Harrison Machine Works

Belleville, IL, U.S.A.

The Harrison Machine Works was known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines (ca 1880's), portable steam engines, the Belleville separator, the Great Western separator, weighers, baggers, wagon loaders, and the Dingee-Woodbury horse power.

Heilman Machine Works

Evansville, IN, U.S.A.

This machine shop and foundry was established in 1847 by brothers-in-law William Heilman and Christian Kratz. In the 1850s they began manufacturing steam engines, steam traction engines (ca 1880's), threshers and portable steam engines (ca 1860's). In 1864 Heilman bought out Kratz's interest for $100,000. In the 1870s Heilman was elected to the state congress.

By 1882 Heilman Machine Works was manufacturing circular sawmills. The company survived until at least 1897 when they were producing both Corliss and Slide Valve Steam Engines; we have no information on them beyond that time.

Hooven, Owens & Rentschler Co.

Hamilton, OH, U.S.A.

The Hooven, Owens & Rentschler Co. was formed in 1882 as the successor to the Owens, Lane & Dyer Machine Co. and the John C. Hooven Co. Its principals were George A. Rentschler and his associates, J.C. Hooven, Henry C. Sohn, George H. Helvey and James E. Campbell.

J.M. Ross, Sons & Co. Ltd.

St. Catharines, ON, Canada, Canada

The J.M. Ross, Sons & Co. Ltd. was located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. They started manufacturing around 1890. This company was know to have manufactured the Cornell steam traction engine and the New American three-way crank separator.

Jacob Price

Racine, WI, U.S.A.

The Jacob Price company was located in Racine, Wisconsin. The "field locomotive" that was sold by Jacob Price was patented on January 4th, 1890. Engines were equiped with vertial boilers.

The Jacob Price steam traction engine was built by J.I. Case Co. of Racine, Wisconsin.

Keck-Gonnerman Co.

Mt. Vernon, IN, U.S.A.

This company began as Woody & Keck. The principals were John C. Woody and his nephew, John Keck. After Woody retired in 1880, John Onk became a partner and the name became Keck & Onk. Onk then left and William Onk and Henry Kuebler each became partners. The name changed to Keck-Gonnerman in 1884; they employed 300 people, making steam engines, threshers, mining equipment, and portable circular sawmills.

John Keck's brother, Louis H. Keck, bought out Kuebler's interest in 1885. In 1901 the name became Keck-Gonnerman Co. Manufacturing continued until 1955 when the company was dissolved. The sawmills are known to have been made from 1884 until at least 1936, and probably for longer.

Lang & Button Co.

Ithaca, NY, U.S.A.

In 1868, Reynolds & Lang was established by James Reynolds and John B. Lang to produce agricultural equipment in Ithaca, New York. Mr. Reynolds died on October 31, 1891. In 1902, Ernest D. Button joined the firm at which time the firm became known as the Lang & Button Co.

The Lang & Button Co. was known to have manufactured steam traction engines, portable steam engines (ca 1870's), land rollers, plows, horse hoes, cultivators, and portable sawmills.

MacDonald Thresher Co. Ltd.

Stratford, ON, Canada, Canada

The MacDonald and MacPherson Company was first formed around 1877 by Alex MacPherson, John MacDonald, and James MacDonald the brother of John. They built and sold 30 threshers in 1877. After Alex passed away John and James carried on the business as the MacDonald Manufacturing Company. John left the business in the early 1880's but the business was carried on by James and his 2 sons, Peter and John K. After James passed away in December 1911 the business was reorganized as the MacDonald Thresher Company Limited.

In 1905, arrangements were made to build the Baker steam traction engine in Canada. The Baker engine was manufactured by the A.D. Baker Company of Swanton, Ohio.

Merritt & Kellogg

Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.

In 1871, Richard Merritt and Dan W. Kellogg started a company called Merritt & Kellogg located in Battle Creek, Michigan. This company set out to manufacture a steam traction engine. They also made portable steam engines (ca 1870's)

Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co.

Hopkins, MN, U.S.A.

The Minneapolis threshing Machine Company was located in Hopkins (West Minneapolis) Minnesota. The company was known to have made 7,981 steam traction engines.

They also made farm tractors

Morningstar Mfg. Co.

Napoleon, OH, U.S.A.

The Morningstar Manufacturing Company was located in Napoleon, Ohio and was known to have manufactured steam traction engines and threshing machines. In 1905, the name of the company changed to the Napoleon Manufacturing Company

Muncy Traction Engine Co.

Muncy, PA, U.S.A.

The Muncy Traction Engine Company was located in Muncy, PA and was known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines, portable and stationary steam engines, boilers, sawmills, and other farm machinery.

New Hamburg Mfg. Co. Ltd.

New Hamburg, ON, Canada, Canada

The New Hamburg Manufacturing Company Limited was located in New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada and was known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines, portable steam engines (ca 1890's) and threshers. The company was closed in 1917. The Dominion Thresher Company was later formed in an attempt to revived the business but closed in the early 1920's as the steam era was drawing to a close.

Nichols & Shepard Co.

Battle Creek, MI, U.S.A.

      The Nichols & Shepard Co. was founded in 1848 and located in Battle Creek, Michigan. They were known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines, portable steam engines (ca 1870's), the Red River Special thresher, rice threshers, alfalfa and small seed threshers, mounted water tanks, low down tank pumps, and all-steel frame horse powers.

The Nichols & Shepard Co. became part of the Oliver Farm Equipment Company in 1929. At one point the Oliver Corp. became part of the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio. It appears that the White Motor Co. became defunct in 1980.

