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Schaeffer Oil is a privately held, U.S. company, which operates under the name Schaeffer Manufacturing Company. Schaeffer manufactures specialty lubrication products, including oil additives, friction modifiers, and synthetic oils, greases and other compounds. Its products are marketed directly by the company to end users in industries including construction, mining, agriculture, manufacturing, trucking, marine, and high performance racing. As of 2010, the company had domestic and international sales in excess of $90 million. == History == Schaeffer Manufacturing Company was founded in 1839 by a German immigrant, Nicholas Schaeffer, in St. Louis, Missouri,〔Reavis, L.U. ''Saint Louis: the future great city of the world". Nabu Press, 2010. ISBN 1-178-06898-6〕 under the name Nicholas Schaeffer and Company. Originally producing soaps and candles,〔Perman, Stacey. ''Learning from the Great Depression". Bloomberg Business Week, Oct 17, 2008. http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/oct2008/sb20081016_825689.htm〕 the company began manufacturing oils and greases to support the westward expansion during the 1849 California Gold Rush. Pioneers traveling west from St. Louis used Schaeffer soap and candles for domestic use products as well as for grease for wagon wheels.〔Poe, William ''Some Family Businesses Have Left the Family Corner Store Far Behind." St. Louis Commerce Magazine. November 2003. http://www.stlcommercemagazine.com/archives/november2003/family.html〕 As St. Louis established itself as a major Mississippi port and industrial city, Schaeffer manufactured products expressly for the high large number of wagon trains and steamboats that made their way through the city. The company’s original line of lubricants was sold under the trade names Red Engine Oil and its original line of grease was called Black Beauty grease.〔 By 1862, Schaeffer produced over $1M in annual sales.〔 Miners in the Klondike gold rush later in the century reportedly smeared Black Beauty grease on their faces to ward off frostbite. Founder Nicholas Schaeffer was a contemporary of another successful St. Louis business owner, Eberhard Anheuser, who also was a fellow soap-maker. Along with Anheuser, Schaeffer was a creditor of the Bavarian Brewery Company, a struggling brewery founded in 1853. When the brewery encountered financial difficulty in 1860, Schaeffer and Anheuser purchased the minor creditors' interests and took over the company. Two years later, Anheuser bought out Schaeffer’s interest in what later became the Anheuser-Busch Company. Nicholas Schaeffer and Company continued to grow and was widely successful, eventually placing its owner as one of St. Louis’ first millionaires.〔 Nicholas Schaeffer led the company until his death in 1880. In 1879, Jacob Schaeffer became president of the company and changed the name to Schaeffer Brothers and Powell. The company became the largest soap and candle maker west of the Mississippi,〔 producing Boss laundry bar soaps, crude glycerin, various grades of lard oil and Coach and Star brand candles. Schaeffer’s Star Candles were discovered in the wreck of the steamboat ''Bertrand,〔Peterson, Leslie Perry. ''The Bertrand Stores". Midwest Interpretive Association, 1997.〕 which sank in the Missouri River in 1865. During the 1904 World’s Fair, Schaeffer Brothers and Powell participated as sponsors. William Shields, became president of the company, when his father-in-law, Jacob Schaeffer, died in 1917. Shields remained president until his oldest son, Tom Shields, succeeded him in 1946. In 1947, the company initiated a number of new products and remodeled their business structure into a direct selling format.〔 The name of the Company was changed to Schaeffer Manufacturing Company and in 1950, the company closed its soap and candle-making businesses to dedicate its resources to lubricant manufacturing. During this period, Schaeffer began building a direct sales force under the leadership of sales manager Martin J. Schwab. After the death of Tom Shields and Martin Schwab in 1982, John Schaeffer Shields became Chairman of the Board and continues to oversee the company’s leadership. It was also during this period that grease and oil blenders at Schaeffer began to experiment with the use of molybdenum disulfide as an extreme pressure lubricant. Schaeffer was recognized for its use of molybdenum as a friction modifier in the 1986 publication of Lubes n Greases Magazine. In 1986, Tom Hermann, the son of Jackie (Shields) Hermann, became the president of the company. At that time, annual sales were $18M, primarily in the agriculture and mining markets. Hermann expanded the markets to include steel manufacturing, food processing and industrial customers. In 2004, Jay Schaeffer Shields became the president of the company. Today, Schaeffer Manufacturing Company is the oldest oil and grease manufacturer in the United States. The company was included in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schaeffer Oil」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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