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History of the Kennametal Stellite Group
The story of Deloro Stellite began in 1868 in Deloro, a gold-mining town in Ontario, Canada. The gold mines, belonging to M.J. O’Brien, produced high-purity cobalt as well as the much-sought-after gold. At roughly the same time in Kokomo, Indiana, U.S.A., a scientist named Elwood Haynes patented hard alloys based on cobalt; he gave his discovery the name Stellite, which is derived from the word Stella, the latin word for star. A licence to produce Stellite was received by M.J. O’Brien’s company. In 1917, Haynes and O’Brien joined forces to found the company Deloro Smelting & Refining Ltd. This later became Deloro Stellite.
In 1919, the first European site was opened in Birmingham, England. In 1956 the Canadian plant in Deloro was re-located to Belleville, some 50 km away.
The company has steadily expanded since the late 1960`s and currently the Kennametal Stellite consists of eleven production sites in North America, Europe and Asia.
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