Our History

The early years: Making history in textile technology

A major contributor to conservation of wood and processing chemicals
During World War II, Consolidated Machine Tool Corporation did most of its business in government contracts for machine tools. Great work when you can get it, but in 1943, Consolidated’s president, Arthur A. Ingle, predicted a huge drop in the machine tool business when the conflict ended. So he created a special machinery group to investigate other possibilities for the company. From this research, Ingle decided to develop two ideas.

The first project was a joint development with Price Brothers & Co., Ltd. of Canada, and used Dr. H. S. Hill’s concept of passing newsprint sulfite pulp screen rejects between gyrating plates to mechanically de-fiber them into useful fibers. The process caused the fibers to curl, which improved their strength in the new sheets of newsprint. The “curling” machine gave Rando its original company name: Curlator.
Curlator continued to refine Dr. Hill’s process and the curling machine until they were able to increase production of news sulphite from 45% to 65% yields: a major contribution to the industry and to conservation of both wood and processing chemicals.

We pioneered random air laid technology. The original Rando Webber, circa 1945-1946, is on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

The world’s first air lay machine makes history
The company’s second project was the prototype of today’s air lay machine. The Curlator team built it in 1946 to use a picker lap of shoddy or reclaimed tire cord to produce a random fiber web. It was the first machine in the world designed specifically for the infant formed fabrics industry. This first air lay machine was so important historically it is now in a permanent display illustrating the historical development of textile technology in the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of History and Technology.

From Random to Rando
The corporate name Rando, with its extensive family of trademarks, evolved from the initial air lay machine, which was designed to produce random fiber webs: from random to Rando.

The company shipped the first commercial lap-fed 40-inch Rando Webber on February 27, 1947 from Consolidated Machine Tool Corporation. In 1949, Farrell Birmingham Corporation bought Consolidated and established Curlator Corporation as a separate entity. Eventually, executives changed the name to Rando Machine Corporation.
 

Growth and innovation into the 21st century

The future is formed fabrics
Turns out, the uniformity of the lap achieved with the Webber wasn’t sufficient to produce a high quality web structure. So in 1949 the company patented the Rando Feeder air bridge, which yielded a higher quality web structure.

Committed to continued growth, Rando Machine Corporation’s management began to focus on the future of formed fabrics: development of quality products from synthetic fibers. The next innovation was the improved Model 40 Rando Feeder and Webber in the 1950s. This machine efficiently produced high quality webs from 100% synthetics. Demand for wider width machines led to the 84-inch Rando Feeder and Webber the following year.

Rando introduced the Model BS Rando Feeder and Webber machines in 1959 to accommodate developments in the short fiber field. These machines produced a high quality web from 100% pre-fluffed, bleached sulphite fibers.

Diversification in the 1960s
The company diversified in the 1960s. First, Rando purchased Carolina Machinery Co., a manufacturer of special fiber prepatory machinery in Charlotte, NC. Shortly after, the company engineered and installed the first commercial production plant for fiber-to-fiber blending of fibers with dissimilar characteristics.

Big new machines
A few years later, Rando completed the redesign of the Rando B Webber which increased production rates 25% over the previous model. At the same time, demand for even wider webs resulted in the 110 - inch wide Rando Feeder and Webber machines. These larger machines opened doors for the nonwovens industry with the world’s first wide random web structure.

Expanding into Europe
In the early 1970s, to further serve the European and export markets, the company purchased Muller and Wayaffe of Ensival, Belgium, the second largest manufacturer of paper tube machinery in the world. They called the company S. A. Rando and began producing Rando fiber handling equipment along with tube machinery.

New facility back home
Back home, Rando built a new, modern manufacturing facility in Macedon, NY, just outside of Rochester and consolidated all of its New York manufacturing into this one central location.

Ready to be a part of history in the making? Contact our Sales Department Today!