Retirement Benefit Plans (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 29, 2012

Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]

Funded status of pension benefit plans and postretirement benefit plan

As of December 29, 2012 and December 31, 2011, the status of the Company's pension benefit plans and postretirement benefit plan was as follows:

	Pension Benefit						Postretirement Benefit
	2012			2011			2012			2011
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	64,709,379		$	56,979,912		$	3,069,155		$	2,629,606
Change due to availability of final actual assets and census data		—			—			151,397			—
Plan amendment		831,201			—			—			—
Service cost		2,642,373			2,141,306			173,613			126,464
Interest cost		2,868,528			2,949,672			143,388			136,752
Actuarial loss		6,117,680			4,864,293			301,076			316,038
Benefits paid		(2,343,192	)		(2,225,804	)		(126,124	)		(139,705	)
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	74,825,969		$	64,709,379		$	3,712,505		$	3,069,155

	Pension Benefit						Postretirement Benefit
	2012			2011			2012			2011
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	48,897,760		$	42,966,643		$	1,215,998		$	1,168,235
Change due to availability of final actual assets and census data		—			—			(3,005	)		(5,157	)
Actual return on plan assets		4,311,348			700,623			46,255			52,920
Employer contributions		3,778,692			7,456,298			71,655			139,705
Benefits paid		(2,343,192	)		(2,225,804	)		(126,124	)		(139,705	)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	54,644,608		$	48,897,760		$	1,204,779		$	1,215,998

	Pension Benefit						Postretirement Benefit
Funded Status	2012			2011			2012			2011
Net amount recognized in the balance sheet	$	(20,181,361	)	$	(15,811,622	)	$	(2,507,726	)	$	(1,853,157	)

Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income

Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income consist of:

	Pension Benefit								Postretirement Benefit
	2012				2011				2012				2011
Net loss		$	(28,346,776	)		$	(23,721,356	)		$	(621,467	)		$	(115,205	)
Prior service (cost) credit			(937,936	)			(327,784	)			135,396				159,285
		$	(29,284,712	)		$	(24,049,140	)		$	(486,071	)		$	44,080

Change in the components of accumulated other comprehensive income

Change in the components of accumulated other comprehensive income consist of:

	Pension Benefit						Postretirement Benefit
	2012			2011			2012			2011
Balance at beginning of period	$	(24,049,140	)	$	(17,326,388	)	$	44,080		$	435,543
Change due to availability of final actual assets and census data		—			—			(154,402	)		(5,157	)
Charged to net periodic benefit cost
Prior service cost		221,049			194,148			(23,889	)		(23,888	)
Net loss (gain)		1,111,900			897,052			(50,784	)		(46,380	)
Other changes
Liability gains		(6,568,521	)		(7,813,952	)		(301,076	)		(316,038	)
Balance at end of period	$	(29,284,712	)	$	(24,049,140	)	$	(486,071	)	$	44,080

Schedule of assumptions used to determine projected benefit obligations for benefit plans

Assumptions used to determine the projected benefit obligations for the Company's pension benefit plans and postretirement benefit plan for the fiscal year indicated were as follows:

	2012			2011
Discount rate		3.90	%		4.55	%
Expected return on plan assets		8.0	%		8.0	%
Rate of compensation increase		3.25	%		3.25	%

Projected benefit obligation and accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets

Information for the under-funded pension plans with a projected benefit obligation and an accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets:

	2012			2011
Number of plans		6			6
Projected benefit obligation	$	74,825,969		$	64,709,379
Accumulated benefit obligation		66,735,124			56,588,593
Fair value of plan assets		54,644,608			48,897,760
Net amount recognized in accrued benefit liability		(20,181,361	)		(15,811,622	)

Pension Benefits [Member]

Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]

Components of the net periodic benefit cost

Components of the net periodic benefit cost of the Company's pension benefit plans were as follows:

	2012			2011			2010
Service cost	$	2,642,373		$	2,141,306		$	2,223,762
Interest cost		2,868,528			2,949,672			2,908,962
Expected return on plan assets		(3,930,988	)		(3,650,282	)		(3,345,102	)
Amortization of prior service cost		221,049			194,148			204,569
Amortization of the net loss		1,111,900			897,052			843,154
Net periodic benefit cost	$	2,912,862		$	2,531,896		$	2,835,345

Schedule of assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for benefit plans

Assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for the Company's pension benefit plans for the fiscal year indicated were as follows:

	2012			2011			2010
Discount rate		3.90	%		5.35	%		5.85	%
Expected return on plan assets		8.0	%		8.5	%		8.5	%
Rate of compensation increase		3.25	%		4.25	%		4.25	%

Fair values of plans assets utilizing fair value hierarchy

The fair values of the company's pension plans assets at December 29, 2012 and December 31, 2011, utilizing the fair value hierarchy discussed in Note 2, follow:

