Gendron, Inc. (originally Gendron Iron Wheel Company) is an American

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

hospital bed A hospital bed or hospital cot is a bed specially designed for hospitalized patients or others in need of some form of health care. These beds have special features both for the comfort and well-being of the patient and for the convenience of he ...

stretcher A stretcher, gurney, litter, or pram is an apparatus used for moving patients who require medical care. A basic type (cot or litter) must be carried by two or more people. A wheeled stretcher (known as a gurney, trolley, bed or cart) is often ...

s, and other medical equipment based in

Bryan, Ohio Bryan is a city in, and the county seat of, Williams County, Ohio, United States. It is located in the state's northwestern corner, southwest of Toledo. The population was 8,729 at the 2020 census. History Bryan was platted in 1840 by John ...

.Better wheel invented in Toledo blazed path toward autos
Homer Brickey, ''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue ...

'', 20 May 2008 (retrieved 14 September 2010)

History

The Gendron Iron Wheel Company was founded in

1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

by Peter Gendron (born Pierre Gendron, 1844-1910). Gendron originally produced

wire wheel Wire wheels, wire-spoked wheels, tension-spoked wheels, or "suspension" wheels are wheels whose rims connect to their hubs by wire spokes. Although these wires are generally stiffer than a typical wire rope, they function mechanically the sa ...

s for baby carriages. In 1890, it produced bicycles,

tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...

s, invalid chairs, baby carriages, doll carriages, coaster wagons, toy

wheelbarrow A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear, or by a sail to push the ancient wheelbarrow by wind. The term "wheelbarrow" is ma ...

s, Gendron
Tricycle Fetish (archived 19 August 2018) and children's diecast toy replica

pedal car A quadracycle is a four-wheeled human-powered land vehicle. It is also referred to as a quadricycle, quadcycle, pedal car or four-wheeled bicycle amongst other terms. Quadracycles have been in use since 1853 and have grown into several famil ...

s up until World War II.Peter Gendron: Pedal Car Pioneer
, Linda Portell, PedalCarNews.com, date unknown (retrieved 14 September 2010) In 1927, Gendron became a subsidiary of American-National. American-National was formed as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

for three companies: Toledo Metal Wheel, National Wheel, and American Wheel. American-National, Toledo, and Gendron products were sold under the trade names of Pioneer, Skippy, Express, Reliance, Hi-Speed, Hi-Way, Speed King, Blue Streak, Sampson, American, and Streamline. In the late 1930s, American-National had financial difficulties. In 1941, the assets and all rights to the product line were purchased by a group of Toledo industrialists headed by Walter H. Diemer, who had previously been the President of American-National. The new company was incorporated as the Gendron Wheel Company and moved to

Perrysburg, Ohio Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is southwest of Toledo. Perrysburg is the ...

. The company was organized "to manufacture, import, export, buy, sell, and in general deal in wheelchairs, playground equipment, and other juvenile conveniences of every kind". All of American-National's plants were closed except the Gendron Perrysburg plant. Due to the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

effort, Gendron concentrated its efforts on wheelchairs and hospital stretchers. However, it continued to manufacture wooden wagons and playground equipment. Catalogs from the 1950s and early 1960s show playground equipment and hand car racers with the trade name Howdy Doody. In 1959, Gendron Wheel moved most of its manufacturing to Archbold, Ohio. The Perrysburg plant was closed in 1963. In 1964, the company became a subsidiary of Howmedica. However the Gendron trademark continued. In 1971, Mr. Robert Diemer and Mr. Richard A. Bigelow purchased the company and it became Gendron-Diemer. In 1975, Richard A. Bigelow purchased Mr. Diemer’s interest and the company became Gendron, Inc. In 1997, Mr. Bigelow sold the company to Steven W. Cotter, Thomas A. Dewire, and Frederic W. Strobel. Gendron, Inc. currently produces mobile patient management systems for transport, trauma (medicine), trauma treatment, medical imaging, imaging, bariatric, and special procedures.

References

External links

*
1898 Gendron Wheel Co (Toledo, Ohio) Invalid Carriage
history of Gendron Wheel Company and magazine advertisements, and images of various Gendron products
A History of the World - Gendron Wheelchair
BBC and The British Museum {{American bicycle manufacturers Companies based in Bryan, Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1872 Cycle manufacturers of the United States Medical technology companies of the United States Quadricycles History of Toledo, Ohio Toy companies of the United States Wheelchair manufacturers 1872 establishments in Ohio