CGR carries a complete selection of new and used parts for Cincinnati Centerless Grinders and our knowledgeable sales staff will help you track down just what you need to get up and running again.  You can contact them via Email with the link below, or directly by calling (586) 774-4660 and asking for the CGR Parts Division.

We ask that when you call or write, please include the serial number of the machine you are securing the parts for.  The serial number includes a wealth of information to help our staff find exactly what you need in a timely manner.

There, getting what you need is as simple as that, but if you want to learn more then read on and discover a bit of what a Cincinnati centerless grinder serial number can tell you about your machine!

Cincinnati grinder serial numbers can tell you quite a bit about the machine itself.  The digits of the serial number that immediately precede the dash extension will tell you the year it was manufactured by using one of three separate schemes developed by Cincinnati since 1933.  With this information, and the general size frame of the machine, you can typically determine the type of machine you are using.

For machines built between 1933 and 1952 Cincinnati used a single letter code to designate its year of manufacture.  These single letter codes may be found in the list below and immediately precede the dash extension in the serial number.  For example, a grinder with a serial number of:

2M2H1K-110

would have been built in 1941 (as signified by the ‘K’).

Between the years of 1953 and 1972, a new letter code system was adopted, whereby a ‘5’ was inserted prior to the letter signifying the date of manufacture.  These date codes are also listed below and are located in the same part of the serial number.  For example, a grinder with the following serial number:

2M2H5B-146

would have been built in 1954 (as signified by the ‘5B’)

Finally, the system adopted by Cincinnati for machines built after 1973 eliminated the use of the letter code all together.  Within the new system, the last two digits preceding the dash are used to indicate the year of manufacture directly.  For example, a grinder with a serial number of:

35020H78-0073

would have been built in 1978.

The letter codes used in the first two schemes are as follows:

1933......A        1953.....5A
1934......B        1954.....5B
1935......C        1955.....5C
1936......D        1956.....5D
1937......E        1957.....5E
1938......F        1958.....5F
1939......H        1959.....5H
1940......J        1960.....5J
1941......K        1961.....5K
1942......L        1962.....5L
1943......M        1963.....5M
1944......P        1964.....5P
1945......R        1965.....5R
1946......S        1966.....5S
1947......T        1967.....5T
1948......U        1968.....5U
1949......V        1969.....5V
1950......W        1970.....5W
1951......Y        1971.....5Y
1952......Z        1972.....5Z

Cincinnati centerless grinder model designations are determined by a  method coined “The Old Mark” by their engineers.  In this system, the first date of release for a particular class of machine was converted into a letter code, with each number corresponding to a letter in the phrase “The Old Mark”.

#2EA...............1938-1947
#2OM...............1947-1953
#2LO...............1954-1959
#2LR...............1959-1969

#3EA...............1938-1956
#3LL...............1955-1959
#3LR...............1959-1963

#230-10 TG DA......1968-1985
#220-8 DR..........1969-2000
#Cinco 15 DH.......1962-1988
#325-12 DE.........1963-1985
#330-15 DE.........1963-1984
#340-20 TG DE......1963-2000
#220-8 AE..........1983-2000
#230-12 AE.........1983-2000
#350-20 TG AE......1983-2000
#220-8 AL..........1985-2000

As the table illustrates, this method of determining your grinder model designation becomes less reliable with the proliferation of concurrent models from the 1960s onward. 

For model designations in the third grouping, it is useful to note that the first digit of the first number is the frame size of the grinder. The following two digits represent the HP rating of the grinder and the number following the dash is the size of the grinding wheel in inches. 

It is important to note that these are general trends for Cincinnati grinders, but Cincinnati manufactured many special machines which do not conform closely to any existing design and were given the factory’s manufacturing order numbers for their serial numbers.