Stever Locke opens Florida branch

Stever Locke opens

Florida branch

Stever Locke Industries has opened an engineering center in Sarasota, Florida. The new engineering center is named the Southeastern Design Engineering Center and Allen Miller, formerly of Fairport, NY, is the Engineering Manager.

Stever Locke Industries was founded by Stanley S. Stever and Louis P. Locke in 1946, under the name Stever Locke Specialties. Louis Locke was the son of Fred M. Locke, who is credited with the invention of the glass (porcelain) insulator, as well as PYREX(r). Louis Locke, also an inventor, patented the process of stamping electrical terminals from a continuous metal strip in 1947. In 1953, he patented the process of attaching electric terminals to fibers and papers, which produced electrical terminal boards.

In 1988, Stever Locke Specialties was purchased by Michael E. Davin and H. Scott Norris, and the name was changed to Stever Locke Industries in recognition of other holdings the new owners brought to the company. Norris died in 1993 and his interest was purchased by Davin.

Although Stever Locke Industries has many customers in New York and other Northeastern states, its most recent growth has been in the Southeastern states and the Texas/Mexico border areas. The Southwestern Engineering Center provides easy access to these developing areas, as well as an excellent recruiting location for experienced tooling and product design engineers who have "early retired" to the Sarasota area.

The Sarasota location is providing engineering support for the Honeoye Falls manufacturing location and will eventually add tool and prototype making to its support functions.