Century-Old Northeast Philadelphia Bearing Maker Wins Federal Hydropower Research Slot
PHILADELPHIA — A century-old Northeast Philadelphia manufacturer whose bearings sit inside some of America’s largest hydroelectric dams has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy to test materials that could help those bearings last longer.
Kingsbury Inc., founded in Philadelphia in 1912, is one of 14 projects selected for the second round of the department’s Hydropower Testing Network, a program that pairs technology developers with national laboratories, the department announced. The company will continue working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, its partner in the program’s first round in early 2025.
The focus is an advanced thermoplastic polymer being studied as a possible material for the bearings inside hydroelectric generators. The department’s support comes as testing assistance at federal research facilities, not cash, according to WHYY, which first reported the selection.
Kingsbury’s bearings let massive rotating machinery run with minimal friction, and its technology is also used aboard Navy warships, WHYY reported. The company’s original bearings, installed at a hydroelectric plant on the Susquehanna River in 1912, are still in service with their original parts, according to a company history.
The timing matters for the power grid. Hydroelectric plants increasingly ramp production up and down to match shifting electricity demand, and that stop-and-start duty wears components faster. The research aims to find materials that can handle the strain, WHYY reported.
“Hydropower is the original clean energy. We’re proud to have been at the start of that and help expand it,” Kingsbury President and CEO Mike Brawley told WHYY.
Testing at that scale is hard to come by, Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson told WHYY, adding that the program helps move innovation from idea to manufacturing to deployment more quickly.
The network gives manufacturers access to more than 65 specialized testing and modeling capabilities at 21 research facilities nationwide, according to the Energy Department.