Abstract The American Brake Shoe (later Abex) Company was formed in 1902 from the merger of five smaller foundries that specialized in railroad brake shoes, castings and forging, as well as hydraulic equipment. The research laboratory, known as the Mahwah Research Center, from which the collection is drawn, did applied industrial research, but was closed in 1990. Howard Avery (1906-1996), VPI graduate (B.Sc. MinE 1927, M.Sc. MinE 1928), was one of the center’s leading research metallurgists....