With much fanfare in 1973, Fuller Brush Company owner Sara Lee Corporation moved Fuller’s headquarters and factory from Hartford, Conn., to Great Bend. Along with that move came enough specialized machinery and equipment to fill most of the cavernous new facility west of town.

Fast forward over 50 years to what is now Fuller Industries Inc. While the company’s focus shifted from brushes to commercial cleaning products, much of that antiquated machinery of the industry remains.

“It’s like walking through a time capsule,” said Joe Mann, Fuller’s vice president and general manager. “There is a lot of really cool history back there. Some of that stuff is pretty valuable, too.”

On the plant floor are rows of massive mills, drills, presses and other machines. Some of these are seen in a Fuller promotional film shot in the Hartford location back in the 1960s and were used here in the early days, and some remain in use today.

Meanwhile, in an upstairs storage room above the quality control laboratory are tables of old lab instruments. There are scales and weights, meters in wooden boxes, burners and glassware, many of which the current lab technicians don’t recognize.

“A lot has changed in manufacturing in 50 years,” Mann said. Modernization, automation and the company’s shift to chemical production have rendered most of the old items obsolete.

Even so, some of the machinery has been pressed into service as it was or has been repurposed for other uses.

“We are proud of Fuller’s heritage,” Mann said. “We want to preserve what we can.”

While they are trying to sell most of the aged equipment, Mann said they want to keep select pieces. 

The goal is to include these with old photos and other memorabilia to establish a historical display tracing the company’s rich legacy.