor Devices in 2002.  This machine has a 22 inch turning capacity with a 34 inch between center capacity.  The turning center includes a 12 station automatic tool changer and is powered by a 40 horsepower spindle drive.  The machine has the ability to repeatedly turn parts to .0002 inch tolerances.

3. An Okuma LH50 flat bed, universal turning center built in 1980 and rebuilt for Taylor Devices in 1996.  This machine has a 36 inch turning capacity with a 108 inch between center capacity.  The turning center includes twin 8 station automatic tool changers and is powered by a 50 horsepower spindle drive.  The machine has the ability to repeatedly turn parts to .0005 inch tolerances.

4. A Daewoo Puma-15 slant bed chucking and turning center.  This machine has a 29 inch turning capacity with a 62 inch capacity between centers.  The machine includes a 12 station automatic tool changer and is powered by a 50 horsepower spindle drive.  It has the capability to repeatedly turn parts to a .0002 inch tolerance.  This machine was built in 1992 and rebuilt in 2007.

d. Multi-axis CNC milling is provided by a HAAS VF-4 built in 1999 and refurbished in 2006 and a HAAS VF-3 built in 2004.  These machines have the capacity to do 4 axis machining on part envelopes of 50 inches wide by 20 inches deep by 24 inches high.  The machines spindle has a maximum of 30 horsepower and includes an automatic tool changer with a 32 tool capacity.

Facilities Common to Taylor Devices Manufacturing Centers

a. Grinding Equipment:  Centerless capability is provided by a Nippei Industrial Company centerless grinder capable of grinding 1/16 inch to 3-9/16 inch diameter by up to 36 inch lengths on a high volume production basis.  Center grinding capability is provided by two Cincinnati Universal Center grinders capable of grinding parts up to 14 inches in diameter by 98 inches in length.  These machines have the ability to grind diversified materials with up to a 60 Rockwell hardness holding tolerances of .0001 and finishes of less than a 4 micro inch on a production basis. 

b. Honing and Diamond Lapping:  Honing equipment includes five Sunnen hones.  The Sunnen machines include two 1995 and 1999 small diameter horizontal hones (up to 1^1/4 inches diameter), two 1995 large diameter horizontal hones (up to 23 inches diameter and 60 feet length), and a vertical "Cylinder King," all high volume production hones.  Our honing facilities routinely finish to 0.4 micro inch.  For better finishes, our Diamond Lapping department utilizes three custom built machines (patented by Taylor Devices), that provide I.D. and O.D. lapped finishes to 0.25 micro inch on diameters to 24 inches.

c.  Bar and plate handling:  Facilities include a fully automatic, 12 inch diameter x 20 foot length capacity Hyd-Mech H-12 Saw, with digital controller, purchased in 1996.

d. Welding Shop:  Welding is performed and certified to ASME and AISE codes in both electric arc and torch operations in our in-house weld shop.

e. Heat Treating:  Taylor Devices maintains two Heat Treat furnaces with microprocessor controls and chart monitors.  They are capable of handling parts up to 40 inches length and 24 inches diameter.

Research and Development

As a defense contractor, Taylor Devices actively participates in funded Government directed research, in addition to the Companys internal R&D program.  Research projects are structured within three areas:  basic research, applied research, and product development.  The scope of the Companys research activity includes passive and active structural control, natural and man-made environmental effects, fluid chemistry, interdisciplinary interfaces, seal development, structural dynamics, and vehicle control and handling.

Corporate policy dictates that virtually all basic and most applied research is conducted internally by full-time R&D Company employees.  This assures maximum width and breadth of emergent R&D activities with a minimum of corporate limitations imposed on research personnel.

Planning for Future Technical Innovations

Taylor Devices' is constantly refining and improving its Shock Isolator designs and is tremendously proud of  the performance of the Companys products in both military and commercial service.  Projects are now underway to adapting active control-structure interfaces into the firm's isolation systems.  These will allow the integration of electrically powered active controls into shock and vibration control products of this new century, when control by artificial intelligence or neural solution techniques are expected.

 

 

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