10 Years of Protorque: How a Product Range Grew into a Power Transmission Brand Distributors can Trust.
In power transmission, brands earn their reputation on the factory floor, in maintenance shutdowns, and in the moments when a machine starts up again and keeps going. Protorque was created to meet a clear need in the market: belts and power transmission products that deliver dependable performance at an affordable price. In 2025, Protorque marked its tenth year supplying industry, and the anniversary coincided with the brand’s biggest range expansion to date.
Explore the Protorque belts, chain & couplings
Protorque began as a focused range developed by Acorn Industrial Services Ltd to support the everyday needs distributors see across manufacturing, processing, utilities and materials handling. The starting point was simple: V-belts and wedge belts. Belts are often the first point of failure in a drive system and, just as often, the first product a distributor is asked to source at speed. Protorque’s early success came from making the belt offer reliable, recognisable, and east to specify.
No power transmission component lives in isolation. A belt change frequently becomes a conversation about pulley condition, alignment, tensioning, guarding and what else may have worn while the drive was slipping. A customer asking for chain may also need a tapered bush to suit a particular shaft, or a locking device for a clean, repeatable installation. In other words, one part request often grows into a system requirement.
Protorque’s range development followed that logic. After establishing its core in v-belts and timing belts, the brand introduced more specialist belt types before expanding into roller and conveyor chain. Next came the components that help distributors complete the job without fragmenting it across multiple brands and catalogues: taper bushes, pulleys, locking elements and, most recently, a range of popular couplings, including jaw, HRC, and tyre couplings. Each addition has been driven by how power transmission systems are specified, installed, and maintained in real working environments.
A notable milestone in Protorque’s development was its adoption by Axel Johnson International as a group brand, building on its launch and early growth under ACORN. This step has supported broader availability and reinforced trust through a carefully expanded range that works as a coherent, job-ready solution.
As Protorque moves beyond its first decade, the focus remains the same: listen closely to end-users and distributors, and build a range that removes friction from sourcing, specifying, and maintaining drive systems. In a sector where reliability is the strongest form of reputation, Protorque’s tenth anniversary marks steady progress, measured where it matters most: in drives that keep turning.
Protorque is available across the UK & Europe through our authorised distributor network.