History
In 1925, Raymond E. Smith, a former metal polisher and the superintendent of the Lakeside Forge Company was asked by their group of investors to join in starting a metal finishing company that could perform finishing and electroplating for third-party clients. Along with a financier, a technician, and a salesman, he formed the Erie Plating Company, the first electroplating company in Northwest Pennsylvania. Erie Plating Company now serves customers through the Eastern United States.
At the time of the company's founding the electroplating industry was in its infancy. At that time, the company's main focus was in finishing Cast-iron cookware, polishing the chrome on Wood-burning stoves, and plating metals used in other products like locomotives, automobiles, and iceboxes.
Its facility covering 4,000 square feet (370 m2), the company remained small but continued to produce throughout the Great Depression years.
In 1932, Lewis T. Briggs Sr., a part-owner of the Erie Bronze Company, bought out Smith's co-investors and became president of the eight-person company.
During World War II the Erie Plating Company expanded into plating military components. The main wartime products produced in Erie were bomb fuses, aircraft parts, and communication equipment.
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