Crane & Co.
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Paper |
| Founded | Dalton, Massachusetts, U.S. (1801) |
| Founder(s) | Zenas Crane, Henry Wiswall and John Willard |
| Headquarters | Dalton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Key people | Charles Kittredge, Chairman and CEO |
| Products | Currency paper and security features |
| Revenue | 350 Million USD (2009) |
| Employees | 1,300 |
| Subsidiaries | Crane AB, Crane Micro-Optic Solutions |
| Website | Crane Stationery Crane Currency |
Crane & Co., based in Dalton, Massachusetts, is a manufacturer of cotton-based paper products used in the printing of national currencies, passports and banknotes as well as in social, business, industrial and technical applications. Crane remains the predominant supplier of paper for use in U.S. currency (Federal Reserve Notes).
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[edit] History
Stephen Crane was the first in the Crane family to become a papermaker, buying his first mill, "The Liberty Paper Mill", in 1770.[1] He sold currency-type paper to engraver Paul Revere, who printed the American Colonies’ first paper money. In 1801, Crane was founded by Zenas Crane, Henry Wiswall, and John Willard. The company's original mill had a daily output of 20 posts (1 post = 125 sheets). Shortly after, in 1806, Crane began printing currency on cotton paper for local, as well as regional, banks, before officially printing for the government. Crane developed a method to embed parallel silk threads in banknote paper to denominate notes and deter counterfeiting in 1844.
In 1879, Crane grew when Winthrop M. Crane won a contract to deliver U.S. currency paper to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C. Crane produced both the yellow (issued in 1883–1884) and the white (1884–1894) watermarked security papers for the nation's Postal Notes. These early money orders were produced for sale throughout the postal system by the Homer Lee Bank Note Company (1883–1887), the American Bank Note Company (1887–1891), and Dunlap & Clarke (1891–1894). In 1922, Crane & Co. incorporated, with Frederick G. Crane elected as president.
In 2002, Crane purchased the company Tumba Bruk from the Central Bank of Sweden (Riksbank) and operates this today as Crane AB.
[edit] Motion
Crane’s Motion[2] security technology is being introduced into high denomination banknotes worldwide. The design involves a micro-lens array interacting with graphics far smaller than any microprinting.
Sweden’s 1000 kronor banknote, released in 2006, was the first banknote to use Crane’s Motion technology. A 2007 AP article[3] reveals that the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing will use a new security thread containing "650,000 tiny lenses" (now believed to be over 1 million lenses per inch of thread)[4] in the next $100 bill design.
In September 2008, Crane initiated purchase negotiations with Visual Physics, a subsidiary of Nanoventions, based in Atlanta, Georgia. This purchase gave Crane exclusive control of Motion.
[edit] CEO
- Zenas Crane
- Winthrop Murray Crane
- Lansing Crane (1995–2007)
- Charles Kittredge (2007–present)
[edit] References
- ^ "Crane's - History". Archived from the original on 2007-08-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20070815145349/http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=History. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
- ^ "Crane Currency Technology". http://www.cranecurrency.com/tec2.html. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- ^ "$100 bill getting a high-tech face lift". Associated Press. August 27, 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20450811/. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- ^ "Crane Currency Technology". http://www.cranecurrency.com/tec2.html. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
