McQuay-Norris was a maker of

automobile engine , there were a wide variety of propulsion systems available or potentially available for automobiles and other vehicles. Options included internal combustion engines fueled by petrol, diesel, propane, or natural gas; hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybri ...

parts such as

piston rings A piston ring is a metallic split ring that is attached to the outer diameter of a piston in an internal combustion engine or steam engine. The main functions of piston rings in engines are: # Sealing the combustion chamber so that there is mini ...

, and chassis parts like

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel (UK), a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and ...

knuckle bolts. It also produced and distributed electrical controls for gas appliances. Based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, the company merged with Eaton Yale & Towne Inc.,

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, in August 1969. Prior to the merger, the McCord Corporation, of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, acquired 10.5% of McQuay-Norris

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Com ...

, in June 1969.''Great Western Financial Expanding'',

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, June 28, 1969, pg. 37. McQuayNorris piston rings 1922 ad

According to interviews with at least one St. Louis resident, McQuay-Norris manufactured bullets in the 1940s.

Test vehicle

In January 1936 McQuay-Norris produced a fleet of six cars called ''aluminum eggs'' for their strange appearance. The cars were released in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and in other locations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Each auto was a part of testing of pistons, piston rings, and other engine parts manufactured by McQuay Norris. The bodies of the ''aluminum eggs'' were mounted on standard chassis of cars of different brands. They were driven in the United States,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, in different climates and highway conditions. The ''aluminum eggs'' featured a streamlined design which reduced

air resistance In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...

. Streamlining was effective in enabling the installation of fifteen instruments used in testing. These included a blow-by meter, which measured the gas which escaped to the auto's

crankcase In a piston engine, the crankcase is the housing that surrounds the crankshaft. In most modern engines, the crankcase is integrated into the engine block. Two-stroke engines typically use a crankcase-compression design, resulting in the fuel/a ...

, having passed by the pistons and piston rings. Another instrument employed was an

exhaust gas Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, fuel oil, biodiesel blends, or coal. According to the type of engine, it is discharged into the atmosphere through an ...

analyzer. This gauge measured the combustion efficiency of the engine. A

viscometer A viscometer (also called viscosimeter) is an instrument used to measure the viscosity of a fluid. For liquids with viscosities which vary with flow conditions, an instrument called a rheometer is used. Thus, a rheometer can be considered as a spe ...

was used to test the body thickness of crankcase oil.

Company miscellaneous

* McQuay-Norris rented of space in a building at 239 ''-'' 249 West

66th Street (Manhattan) 66th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan with portions on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side connected across Central Park via the 66th Street transverse. West 66th Street is notable for hosting the Lincol ...

, in December 1936.''Business Leases'', New York Times, December 22, 1936, pg. 52. * In 1968 McQuay-Norris reported income of $1.12 million on net sales of $32.5 million. * By mid 1969 McQuay-Norris was a supplier of replacement auto parts. * By 2009 McQuay-Norris was part of the

Affinia Group Mann+Hummel Gruppe is a family-owned manufacturer of liquid and air filter systems, intake systems and cabin air filters headquartered in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Adolf Mann and Erich Hummel were the heads of the Stuttgar ...

of auto part companies. Affinia also owns the Aimco, AquaChek, Nakata, Quinton Hazell, Raybestos, WIX and BrakePro brands of aftermarket automotive parts.

References

{{reflist Manufacturing companies based in St. Louis Auto parts suppliers of the United States Automotive part retailers of the United States Defunct companies based in Missouri Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969 1969 disestablishments in Missouri