Infab Refractories Inc. is a descendant of Eastern Refractories Co, which opened a branch office in Lewiston on Holland Street in the 1940s. The Lewiston satellite was located strategically with a rail siding, for delivery of the refractory firebricks needed to service the boilers of various power plants, paper mills and manufacturing plants.
The company was sold to a national contractor in the late ’90s and was soon re-sold, becoming employee owned in 2004. David Collins, the principle owner of Infab Refractories, is the grandson of the first regional manager of Eastern Refractories, Ted Collins.
Infab Refractories has expanded its client base through the manufacture of custom-made, removable insulation blankets and various other high-temperature products under the direction of owner Jean (John) Bergeron and former owner Dick Marston at their current location on the corner of Whipple and Summer streets in Lewiston.
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- Gaeten Bergeron uses a hog ring gun to assemble high-temperature blankets at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Steven MacLean, a fabricator at Infab in Lewiston, uses a homemade compass to draw circles in some material that will be cut and used for a flange where two high-temperature pipes come together.
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- Logo for Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Gaeten Bergeron uses a hog ring gun to assemble high-temperature blankets at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Patterns used in die cutting of high-temperature material hang on the wall at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- High-temperature bricks used for lining furnaces are stacked and ready to be shipped to projects taken on by Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- A stack of high-temperature blankets used for industrial applications await packaging at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Banding for jackets that insulate high-temperature heat pipes awaits assembly at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Banding for jackets that insulate high-temperature heat pipes awaits assembly at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Supplies of yellow fiberglass and grey mineral wool jackets sit at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- A bucket of fasteners at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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- Bonnie Gilchrist, a stitcher who has worked at Infab for 25 years, works with some of the heavy, heat-resistant material made at Infab Refractories in Lewiston.
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