About Thordon Bearings
Thordon Bearings Inc., a Thomson-Gordon Group company, is a family-owned company that operates a state-of-the-art polymer processing plant as well as in-house design, CAD and New Product Development facilities in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. They manufacture
to ISO 9001:2008 Quality System requirements. An extensive distribution network has been established in over 70 countries to service our global customer base.
They supply bearings that use water to lubricate the bearings in marine and industrial applications, where many other bearings still use oil and grease to lubricate the bearings.
We have always focused on the fact that Thordon journal bearings reduce the environmental impact for users, allowing them to eliminate any risk of criminal, civil and administrative penalties and other adverse reactions such as bad public relations that may occur from oil or grease leaking into rivers, lakes or seas.
History
In 1911, Major George J. Thomson along with his brother, William
started an industrial distribution business in Hamilton, Canada. The
initial name of the company was GJ Thomson. Earl Gordon later joined
them in partnership. With the incorporation of the company in 1916, the name Thomson-Gordon Ltd. was adopted. By 1936, George, together with partner Earl Gordon, had steered their company, Thomson-Gordon Ltd. into manufacturing in a variety of applications where they felt their technicians could offer superior industrial products and solutions for engineers.
George J.V. Thomson, son of the founder, was an architect graduate from Pratt Institute of New York. After graduation in the depression, he
could only find work as a commercial photographer and spent several years working in New York City. Answering the summons of his father, he returned to Canada to help run the family business. In 1967 his son, George A. (Sandy) Thomson succeeded George J.V. Thomson. Sandy, who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Northrop University, Inglewood, California, is presently CEO and sole owner of Thomson-Gordon.
From its early days as a re-packager of mechanical packings and engineer’s supplies, Thomson-Gordon has undergone many product developments. The dynamics of expansion and diversification have always been a fact of life at Thomson-Gordon. The non-metallic Thordon bearing business began in a small corner of the plant in the 1960’s; a simple experiment in reacting synthetic elastomer chemicals by the firm’s third generation leader, Sandy Thomson and production foreman, Arnold Lange. Since that time Thordon has continued to develop, test and introduce new polymers in a search for new products that solve our customer’s most demanding bearing applications and problems.
Thordon Bearings Inc. was incorporated in 1990, the year Sandy also
purchased the Russian Deep Sea Salvage steam tug, Rudokop, and converted it to a “floating showcase” of Thordon’s marine bearing and seal products. Over a 14-year period, Rudokop visited more than 200
international ports. Crewed by 6 Eastern Europeans and captained by
Sandy, its primary focus was to introduce ship owners to the radically
different bearing products produced by Thordon. It was sold to Norwegian interests in 2007 and will continue to sail as a private yacht.
Thordon Bearings Inc. was incorporated in 1990, the year Sandy also purchased the Russian Deep Sea Salvage steam tug, Rudokop, and converted it to a “floating showcase” of Thordon’s marine bearing and seal products. Over a 14-year period, Rudokop visited more than 200
international ports. Crewed by 6 Eastern Europeans and captained by Sandy, its primary focus was to introduce ship owners to the radically
different bearing products produced by Thordon. It was sold to Norwegian interests in 2007 and will continue to sail as a private yacht.