About Ickler
A brief history of Ickler Company
Ickler Company continues an uninterrupted history in high-quality metal working. The spirit of innovation and craftsmanship of Elmer Seibert and Fred Ickler in the early part of the 20th century continues to guide and inspire us to this day.
1910's: Elmer Seibert works at McCadden’s Machine Works in St. Cloud, 1917-1919 According to Seibert, some parts for the prototype Pan car were made by him at MaCadden’s during his employ there.
1920's: Seibert starts his own shop Northwestern Wrist Pin Company
1930's: Northwestern Wrist Pin briefly becomes Diamond Auto Parts but Seibert has to find other work during the depression.
1940's: Inventor Fred Ickler of St. Cloud, Minnesota, designed and manufactured the Hilger Wood Floor Sander and several other products.
Seibert Machine secured government contracts, producing products for military aircraft.
Seibert’s love of ice fishing inspired him to design ice fishing house stoves and a folding ice skimmer.
A joint design effort with Claire Lantz and Elmer Seibert yielded the first bifocal lens grinder. Seibert began to manufacture optical lens grinding machines.
Seibert developed the Ickler tabletop bench sender still available today.
Seibert continued to develop and expand the job shop and production manufacturing portion of the company
1950's: 1954 having done the machine work for Ickler on his floor sander parts for several years, after Ickler’s death, Elmer Seibert purchased Ickler Company and merged it with his shop, Seibert Machine but retained the Ickler name.
The lens and optical business expanded to include many different machines designed by Seibert and his staff.
Ickler Machine moved to its St. Cloud, Minnesota, location at the corner of 29th Avenue and First Street South.
1960's:
Ickler Company expanded the optical business to many local firms. Ickler Co designed and built room-sized ovens used to temper optical lenses.
In 1965 Ickler entered the retail bearing business. Stanly Tull convinced Seibert to adopt the St. Cloud bearing firm, Bearing & Supply Co. Retail bearing sales remain a large part of Ickler's business today.
1970's:
As the optical industry moved from glass to plastics, Ickler Company shifted its focus to HPP and food processing equipment, beginning with manufacturing homogenizer blocks, plunger rods, crankshafts and stainless studs. The first customer being a local dairy, gave this highly skilled section of Ickler the nick-name “Dairy Division”.
1980's:
Elmer Seibert passed away. The capable staff at Ickler under the guidance of Seibert’s daughter Vivian McGonagle, maintained Seibert’s high standards through the decade until Todd McGonagle, grandson of Elmer Seibert, joined the company in 1989 as Manager and continues the tradition of family ownership to this day.
The larger 4 x 60 Ickler belt sander was developed and brought to market.
1990's:
Expansion into the world of automated machinery allows Ickler to keep up with the demand for high pressure pump parts and also to quickly manufacture one-of-a-kind, job-shop parts that would never have been possible before.
The Ickler HPP division now produces a full line of replacement parts for homogenizers & high pressure pumps used in food and chemical processing.
2000's:
Ickler Bearing & Machine offers all the services of a traditional machine shop, fabrication of all types of metals, welding shop, and manufacturing operation. Ickler continues to be a trusted resource for many industries, small businesses, and individuals, providing parts and services not available anywhere else.
In 2022, Ickler expanded to it's new location at 806 S. Benton Drive in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.
