"Zipping" Along For Over 95 Years

Philadelphia, PA. Some companies drift over time. This one hasn’t. The George H. Seltzer & Company has been in the business of holding things down, literally, for 95 years, and it still operates with the same practical mindset that built it. The difference now is scale. And a fourth generation at the helm.

Andrew Seltzer leads the company today, carrying forward a line that’s been in the family long enough to know what matters and what doesn’t. In this case, what matters is simple: parts that fit right, ship fast, and don’t fail when a setup is on the line.

The company’s inventory tells the story better than any tagline could. Over 360,000 T-Slot Bolts on the shelf. Not theoretically, actual stock. Their range of forged machine table T-slot bolts alone covers 145 sizes, running from 3/8 inch up to 1 inch in diameter. That’s not an abstract number; it means a distributor can call in an order and get exactly what their customer needs without back-and-forth, substitutions, or delays.

The ZIP line has been a constant here. Shops know it. Distributors rely on it. The bolts are forged, not cut corners. They hold up under real clamping pressure, not just catalog specs. There’s a difference, and anyone who’s spent time around a milling table can spot it quickly.

Then there are the Zip Washers. On paper, a washer isn’t much to talk about. In practice, it’s often the weak point. These aren’t stamped out by the thousand and tossed in a bin. They’re machined from cold-rolled bar stock, left thicker where it counts, with chamfered edges that sit clean and true. They’re priced close to stamped washers, which is probably why they move as steadily as they do. Sizes run from 3/16 inch I.D. up to 1-1/4 inch, and most of them are sitting on the shelf, ready to go.

The rest of the catalog fills in the gaps that shops deal with every day: flanged nuts, hex nuts, T-slot nuts, studs, clamps, step blocks, forged wedges. Nothing flashy. Just the hardware that keeps fixtures stable and setups repeatable. The kind of parts you don’t think about until one fails, and then suddenly it’s the only thing that matters.

What’s kept the company steady over the years is how it sells. Everything moves through distributors. No shortcuts, no attempts to go around the people who actually serve the end users. It’s a system built on trust and timing. Orders placed, parts shipped the same day if they’re in stock, which, most of the time, they are.

They’ve also made room for metric. A full line of German components sits alongside the inch inventory, including well-regarded names like AMF and Halder. It’s a practical addition. Shops don’t run on one system anymore, and pretending otherwise just slows things down.

Ninety-five years is a long time to stay in one lane. But it’s also long enough to understand it properly. The George H. Seltzer & Company hasn’t tried to reinvent its role in the industry. It’s refined it. Kept the shelves full. Paid attention to what distributors actually need. And now, under Andrew Seltzer, it’s doing the same thing it always has, just with more reach, more inventory, and a clearer sense of where it stands.

For additional information, contact the George H. Seltzer & Co., PO Box 26, 103 Ridley Ave., Folsom, PA 19033; phone toll-free 800-445-4101; fax 610-532-3024; e-mail: zip@zipbolts.com; or visit their website at www.zipbolts.com.