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A Short History

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Young's Spring and Welding Works, started in 1927 by local blacksmith Fred Young, catered to the thriving Rutland, Vermont machine manufacturing firms of the time. The Patch-Wegner Company, the Howe Scale Company and the Lincoln Iron Works hired out short-run blacksmith jobs that wouldn't fit into their production framework. It was economical for this labor intensive red-hot steel forming work to be farmed out than to have their labor force do it.

Leaf springs were used on most vehicles then as they are today and in the Nineteen-Twenties there were still horse drawn wagons which used leaf spring suspensions and a profusion of makes of cars and trucks, many more than now. Suspension parts had to be made, or purchased from a vehicle dealer often accompianied with a long delay, because there were no aftermarket manufacturers of leaf springs. The spring works flourished in those years, its blacksmiths burned over a ton of soft coal each week in the forge.

Fred Young sold his business to Rutlander Anthony Altobell, who operated the company until after WWII when his son Louis took over managing the Spring Works. During the following seventeen years Louis Altobell started a fuel delivery company at the West Street location, calling it Young's Fuel Service. The younger Altobell was not hesitant in saying how much he hated the spring business with it's mechanical and metal working demands but nonetheless continued to operate the shop in the manner of his father. Louis Altobell merged his fuel delivery service with Harold A."Mutt" Eddy, and, after he sold the spring shop in 1963 to Edwin Sperry, worked at H.A.Eddy Oil Co until he retired.

Ed Sperry, Chief Warrant Officer U.S.N.R. managed Young's for the next seven years, the last years for the old style spring works. He saw the type of business traditionally practised in spring shops change radically as major aftermarket manufacturers began to adopt modern distribution strategies using existing spring shops as regional outlets. Rapidly increasing costs were driving the small shops to become more efficient and to fall in line with the new reality. Spring shops operating today are not at all like the shops of the middle of the century.

In 1970 ailing Chief Sperry sold Young's to the present owner Bob Kirbach who renamed it Young's Spring, Inc., recognizing Fred Young as the founder, and began to rebuild the suspension business.

The products sold by Young's Spring, Inc. are a wide range of leaf and coil springs for cars, trucks, trailers, and industrial applications, produced by major aftermarket manufacturers and inventoried in Rutland.

The capabilities of our shop are extensive and are directed at providing modern suspension services to owners of any type vehicle.

High grade threaded rod is used in our U-Bolt bending operation, necessary due to the infinite variety of U-Bolts needed by our customers.

Keeping in mind the high speeds, heavy loads, and poor road conditions our springs and steel products are subjected to; our customers know we sell the best in quality, longevity, and value.