Magmotor makes motors for a changing world for 150+ years

Magmotor Technologies, founded in 1876 as Kendrick and Davis in Lebanon, New Hampshire, is marking 150 years in business while planning an expansion it says could triple both income and headcount. The company, later renamed K&D Magmotor after Herbert Peterson bought it and moved offices to Worcester, Massachusetts, designs custom AC and DC fan motors and serves customers in aerospace, defense, high technology, and industrial robotics.

The company’s production and engineering staff includes long-tenured employees, and it expects to hire newer workers who can learn from experienced personnel as veterans retire. Magmotor says many customers have also maintained long relationships with the business, while some products have operated for 15 to 20 years without problems.

Magmotor continues to specialize in brushed motors, despite wider adoption of brushless designs elsewhere. It says legacy applications still require brushed motors and that their dependability makes them useful in space-related work. Its motors have been used in the NASA Rover, BattleBots machines, and robots that clean ship hulls. Other cited applications include elevators, diving equipment, electric lawnmowers, and GPS-guided equipment.

Most work involves custom designs unavailable off the shelf. Magmotor performs design and final assembly internally, while much production is handled by Chinese partners. It would like to return some manufacturing to the U.S., but cites costs, staffing, and time requirements. The firm offers two- and four-pole brushed motors, as well as four-pole brushless DC motors, using neodymium magnets. Its motors range from small units about 1.5 by 2 inches to models weighing up to 65 pounds and reaching 6,000 rpm.

Magmotor is considering renewed AC-motor and broader brushless-motor development, without abandoning brushed products. It is also expanding inventories of common motors and working with U.S. suppliers of encoders, brakes, gearboxes, and related motion-control components to provide more integrated systems.