May/June_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0 3 4 seconds, the desired productivity, ef- ficiency, and accuracy was finally real- ized. The method’s patent application was approved in 1919 and in 1924 an improved design patent was granted. Simultaneously, commercial produc- tion of Rockwell testers was underway. Today, the Rockwell method remains the primary, preferred method for hard- ness testing worldwide. During World War II, production at automotive, military equipment, and aerospace factories boomed. Wil- son built Rockwell testers in the United States and United Kingdom with ex- port orders frequently placed by cod- ed telegraph messages. For example, an order of 40 bushels of potatoes may have been used to indicate an order of 40 4JR testers. Approximately 600 Rock- well testers were shipped to Russia at this time. After the war, Wilson thought they had saturated the market, so the busi- ness was sold to American Chain and Cable Company (ACCO) in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The manufacturing site was immediately moved to ACCO while the sales offices were moved in 1970. ACCO continued to manufacture and sell Rockwell testers until Wilson Instru- ments was sold in 1988. It then became part of Instron Corporation in Norwood, Massachusetts, in 1993. That same year, Instron also acquired Wolpert GmbH, a German manufacturer of hardness tes- ters, bringing both famous hardness brands under one roof. ITW GROWS TESTING DIVISION In 2005, Instron, Wilson, and Wolpert were acquired by ITW as the foundation of the company’s test and measurement division. By 2006, ITW had also acquired Buehler to further grow the new division. In 2009, anoth- er famous manufacturer of industri- al hardness testers, Reicherter GmbH (owned by Stiefelmayer), was acquired by ITW as well. In 2012, the testing line now known as Wilson Hardness offi- cially became part of Buehler’s product portfolio. ITW’s test and measurement business now provides specialized products to a diverse set of customers operating in highly regulated, demand- ing environments. The division includes Instron, North Star Imaging, Brooks In- strument, Magnaflux, Loma Systems, and Avery Weigh-Tronix. Since its acquisition by ITW, Bue- hler has improved on the original Wil- son designs and further developed hardness testing with fully configurable software called DiaMet, the Wilson VH3100 Vickers All-in-One hardness tes- ter, and the heavy-duty Wilson UH4000, an eight-turret, large stage universal hardness tester. Buehler launched Dia- Met to provide easy operation for auto- mated hardness testing. The software features specimen mapping, edge de- tection, scanning, stitching of overview images, case depth calculations, and statistical analysis tools as well as weld testing and geometric measurement functions and a barcode scanner inter- face. ~AM&P For more information: Matthias Pas- cher, hardness product manager, Buehler, an ITW Company, matthias. pascher@buehler.com , www.buehler. com. From the 1920s on, several generations of hardness testers have been used across a wide range of industries. Modern hardness testers. An early version of the Wilson Rockwell hardness tester.