	December 29, 2012
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash and Equivalents:
Common/collective trust funds	$	—	$	193,497	$	—	$	193,497
Equities:
The Eastern Company Common Stock		3,063,132		—		—		3,063,132
Common/collective trust funds
U.S. Large Cap (a)		—		5,826,726		—		5,826,726
U.S. Small Cap (b)		—		3,964,072		—		3,964,072
Concentrated Equity (c)		—		4,899,023		—		4,899,023
International Large Cap with Active Currency (d)		—		6,999,997		—		6,999,997
Emerging Market (e)		—		3,017,350		—		3,017,350
Fixed Income:
Common/collective trust funds
Intermediate Bond (f)		—		14,368,745		—		14,368,745
Target Duration LDI Fixed Income Funds (g)
·6 Year LDI Fund		—		215,604		—		215,604
·8 Year LDI Fund		—		214,968		—		214,968
·10 Year LDI Fund		—		306,535		—		306,535
·12 Year LDI Fund		—		824,342		—		824,342
·14 Year LDI Fund		—		1,087,074		—		1,087,074
·16 Year LDI Fund		—		426,544		—		426,544
Long Duration Fixed Credit (h)		—		6,684,999		—		6,684,999
Insurance contracts		—		2,552,000		—		2,552,000
Total	$	3,063,132	$	51,581,476	$	—	$	54,644,608

	December 31, 2011
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
Cash and Equivalents:
Common/collective trust funds	$	—	$	5,202,216	$	—	$	5,202,216
Equities:
The Eastern Company Common Stock		3,891,842		—		—		3,891,842
Common/collective trust funds
U.S. Large Cap		—		5,339,876		—		5,339,876
U.S. Small Cap		—		3,090,711		—		3,090,711
Concentrated Equity		—		3,803,417		—		3,803,417
International Large Cap with Active Currency		—		6,292,803		—		6,292,803
Emerging Market		—		2,175,968		—		2,175,968
Fixed Income:
Common/collective trust funds
Intermediate Bond		—		13,103,043		—		13,103,043
Long Duration Fixed Income (i)		—		2,658,161		—		2,658,161
Long Duration Fixed Credit		—		1,120,643		—		1,120,643
Insurance contracts		—		2,219,080		—		2,219,080
Total	$	3,891,842	$	45,005,918	$	—	$	48,897,760

Equity common funds primarily hold publicly traded common stock of both U.S and international companies selected for purposes of total return and to maintain equity exposure consistent with policy allocations.  Investments include commingled funds valued at unit values provided by the investment managers, which are based on the fair value of the underlying publicly traded securities.

(a)	The investment objective of the large cap fund is to outperform the Russell 1000® Index.  The fund is designed to provide for long-term growth of capital by utilizing a diversified group of quantitative investment strategies that seek to identify securities that have exposure to factors that the underlying advisors' research has found to be predictive of future excess returns.  The advisors' portfolios are quantitatively structured to gain exposure to these predictive characteristics while minimizing unintended risk exposures.
(b)	The small cap fund has an objective to outperform the Russell 2500® Index  The fund is designed to achieve consistency by combining advisors whose complementary disciplined processes employ distinct methods for identifying small capitalization U.S. stocks with strong return potential.  Advisors in the fund use a wide range of criteria and disciplines in their stock selection, focusing on factors such as: undervalued or under-researched companies, special situations, emerging growth, asset plays or turnarounds.
(c)	The investment objective of the concentrated equity fund is to outperform the Russell 1000® Index.  The fund is designed to achieve this by combining strategies with different payoffs over different phases of an economic and stock market cycle.  To help achieve this objective, multiple advisors and strategies are employed to reduce "scenario risk."  These multiple strategies are in the form of multiple investment styles (e.g., growth, market oriented, and value), multiple sub-styles, and different ways of identifying undervalued securities.

(d)

The international fund with active currency has an investment objective of outperforming the Russell Development ex-U.S. Large Cap Index Net.  The fund is designed to provide the potential for long-term growth of capital by utilizing a diversified group of investment advisors that the Trustee's manager research indicates will outperform over a full market cycle.  The investment advisors' portfolios are combined to form a fund that emphasizes their strengths while minimizing unintended risk exposures

(e)

The emerging market fund seeks to outperform the Russell Emerging Markets Index Net.  The fund is designed to provide the potential for long-term growth of capital by utilizing a diversified market group of investment advisors that the Trustee's manager research indicates will outperform over a full market cycle.  The investment advisors' portfolios are combined to form a fund that emphasizes their strengths while minimizing unintended risk exposures.

All equity funds have an objective to beat their respective indices with above-average consistency while maintaining volatility and diversification similar to the index they are being compared to over a full market cycle.

