It makes two different lines of products: machine clothing, in particular, felts for use in paper manufacturing and textile processing; and composites used in the aerospace industry.

The former is primarily used in aerospace applications to help make craft lighter, such as the main brace on the landing gear assembled by Messier-Bugatti-Dowty for the 787 Dreamliner, the first use of structural composites in that part of a commercial airliner.

[9] Its competitors include one other American company, Xerium Technologies, and two privately held foreign concerns, Valmet Fabrics Oy and Asahi Kasei Spandex Europe GmbH.

[10] Corporate headquarters is outside the city of Rochester, New Hampshire, near Skyhaven Airport, along with Albany Engineered Composites' main plant and a research and development center.

The Machine Clothing division's plants account for most of these; its textiles are made in Brazil Canada, China, Mexico, South Korea, and several European countries as well as at several locations in the United States.

[13] Corning was a member of a family prominent in Albany business and politics—his nephew, Erastus, later served as the city's mayor for four decades—and had just graduated from Yale.

[14] The new company needed to first set up a plant, and space was found on Thacher Street in northern Albany, at the corner of the Cornings' 700-acre (280 ha) family farm.

Management decided to expand and purchased five acres (2.0 ha) straddling the boundary between Albany and what was at the time the town of Colonie to its north.

In 1923, the same year Corning, who had replaced Cox as president in 1918, stepped away from the company to serve the first of six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he began implementing his plans to sell to customers outside the U.S. as well.

By 1925 sales had reached $2.5 million with the growth of the Roaring Twenties economy, leading to another expansion of the plant which doubled its size.

Corning's focus on efficiency and expanding markets made it very easy for the company to not only survive but prosper when the Great Depression began in 1929.

U.S. entry into World War II in 1941 again increased demand as paper suppliers sought to meet new defense contracts.

[19] The end of the war and the return to prosperity opened up new economic possibilities for many American firms, and Albany Felt was no exception.

By 1947 extra production capacity was opened up in Albany, and the main building was expanded yet again to increase office space the next year.

Joint ventures brought the company to Latin America, Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands, and Australia, as well as into product lines beyond industrial felt.

To fend it off, Albany Felt merged with Wisconsin's Appleton Wire Works, another manufacturer of paper machine clothing, and Swedish feltmaker Nordiska Maskinfilt.

To make that work, Albany International focused on its core business, selling many of the acquisitions it had made not directly related to papermaking.

[19] The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, recognizing the fact that despite expansions it had remained unchanged architecturally since the early 20th century.

In more specific terms, it means making sure the cash flow from its Machine Clothing division remains steady while working, through a joint venture with Safran, to complete its contribution to the CFM International LEAP aircraft engine under development.

[27] In his 2015 letter to shareholders, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Morone pointed to General Electric's recent choice of Albany as the supplier of the fan case for its GE9X engines as a step toward this goal.

In February 2016 Albany agreed to acquire Harris Corp.'s aero-structures division, itself bought from Exelis just the year before, which makes composites used primarily in airframes, for a total consideration of $210 million, paid for partially out of the company's cash on hand, with the rest coming from an increase to its revolving credit facility.

Morone said that while the division had growth opportunities, the company saw "complementarity" between it and Albany Engineered Composites that could further increase earnings in the medium term.