Our Story

Osborn is the leading manufacturer of brushes for a wide variety of applications. We have become experts in our field and are constantly evolving.

This is how it all started ...

  • 1887 - John J. Osborn founded the Osborn Manufacturing Company
  • 1890 - Internationalization - First branch in Brussels, Belgium
  • 1894 - Franklin Smith acquires 97% of the company
  • 1902 - Osborn moves to Cleveland.
  • 1910 - Machinery division established
  • 1914 - Rise to leading manufacturer of foundry equipment
  • 1930 - Entry into the polishing business
  • 1942 - Modernization of facilities
  • 1947 - Hand brush production moves to Henderson, Kentucky
  • 1960 - Load Runners product segment established.
  • 1965 - Roadshows in Europe and the USA
  • 1968 - Franklin Smith dies

“Nothing stands still. Everything goes forward or goes backward. That is true whether you are talking of a man or a family or a fortune or a business or a nation or a world. To try to keep things exactly as they are is to deteriorate. Here at Osborn we have to improve all the time. We must either sell better things than others sell at the same price, or we must make our things so much better than the other fellow’s that people will gladly pay a higher price for ours.”

-Franklin Smith

  • 1969 - Acquisition of Schmitz & Ludwig GmbH (Burgwald)
  • 1979 - Acquisition of the Jackson Buff Company
  • 1980 - Participation in international trade fairs begins
  • 1985 - Foundation of Jason Inc.
  • 1986 - Société Anonyme des Machines (Osborn SAMO) founded in Paris, France
  • 1986 - Jason acquires Brushes International
  • 1987 - Jason begins public trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange
  • 1992 - Hand brush production relocated to Nogales, Mexico
  • 2000 - Privatization, with more than 40 key members of management taking an ownership stake.
  • 2004 - New brush manufacturing facility in Richmond, IN
  • 2006 - Acquisition of Lippert-Unipol GmbH (Haan and Epfenbach).
  • 2011 - Test robots installed at R&D centres in Burgwald/Germany and Richmond/USA.
  • 2012 - New Osborn trademark
  • 2013 - Modernization of facilities in Romania, Germany, China and India
  • 2015 - Acquisition of Dronco GmbH (Wunsiedel/Bavaria) as part of Osborn
  • 2019 - Schaffner (USA) is integrated into Osborn
  • 2020 - Matchless Metal Polish Company (USA) is acquired
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