80 Years of Engineering Excellence Is Just the Beginning
CRL’s 80th year in operation is one for the books.
This year, we are expanding our aseptic transfer solutions for biopharma development and manufacturing. We’ve already launched two new additions to our Single-Use Beta Bags and there’s more to come.
In the nuclear industry, our solutions have been trusted to keep technicians safe for eight decades and we continue to engineer safe, reliable systems for containment and research.
But our bright future is built on our legacy of engineering excellence. In honor of our 80th anniversary, we are reflecting on CRL’s incredible history and how it has positioned us for success this year and beyond.
CRL’s Early Days
When Frank Chesley, Demetrius Jelatis and Gordon Lee met in 1939, they had no idea they would be making history.
They met pursuing doctoral degrees at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where they worked as research assistants for Professor Arthur von Hippel in the Laboratory for Insulation Research.
In 1944, Frank approached his friends with the idea of starting a business based around the highly specialized scientific equipment the men had designed during their doctoral work.
These products would serve as their initial lineup, with many more innovations to come.
Their chosen location? Red Wing, Minnesota—a decision that surprised Professor von Hippel, who expressed dismay at his protégés moving to “the wilds of Minnesota.” But for Chesley, Jelatis, and Lee, it was an opportunity to build something extraordinary.
As World War II drew to a close in September 1945, our founders were making their way to the unique Tower View building in Red Wing. CRL was incorporated on November 28th, and the company would stay at this location until 1962.
The company’s first investments were humble but strategic: two drill presses from war surplus, a lathe, and a milling machine. The company’s first employees, Algot Strom and Charles Lindbloom, joined a team driven by innovation and possibility.
By 1946, the company was running at a profit.
The founders began laying the foundation for CRL’s culture, providing formal benefits like health insurance and PTO and establishing traditions like the annual holiday party, which employees still look forward to today.
Finding Success As Telemanipulator Pioneers
A visit to the Argonne National Laboratories in 1949 changed CRL’s trajectory. There, Chesley and Jelatis encountered the first telemanipulator. CRL reproduced the design from a single assembly drawing, marking the beginning of their telemanipulation journey.
The next year, CRL completed its first commercial production of telemanipulators, delivering twelve Model 4 units to Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories. What started as a small contract would soon become the company’s primary business.
The 1950s were a decade of expansion and innovation for CRL. We started out producing a suite of telemanipulators designed by Argonne National Laboratories.
By 1952, we developed our own unique telemanipulator: the Model 8—a breakthrough design that could be easily inserted through the wall of a totally shielded space. This manipulator would become the most widely used in the world, a testament to CRL’s engineering excellence.
In 1957, CRL engineers presented a telemanipulator to Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr for his laboratory in Denmark—a true mark of international recognition, as Bohr is widely regarded as one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century.
In the decades that followed, CRL became a trusted global supplier for the nuclear industry. We expanded on the original design of the Model 8, launching Models B, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, and System 50. Evolutions of these models are still used around the world.
Expanding Horizons
CRL continued to adapt in the years that followed.
Our reputation for engineering excellence opened the doors for new opportunities. Customers approached CRL time and time again with complex material handling challenges, and our engineers worked alongside them to develop solutions.
Longtime employee and unofficial CRL historian Rob Weber joined the team in 1986, and he shares how CRL’s customer-focused flexibility is at the heart of what we do.
“We’re not an ‘order something out of a catalog’ kind of place. We’re constantly looking at what people are doing and adapting what we do to serve their needs,” Rob explains.
When pharmaceutical manufacturers approached CRL looking for ways to produce medicine hygienically at scale, we embraced the new market.
Our engineering team saw that the same technology that nuclear operators trusted for protection for decades could also be used to protect products from contamination.
Since then, we’ve developed a range of solutions that facilitate aseptic pharmaceutical production, including single-use beta bags used in some of the most cutting-edge biopharma applications.
A Bright Future Built on a Legacy of Excellence
In the past eight decades, our engineers have designed solutions for NASA. Our products were used in cleanup efforts after the Three Mile Island accident. Our telemanipulators have appeared in Hollywood films (The Andromeda Strain and The Hulk, among others). And our technology enables cutting-edge biopharmaceutical production and advanced nuclear research.
“The cool thing about CRL is that we are so diverse in the things we do. Our products are used in multiple different industries. We’re a small company, but our impact is global,” says Rob Weber.
Our solutions are still manufactured here in Red Wing, and our world-class team is still dedicated to solving complex material transfer challenges for critical industries. Our customers continue to turn to us for innovations that make production safer, easier and faster—-and our team continues to deliver solutions.
We are proud of our legacy of high-quality products, and we are excited about the innovations to come.
