photo by: Joselyn King

Brandon Coates, a welding research engineer at Touchstone Research Laboratory, shows the Fabrisonic 3D printer used there to print on non-traditional metals created at Touchstone. Among them is MetPreg, billed as the world’s strongest aluminum.

TRIADELPHIA — Touchstone Research Laboratory has a goal to create 1,000 technical jobs in the region by creating new products and spinning them off into their own companies.

Brian Joseph, president and CEO of Touchstone, said he knows people often look down on the Touchstone campus as they drive Interstate 70 in Ohio County and wonder what is happening there.

“We often think we have to go to certain places to do certain things, and I am of the view growing in recent years that that is just not important,” he said. “What is important is getting to scale on the number of tech jobs you have, because it will build upon itself.

“What we do for a living is we invent new things, and we spin them off into their own businesses. Hopefully, each one grows.”

And Joseph hopes to keep them “close to home.”

Touchstone’s most well-known creation is C-FOAM, and it was spun out into its own company now owned by Consol Energy. Its value has grown over 1,000% since being spun off, and the company continues to be located on the Touchstone campus.

“That’s the goal. You want each one of these companies to grow,” Joseph explained.

Touchstone next used C-FOAM as a material to make molds for airplane wings and other aerospace parts, and build a hold in the aerospace industry.

“We invented a new way to build aircraft,” he explained.

The operation for making airplane parts became its own business, Touchstone Advanced Composites. That company also was purchased by Consol Energy in December 2023.

“”You’re going to see them make airplane parts here on a pretty big scale, and invent their own stuff,” Joseph continued. “I won’t run these companies anymore. They are run by Consol Energy.

“I still work with them, and support them. They’re still right here. We work together on things and support each other.”

Then there is the Touchstone Testing Laboratory on the campus, which has become its own business, he continued.

“Touchstone Testing Laboratory does work for pretty much all the aerospace businesses in the U.S., and some around the world,” Joseph explained. “That business runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It’s all the very active rocket companies, and aircraft companies (who are involved) – that’s what drives that business.”

Touchstone still holds on to its operations that produce MetPreg, billed as the world’s strongest aluminum. Touchstone created the product for the U.S. Navy in a tape form that is used to repair cracks in naval vessels.

Now the thought is that it can be used to build other products, such as bicycles.

Joseph expects MetPreg to be spun out into its own company “in the next couple of years.”

Meanwhile, Touchstone’s research and development lab is growing and expanding. The original building on the campus where C-FOAM was invented now has been demolished to make way for a larger machine shop building.

A recent invention at Touchstone is a system meant to deflect lighting strikes from rockets. While airplanes have had similar protection, it had never been applied to rockets. This product has come to be known as “Faraday.”

Also under the Touchstone umbrella is Veloxint, an operation manufacturing nanocrystalline materials that improve upon tungsten, copper and chromium products.

Touchstone also has begun 3D printing using the in-house metals it creates.

Joseph said the Veloxint, MetPreg and Faraday operations will all be spun out into their own companies “in the near future.”