Ogura was founded in 1938 as a manufacturer of mechanical clutches for the machine tool industry. Electromagnetic clutches were developed in the late 1950’s. In the early 1960’s, air-conditioning clutches were developed and in the late 1960’s, micro clutches were developed for office automation equipment. In the 1970’s, lawn and garden clutches were developed, as well as a variety of industrial clutches and brakes such as the hysteresis and multiple disk units. In the 1980’s, the spring applied brake line was developed along with the permanent magnet slip clutches. In the 1990’s Ogura continued to automate their manufacturing facilities to lower their production costs. New models of clutches were also developed for industrial customers. These included the OPL, PHT, and MIC microclutches for use in paper transport drives and office automation equipment. New models of mobile and lawn and garden clutches were also developed to handle the ever increasing horsepower ranges in those markets. In the first half of the 2000 decade new manufacturing plants have been opened in the US and China to supply the demand of these markets.

Ogura’s industrial electromagnetic clutches, electromagnetic brakes and clutch brakes offer something for every application.