CRC_Industries
CRC Industries is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial chemicals for maintenance and repair of marine, electrical, industrial, automotive and aviation equipment.[1][2]
It was founded in 1958 after a verbal agreement between Rocket Chemical, the predecessor of the WD-40 Company, and Charles J. Webb II to distribute WD-40 fell apart. Webb then set up a competitor company in Philadelphia, Corrosion Reaction Consultants, Inc., and hired away Rocket president Norman Larsen to lead it.[3] In 1960 it consisted of Larsen, two chemists and five staff.[4] Its first product was CRC Corrosion Inhibitor, also called 5–56, a product comparable to WD-40. The product was reformulated in 1963 as the company diversified to make more specialized products.[3]
The company has been owned by Berwind Corporation since 1981.[3]
 | This section is missing information about more members of the bunchofnumbers family (2-26, 3-36, 5-56 + PTFE). (June 2022) |
CRC's first product, 5-56, is still sold. However, 6-56, a silicone-based replacement, is CRC's current competing product for WD-40.[5]
Brakleen, a tetrachloroethylene (PERC)-based brake cleaner, is one of CRC's signature products. It has gained a cult following due to its dissolving power and has been used off-label for many other purposes, a practice strongly discouraged by health experts and the product's own warning labels. As PERC is illegal in New Jersey and California, a safer but weaker substitute chlorine-free formula mostly made of acetone and heptane is also offered.[6]
CRC's manufacturing is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania with the corporate office in Horsham, Pennsylvania. It markets products through subsidiaries in the United States, Australia, Germany,[7] Belgium, United Kingdom, China and New Zealand.[1][2]
Their facilities in Warminster include a private railroad spur, served by the New Hope Railroad. Traffic on the spur constitutes a sizable portion of the railroad's freight traffic; CRC Industries is their largest freight customer.
- CRC Industries on Berwind Corporation website, retrieved 2011-04-04
- "Company Overview of CRC Industries, Inc". Bloomberg. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
- "The CRC Story" (PDF). CRC Industries. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 4, 2006.
- Industrial Research Laboratories of the United States (10th ed.). National Academies. 1960. p. 129.
- https://productimageserver.com/literature/brochure/75009BR.pdf; compares 6-56 with WD-40 in marine use
- Brown, Aaron (July 29, 2020). "Don't Use Brakleen to Clean Everything in Your Shop". Road & Track.