F. Reed Estabrook, Jr.
Precision Molded Gearing
Inducted 2003
F. Reed Estabrook (1919 – 2006) was an American businessman in the plastics field. Born on February 7, 1919, he grew up in Newton and Dedham, Massachusetts. He attended Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut (class 1936) and Harvard University (class 1940). Shortly after that, he served as a lieutenant in the Air Force.
In his early plastics career, the Gorham Company in Providence, Rhode Island, employed him as a sales engineer in their Plastics Division. He then worked at the Northern Industrial Chemical Company, a custom molder in South Boston, MA, where he became the General Manager in 1954. While at Northern, Estabrook was instrumental in designing and molding phenolic field telephone handsets and electrical components for the U.S. Navy and in the post-war development of Northern’s line of molded melamine dinnerware.
Estabrook went on to found Brook Molding Corporation (1957-1978) and its subsidiary, Precision Molded Gearing, in Norwood, Massachusetts, which pioneered the injection molding of nylon gears. He sold Brook Molding in 1978 and established the Taim Corporation, a consulting firm that assisted clients with machinery, materials, molding methods, practical part design, and building special automated molding equipment.
Estabrook was involved in the plastics industry through professional society memberships and service activities. He was a member of the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and was active in the Plastics Pioneers Association. He also volunteered his time to the formation and governance as a National Plastics Center and Museum board member in Leominster, Massachusetts. He served on the Industrial Advisory Board of the Plastics Engineering Program at UMass Lowell.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastics machinery, Plastics management, Plastics sales
Related Links:
Estabrook Papers at Syracuse University, http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/e/estabrook_fr.htm