In 1903, the Electric Railway Improvement COmpany (ERICO®) was created to supply power bonds, signal bonds and related welding equipment to railroads, mining and street railway industries. By 1910, Billy Cleveland, the founder, had invited Professor Frank H Neff, Sr. to invest in the company.
Professor Neff was Chairman of the Civil Engineering Department at the Case School of Applied Science in Cleveland, Ohio. He recruited Professor Charles Cadwell from the Physics Department to help research a light, portable way of rail bonding, resulting in the CADWELD® welded electrical connection development by 1938.