Fixed income common funds primarily hold government and corporate debt securities selected for purposes of total return and managing fixed income exposure to policy allocations.  Investments include fixed commingled funds valued at unit values provided by the investment managers, which are based on the fair value of the underlying publicly traded securities.

(f)	Fixed income common fund investments have an investment objective of outperforming the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index over a full market cycle.  The fund is designed to provide current income, and as a secondary objective, capital appreciation through a variety of diversified strategies including sector rotation, modest interest rate timing, security selection and tactical use of high yield and emerging market bonds.  The portfolio diversification provides protection against a single security or class of securities having a disproportionate impact on aggregate performance.  To help achieve the objective, the fund is actively managed by multiple advisors who use a variety of investment strategies to create a broad market exposure.  The fund's advisors have distinct but complementary investment styles.  These advisors generally have similar universes of investable securities but have different areas of specialization and expertise within intermediate duration securities.
(g)	The Target Duration LDI Fixed Income Funds seek to outperform their respective Barclays-Russell LDI Indexes over a full market cycle.  These Funds seek to provide current income, and as a secondary objective, capital appreciation through diversified strategies including sector rotation, modest interest rate timing, security selection and tactical use of high yield and emerging market bonds.  The Funds will generally be used in combination with other bond funds to enable the plans to gain additional credit exposure within their asset portfolio, with the goal of reducing the mismatch between a plan's assets and liabilities.
(h)	The long duration fixed credit fund seeks to outperform the Barclays Capital Long Credit Index over a full market cycle.  The fund seeks to provide current income, and as a secondary objective, capital appreciation through diversified strategies including sector rotation, modest interest rate timing, security selection and tactical use of high yield and emerging market bonds.  The fund will generally be used in combination with other bond funds, with the goal of reducing the mismatch between a plan's assets and liabilities.
(i)	The long duration fixed income fund seeks to outperform the Barclays Capital U.S. Long Government/Credit Index over a full market cycle.  This fund is designed to provide current income, and as a secondary objective, capital appreciation through diversified strategies including sector rotation, modest interest rate timing, security selection and tactical use of high yield and emerging market bonds.  The fund will generally be used in combination with other bond funds, with the goal of reducing the mismatch between a plan's assets and liabilities.  In 2012, this fund was replaced by the Target Duration LDI Fixed Income Funds.  See (g) above.

Postretirement Benefits [Member]

Defined Benefit Plans and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans Table Text Block [Line Items]

Components of the net periodic benefit cost

Components of the net periodic benefit cost of the Company's postretirement benefit plan were as follows:

	2012			2011			2010
Service cost	$	173,613		$	126,464		$	110,786
Interest cost		143,388			136,752			134,977
Expected return on plan assets		(46,255	)		(52,920	)		(59,327	)
Amortization of prior service cost		(23,889	)		(23,888	)		(23,888	)
Amortization of the net loss		(50,784	)		(46,380	)		(52,650	)
Net periodic benefit cost	$	196,073		$	140,028		$	109,898

Schedule of assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for benefit plans

Assumptions used to determine net periodic benefit cost for the Company's postretirement plan for the fiscal year indicated were as follows:

	2012			2011			2010
Discount rate		3.90	%		5.35	%		5.85	%
Expected return on plan assets		8.0	%		8.5	%		8.5	%

Fair values of plans assets utilizing fair value hierarchy

The fair values of the Company's postretirement plan assets at December 29, 2012 and December 31, 2011, utilizing the fair value hierarchy discussed in Note 2, follow:

	December 29, 2012
	Level 1			Level 2			Level 3			Total
Fixed Income:
Insurance contracts		$	—		$	—		$	1,204,779		$	1,204,779
Total		$	—		$	—		$	1,204,779		$	1,204,779

	December 31, 2011
	Level 1			Level 2			Level 3			Total
Fixed Income:
Insurance contracts		$	—		$	—		$	1,215,998		$	1,215,998
Total		$	—		$	—		$	1,215,998		$	1,215,998

Analysis of the Level 3 assets of the Company's postretirement plan

An analysis of the Level 3 assets of the Company's postretirement plan is as follows:

	2012			2011
Fair value of Level 3 assets at beginning of year	$	1,215,998		$	1,168,235
Change due to availability of final actual assets and census data		(3,005	)		(5,157	)
Actual return on plan assets		46,255			52,920
Employer contributions		71,655			139,705
Benefits paid		(126,124	)		(139,705	)
Fair value of Level 3 assets at end of year	$	1,204,779		$	1,215,998

Effect of one-percentage-point change in assumed health care cost trend rates

A one-percentage-point change in assumed health care cost trend rates would have the following effects on the postretirement benefit plan:

	1-Percentage Point
	Increase			Decrease
Effect on total of service and interest cost components		$	56,711		$	(45,651	)
Effect on postretirement benefit obligation		$	598,791		$	(487,508	)