Centrifugal mold from the metallurgical experimental foundry, late 1940s.

Teresa Huddock and Frank Trojahn loading a recirculating core drying oven, late 1940s

Brake Shoe at War
Much like the rest of American industry in the 1940's, American Brake Shoe and its resources were conscripted on behalf of the American war effort. The metallurgical capabilities of the American Brake Shoe corporation contributed to the production of everything from shell casings, practice bombs, and tools for military use. The chemical capabilities of American Brake Shoe, including the Laboratory at the plant in Mahwah, were utilized by the military as a producer of explosive compounds for munitions and brake lining for military vehicles.  American Brake Shoe nationwide produced pieces that would become trucks, planes, oil rigs, and munitions during this time period. The Mahwah plant, specifically, was entrusted to contribute to the Manhattan Project, but the circumstances of their contributions are unclear.

Just as the case had been during the First World War, Brake Shoe would lose a significant amount of workers to military service in the Second World War. This is one of the primary reasons that the pictures available from American Brake Shoe taken during the 1940’s include many men older than military age, as well as women in factory roles. During the war years, the workforce at ABEX became more diverse as the working aged male population became caught up in the conflict. Teresa Huddock, featured below, was only twenty years old when the picture was taken. The bulk of the work contracted to American Brake Shoe during the war consisted of machined and molded metal aircraft parts and accessories.

On aircraft production alone, the United States military contracted out for a production total of 324,000 aircraft by the end of the war for the Allied war effort. American Brake Shoe in Mahwah, and scores of other factories like it would expend the bulk of their capabilities on die-cast and machine metal parts for these aircraft, which would be transported to assembly plants in different parts of the country before being shipped out as finished products.

Conditions continued to be difficult for the workers during the war, with long hours and difficult production quotas among the largest point of contention for the workers. Despite these hardships, and despite hailing from numerous ethnic and national backgrounds, the workers at Brake Shoe banded together as Americans to contribute to the war effort. In 1945 the National War Labor Board ordered Brake Shoe to give six paid vacation days per year to its employees, much to the chagrin of management. Unfortunately, management at the plant was alleged to have disregarded this order, and the war ended before the company faced any meaningful backlash from the burgeoning union.

The war and post-war economic boom that carried American industry in the twentieth century proved to be a big contributor to the manufacturing and industry in the area. In the following decades, a series of strikes and other wider-reaching economic factors were partially responsible for the gradual downsizing of the American Brake Shoe operation in Mahwah, and though many of the buildings and much of the complex remain, foundry operations have ceased over three decades ago. Today the land is administered as the Mahwah Business Park, housing offices and factory operations for several companies.

Pictured to the left are members of the metallurgical department at Abex. During the war, this department was confirmed by both the state department and the Abex Corporation to have worked on the Manhattan Project. This project was famous for producing the Atom Bomb, a major factor that contributed to the war's end. Specific details with regard to these contributions were kept classified, and it is unconfirmed if these contributions came from the metallurgical, chemical, or foundry portions of the Mahwah location. This photo was taken place in front of the Metallurgical Laboratory. Alternate angles of the building can be seen below.

Over 85,000 separate companies made up the military production arm of the American industrial home front. The Army-Navy “E” Award for production was awarded to only 4,283 of these companies with American Brake Shoe in Mahwah among them. Among the criteria included in consideration for this award were production quota fulfillment, avoidance of work stoppages and fair labor practices.