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Precision Castparts Corp.

casting company based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ7239519
Source-derived summary

Precision Castparts Corp. is an American industrial goods and metal fabrication company that manufactures investment castings, forged components, and airfoil castings for use in the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, and defense industries. In 2009, it ranked 362nd on the Fortune 500 list, and 11th in the aerospace and defense industry. In 2015, it ranked 322nd overall and 9th in the aerospace and defense industry. In 2014, it ranked 133rd on the S&P 500 based on market capitalization. In January 2016, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Before that event, it used to be one of the three Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Oregon.

History

20th century

Precision Castparts (PCC) was founded by Joseph Buford Cox on April 1, 1953. Cox was owner of Oregon Saw Chain and in 1949 had started a casting operation to make saw teeth with assistant general manager Ed Cooley also working on the project. In 1953 Cox separated the two companies and PCC was formed, moving into a new larger facility in 1955, and incorporating the following year with Ed Cooley as one of the owners.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Precision Castparts Corp.” as casting company based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009, 2015, 2014, 2016—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Precision, Castparts and Corp can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as casting company based in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7239519. VIAF identifies the subject as 197137180. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 2015, 2014 and 2016.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Precision Castparts Corp.”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Precision Castparts Corp. primary sources, Precision Castparts Corp. archive and Precision research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Precision Castparts Corp.”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Precision Castparts Corp.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.