About Nelson Air

Nelson Air Corporation designs and manufactures high quality, high precision air bearings. Founded in 1984 by William F. Nelson, the company serves manufacturers from a variety of industries including semiconductor, test and gauging equipment, optical manufacturing and testing, imaging and printing, biomedical, and automotive. The company has also supplied bearings to many research agencies and universities.

Nelson Air's Facilities

Our facilities are located in Milford, NH, about 10 miles west of Nashua, NH. We have a full machine shop including CNC equipment for higher volume products. In addition, we have a variety of grinders and in-house developed equipment which allows us to meet the stringent tolerances required for our parts. Our in-house inspection capabilities allow us to verify that the products we build meet specifications every time.

Nelson Air's Key Personnel

William F. Nelson, Retired - Mr. Nelson had over 30 years of experience in the design and development of air bearings. During the 1960's, while working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a NASA project, he performed some of the original research and development that led to the practical application of air bearings to a variety of problems. After his work at MIT, Mr. Nelson became one of the founding members of Dover Instrument Corporation, a leading manufacturer of air bearings. He founded Nelson Air Corp. in 1984 and retired in January 2002. He remains in an advisory position for the company.

Bradley B. Engel, President - A graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. and M.Eng., Mr. Engel has extensive experience in the design, analysis and control of precision systems and mechanisms. In his previous employment at OPTRA Inc, a developer of sub-nanometer resolution optical metrology products, he worked on a number of sub-micron and sub-nanometer positioning systems. He has experience with linear motors, stepper motors, servo motors, voice coil motors, piezos, optical encoders, precision leadscrews, air bearings, crossroller bearings, and flexures. He is also skilled in software development for data acquisition and control, including C, Visual C++, Visual Basic, and LabView.

John Michaud, Plant Manager - With more than 10 years experience with ultra-precision equipment and manufacturing Mr. Michaud is responsible for precision grinding, inspection, assembly and testing or our products. He is also responsible for coordinating plant operations and production, including facility maintenance, health and safety programs, computer management, inventory tracking, quality control, and shipping.