Bridgeport Machines, Inc.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bridgeport Machines, Inc. manufactures machine tools used in the machining industries.

The original corporation was created in 1938 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It became famous in the following decades for its small- and medium-sized vertical milling machines.

Today's incarnation of the corporation is a subsidiary of Hardinge, Inc. It specializes in turning, milling and grinding equipment. Hardinge's brands include: Hardinge, Bridgeport, Kellenberger, Hauser, Tripet, and Tschudin. This multinational corporation has subsidiaries in England, Germany, Switzerland, China, and Taiwan, ROC.

Bridgeport vertical milling machines have been so successful and ubiquitous that, within the machining industries, the Bridgeport is an archetypical example of that class of machine, and the name Bridgeport often functions colloquially as a genericized trademark. (However, this statement of colloquial functionality is not a legal judgment of the ability of Bridgeport Machines, Inc. to enforce its trademark rights. The name is still a protected tradename. This situation is similar to that of other tradenames, for example, Band-Aid.)

Loyal users have joined together in user groups such as metalillness.com^[1] to share information.