Document pe8Dpjzeg423509k3opaqG8vD

show gains. The year 1965 marked the tenth anniversary of Abex in the hydraulic equipment field. Much has been accomplished. From a medium size com pany in Columbus, Ohio, operating two plants, the business has grown to three divisions and to over $50 million in volume and operates twelve plants in the United States, Canada and Europe. In industry, the Denison trade name is recog nized throughout the world for quality and per formance. In aerospace, from a standing start, Abex equipment has been qualified for most of the important new planes developed in recent years. Capable research, engineering and marketing organizations have been built and we expect con tinuing growth and profitability from both the in dustrial and aerospace segments of this business. Dallroad Shipments to the railroads in ^n'tec* States and Canada amounted to 567,700,000, an in crease of more than eight per cent over the preceding year. Railroads continued their re surgence in 1965 with a five per cent increase in freight revenue ton-miles. It was the best freight traffic year since the war year of 1944 and the fourth consecutive year in which freight traffic has shown an increase. More than 90 per cent of Abex railroad products are for the replacement of wearing parts and the higher level of operations brought a strong demand for our products. Shipments of metal brake shoes increased slightly although composition shoes continued to make gains in replacing the metal shoe on new cars designed and built for special types of serv ice. Sales of our composition shoes increased and capacity was added in 1965 for production of these shoes and also a wholly new type of brake shoe. This new shoe combines the best charac teristics of both metal and composition, it has been in field test under all normal operating con ditions during the year and results of these tests are very promising. The new truck-mounted brake for freight cars went into production during the year and 600 car sets are now in service. Performance has been satisfactory and expanded sales are ex pected in 1966. Shipments of freight car wheels increased and our three wheel plants operated near capacity. Current orders indicate that this condition will continue well into 1966. Trackwork shipments were up over the pre ceding year, largely because the railroads spent more to maintain and improve their properties. Our trackwork sales have been stimulated in re cent years by a number of new proprietary prod ucts. These include mechanical and hydraulically operated retarders and switching machines. The company introduced in 1964 the "Economatic" freight yard, a new concept for automat ing freight yards at low cost. This equipment speeds up switching operations and produces large savings in man power and equipment as well as greatly reducing damage to freight. Three yards are in successful operation and orders for several more installations have been received for delivery in 1966. In late 1964, the Railroad Products Division be came the exclusive sales and service agent for SKF freight car roller bearings in the United States. SKF is the world's largest bearing manu- page twenty-one