You name it. Cars. Trucks. Boats. Off-road vehicles. Lawnmowers. Chain saws. Garden Tillers. If it moves, LubriMatic makes the lubricants and equipment needed to protect and keep it running dependably.
When Edwin Phillip Sundholm founded Superior Manufacturing in 1924, his little machine shop was known for crafting garden rakes and wire nose baskets for animals. Just a few years later, in 1932, his company manufactured its first grease gun, taking on the other eleven grease gun manufacturers then in business. His secret to success? In 1932, when grease guns sold at retail for $18 to $25 apiece, Sundholm sold his first lever-action gun for $10. It wasn't long, however, before Sundholm shifted from grease guns to the guns of war, as Superior Manufacturing became a World War II ordinance plant, making 20 mm shells, shell primers, bomb parts and other war materials. Following the war, new hand lubricating manufacturers came on the scene, as did newer and more sophisticated lubricating products. In 1961, Superior developed the pistol grip/one-hand grease gun known as the "Pistol-Matic," and in 1965, at the request of independent oil blender Empak Industries, introduced the "Mighty Midget." This tiny grease gun was the first to use a three-ounce cartridge and was quickly popular, selling 25,000 units in just its first year of production. The success of the Mighty Midget prompted Edwin Sundholm to pronounce the lubrication industry "saturated." He then sold the assets of Superior to H.A. Mayor, Jr., son of the founder of Wichita, Kansas-based Southwest Grease and Oil and co-founder of Empak, and 13 other investors in 1967. Superior continued its innovation, introducing a plunger that would function in three-way loading grease guns, providing cartridge-, suction- or power-loading without the need to change the plunger physically. This new plunger design, along with a patented "Push Lok" Feature, made the Superior brand of grease guns preeminent in the sale of hand-lubrication equipment.. In 1993, Superior was acquired by Southwest Petro-Chem. The name of the Mighty Midget brand and the division were both changed to LubriMatic, today the largest branded product line of hand-operated lubrication equipment in the world. Several manufacturing advances and patented developments have been incorporated into the extensive LubriMatic product line. In November of 1996, LubriMatic became part of the Stant family of products, complementing the fine line of Plews lubrication equipment. Perhaps the grease gun market isn't as saturated as some originally thought.In 1997, LubriMatic and the rest of Stant Corporation were acquired by Tomkins plc.
