In 1905,William J. Hilliard obtained a patent for a new type of friction clutch he had designed. The same year he founded The Hilliard Clutch and Machinery Company in Elmira, New York. Friction clutches were sold primarily to machine shops where they were used to connect and disconnect machine tools such as lathes and drills from a primary power source. The company began to find new applications, and soon the clutch was being used in fire trucks and carousels. These applications carried the company into the early 1920s.
展开▼
机译：1905年，威廉·J·希利亚德（William J. Hilliard）获得了他设计的新型摩擦离合器的专利。同年，他在纽约Elmira成立了Hilliard离合器和机械公司。摩擦离合器主要销售给机械加工车间，用于从主要电源连接和断开机床，如车床和钻头。该公司开始寻找新的应用，不久该离合器就被用于消防车和旋转木马。这些应用将公司带入了1920年代初期。
展开▼
