Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building

The Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building is located at 5766 Trumbull Ave. in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It is currently known as the Research Lofts on Trumbull. In 1886, Alvin W. Needham designed a machine to manufacture cigar box nails. He enlisted the support and investment of John and William Gray, brothers who operated a carriage building business. The three men founded the Empire Wire Nail Company to manufacture nails, operating out of John Gray's barn on Trumbull. Meanwhile, Needham invented another machine to make radiator chaplets (casting devices used to hold cores in place during a pour). Chaplets proved to be a more lucrative business than nails, and the company...