Marmon-Herrington

American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for vehicles

The Marmon Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s was a manufacturer of trucks and trolley buses. Marmon Herrington had a partnership with Ford Motor Company, producing trucks and other commercial vehicles, such as buses. The company may be best known for its all wheel drive conversions to other truck maker's units, especially to Ford truck models. Founded in 1931, Marmon Herrington was based in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a plant in Windsor, Ontario, and remained in Indianapolis until 1963. It is now based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Founded in 1931 by Walter C. Marmon and Arthur W. Herrington, the company was the successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company, a maker of high quality, costly automobiles from 1902 to 1933. And so the company became Marmon Herrington, initially as the truck production division of the Marmon Motor Car Company, developing military trucks. Marmon Herrington (MH) got off to a successful start in March 1931, when the company procured contracts for 33 T 1 4x4 aircraft refueling trucks, powered by 6 cylinder Hercules engines, followed by a variety of 4x4 and 6x6 vehicles for the U. S. and Persian armies, for use as general load carriers, towing light weaponry, mobile machine shops, and wreckers. Construction of all wheel drive (AWD) vehicles and conversion of existing vehicles to AWD were among the company's products. MH's all wheel drive conversions of Ford light trucks were successfully sold to the military of both the U. S. and several foreign governments. During World War II the British were looking for a purpose built airborne light tank to replace the Tetrarch light tank but decided not to produce the tank in Britain due to a lack of production capacity. Instead, the American government was approached with a request that it produce a replacement for the Tetrarch. This request was made by the British Air Commission in Washington, D. C., with a proposal calling for a tank of between and to be developed, this being the maximum weight the War Office had decided could be carried by current glider technology. The United States Ordnance Department was given the task of developing the proposed tank, and in turn, requested designs from three American companies: General Motors, J. Walter Christie and Marmon Herrington. At a conference in May 1941, the Ordnance Department chose the Marmon Herrington design and requested that the company produce a prototype tank, which was completed in late 1941; it was designated the Light Tank T9 (Airborne) by the company and the Ordnance Department and later designated M22. The company also manufactured airport fire trucks, like the Marmon Herrington MB 1 and Marmon Herrington MB 5. They were mainly used by the military, like the U. S Air Force and U. S. Navy. Post War civilian adaptations, known as "Brush Breakers", were also produced.

The company's foray into transit buses began in 1946, when it produced its first electric trolley bus. The end of World War II had brought a steep drop in the need for military vehicles, so Marmon Herrington looked for another area of vehicle manufacturing in which it might find new business. Its first "trolley coaches", the more common term for trolley buses at that time, introduced innovative features such as lightweight monocoque bodies and strong, double girder sidewalls, which made the Marmon Herrington trolley coach the best selling trolley coach of the postwar era. vehicles were also sold to two cities in Brazil. The principal models were the TC44, TC48, and TC49, with the number denoting the number of seats. A single order of the 40 seat TC40 model was produced for San Francisco, and likewise, the TC46 was produced for only one customer, Philadelphia, before MH replaced it with the TC48 model. all at the company's Indianapolis factory. were retired in 1976 and Philadelphia's last units in 1981. Some MH trolley buses withdrawn from service in the United States were sold secondhand to Mexico City's Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos (STE) between the late 1960s and late 1970s and continued in service for many more years on that city's trolley bus network. Although the last Marmon Herrington trolley buses in original form were retired by STE in 1988, many underwent a rebuilding of their bodies in the 1980s by the Mexican company Moyada and continued working; the last five of these Moyada remodeled Marmon Herrington trolley buses of STE survived in service until 2002. By the late 1950s, the market for new trolley buses in North America had dried up, as some trolley bus systems were being abandoned while others had re equipped with new MH vehicles. The company's last orders for transit vehicles were also its only export orders for trolley buses, to Recife and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, comprising 65 and 50 TC49s, respectively, delivered in 1958–59. The Illinois Railway Museum has preserved two ex Chicago Transit Authority Marmon Herrington trolley coaches and one ex Milwaukee unit.

In the early 1960s, the Pritzker family bought the company, The remaining production became part of an association of companies which in 1964 adopted the name Marmon Group. During the Cold war era, Marmon diversified its production line by adding aircraft, missiles and rockets ground support equipment, manufactured by its subsidiary, Cardair, based in Chicago, Illinois. The MH company continues today as a converter of commercial trucks to all wheel drive (AWD) vehicles, as well as a manufacturer of transmissions, transfer cases, and axles for heavy vehicles. Marmon Herrington axles can still be found on even the newest military vehicles and commercial trucks. In addition to building installation kits for all wheel drive, the company has also become a front drive axle and transfer case manufacturer to the medium and heavy duty truck market. In 2008, the holding company Berkshire Hathaway purchased a majority stake in Marmon Holdings, which includes the Marmon Group and Marmon Herrington.