Significant changes were soon to occur in the final chapter of Gravure Engraving Company's history.
In January 1967, Gravure Engraving Company at 709 Main Street was sold to Litton Industries, a major national enterprise based in Beverly Hills, California. Frederic E. Revaz would remain as manager of the subsidiary, and Howard Kenyon Bemis, the longtime company Treasurer who succeeded his father, would leave for other pursuits. The company employed 45 workers at thetime of the transition to new ownership.
In December 1969, the company added another steel-and-concrete building to its growing footprint. This was the third significant addition to the plant.
In 1972, Frederic E. Revaz Sr. was feted at a retirement party held at the Hotel Northampton. At the age of 70, he and his spouse would divide their time between their home in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and their second home in Salvan, Switzerland, to pursue skiing and mountain climbing.
The company maintained its competitive edge by investing in the latest gravure technology. In 1975, Gravure Engraving was the first company in North America to acquire "two Helio-Klischographs, electomechanical units used for engraving rotogravure printing."
To perform the work, the company employed skilled artists, photographers, machinists, and craftspeople. Most of its engraving was performed for Litton Industries' foreign-based divisions. Litton also provided marketing support and artistic researchers who traveled the world seeking unusual designs, which could be duplicated using the rotogravure process.
In 1983, Gravure Engraving Corporation was formed as a local, worker-owned business. This may not have been a successful enterprise, as the Secretary of State's Office shows this corporation as dissolved on June 13, 1985. R.D.H. Incorporated, another local enterprise, was the successor business and operated until 1991.
In January 1991, the new owner of the business was American Gravure Engraving, a division of Advanced Graphics Technologies Inc. The parent company was located in Grapevine, Texas.
In late 1993, the new corporation purchased the former Rudco and Clarke Checks manufacturing plant at 104 Whiting Farms Road. The former commercial building at 709 Main Street had become inefficient with its several fragmented additions. The company planned a 10,000 to 12,000-square-foot addition to the 19,000-square-foot Whiting Farms factory.
By 1998, the company was known as Rotodyne Decorative Technologies and had 48 workers. The company had expanded its product line to produce decorative designs for countertops, bowling alley lanes, furniture, leather goods, and wood molding for cars.
The last news item for Rotodyne was discovered in 2007, and the building was sold in 2010. Online research indicates that the location was subsequently the home of several baked goods companies.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Hampden County Registry of Deeds, Springfield, Massachusetts
Registry of Deeds, Hampden County, Springfield, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts, Assessors' office, MapGeo
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