Ohio Engine and Thresher Company

Upper Sandusky, OH, U.S.A.

The Ohio Engine and Thresher Company was located in Upper Sandusky, Ohio and was known to have manufactured steam traction engines and threshers. There are no known expamples of one of their steam traction engines.

Owens, Lane & Dyer Machine Co.

Hamilton, OH, U.S.A.

Founded in 1845 as the Hamilton Agricultural Works as a partnership between Job E. Owens, Clark Lane and Edbridge C. Dyer. This company was both a manufacturer and a reseller of woodworking machinery, especially sawmills. The three titular heads of this company were Job E. Owens, Clark Lane, and Elbridge C. Dyer. They were in business until about 1880. It is mentioned in the Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines that the General Machinery's book states "In 1882 this firm was reorganized by the original George A. Rentschler and his associates, J.C. Hooven, Henry C. Sohn, George H. Helvey and James E. Campbell, and became the Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Company."

Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co.

Port Huron, MI, U.S.A.

      The Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co. was founded in 1890 as a reorganization of the Upton, Brown & Co. of Battle Creek, MI. and had moved to Port Huron, MI in 1884. The Port Huron Engine & Thresher Co. made Steam Rollers starting about 1890. They made a total of over 6,000 Steam Traction Engines along with Portable Steam Engines (ca 1880's), Water Wagons, Threshers, Sawmills, Hay Press Balers, Corn Shellers and other road building Machinery

W.M. Koppes & Co.

Orrville, OH, U.S.A.

The firm of Koppes & Brenneman was formed in January 1879 by W.M. Koppes and Christian Brenneman. The firm was located in Orrville, Ohio. W.M. Koppes was a native of Medina County, Ohio and Christian Brenneman was a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

W.M. Koppes & Co. was known to have manufactured the "Paxton" steam traction engine, the "Champion" combine, grain threshers, clover hullers, farm engines, and sawmills.

Waterous Engine Works Co.

Brantford, ON; Winnipeg, MB; St. Paul, MN, Canada

The Beginnings: P. C. Van Brocklin

This maker of woodworking machinery began in 1844 when Philip Cady Van Brocklin opened a factory, P. C. Van Brocklin, in Brantford to make plows and stoves. Van Brocklin, originally from New England and trained as a moulder, moved to Normandale, Ontario in the early 1830s to work in an iron foundry there. In 1848 Van Brocklin was joined by another immigrant from the USA, Charles Horatio Waterous, who brought considerable skill as a machine designer; Waterous took a one-fourth interest in the business and they operated as P. C. Van Brocklin & Co. Within a couple of years Waterous decided that they should make steam engines. He used his American contacts to hire additional millwrights and machinists, including one Thomas W. Hall, who had worked with Waterous at a short-lived predecessor to Shepard Iron Works in Buffalo. Despite not having the benefit of planer or shaper, Van Brocklin & Co. managed to produce a 25 horsepower direct-action engine to power the Van Brocklin & Mead sawmill. This success led to additional orders and the firm invested in machinery to manufacture steam engines.

New Partners and a Waterous Buyout

In 1857 Van Brocklin sold his interest in the firm to Waterous and three new partners—Joseph Ganson, Franklin P. Goold, and Adolphus P. Bennett—and the business name changed to Ganson, Waterous & Co.. In 1864 Waterous bought out the last of the partners—Goold—and added a new partner, George H. Wilkes. They renamed the firm to C. H. Waterous & Co., a name that stuck until 1874 when the business converted to a stock company with the name Waterous Engine Works Co., Ltd. In 1877, Wilkes sold his share to Waterous and his family. That same year, the firm bought the rights to manufacture the David June "Champion" engines in Canada. David June also happened to by C. H. Waterous's brother in law.

By this time, the business was very successful. Their product line included woodworking machinery, steam engines, fire engines, fire hydrants, pumps, and related products. The company had a plant in Winnipeg, MB, which in 1886 relocated to St. Paul, MN, specializing in fire-fighting equipment and fire hydrants. Our best guess is that woodworking machinery was only ever made in Brantford.

Later History

In 1895 the Brantford operations moved to a large new plant, which was further expanded over the ensuing years. In 1926 the company name was shortened to Waterous, Ltd. By this time the company was starting to develop a successful line of machinery for the pulp and paper industry, which helped replace the now-defunct business for steam engines. The woodworking machinery business was long gone by this time.

In 1953 the Brantford business was purchased by the Koehring Co. of Milwaukee, and was renamed to Koehring-Waterous Ltd. (The St. Paul operations, makers of firefighting equipment, continued as the Waterous Co.) The product line was further expanded to include construction equipment—excavators, cranes, rollers, etc.—and concrete batching and mixing equipment. In 1964 the foundry operations were discontinued and replaced with a plant for metal forming and welding.

By 1992 the business was the Koehring-Waterous Division of Timberjack, Inc. We have not found any information on the dissolution of Koehring-Waterous, but the business closed sometime between 1996 and the present.

Westinghouse Co.

Schenectady, NY, U.S.A.

In 1856, farmer and agricultural toolmaker George Westinghouse, Sr. (1809-1884), moved from Central Bridge, NY, to Schenectady to take advange of the new Erie Canal. He established a new firm, the Schenectady Agricultural Works, G. Westinghouse & Co. The business made articultural machinery, mill machinery, and small steam engines. In 1865, Westinghouse was granted a sawmill patent. An 1872 ad mentions drag saws as one of their products.

George Westinghouse, Sr., was the father of the famous and important inventor, George Westinghouse, Jr., who ultimately held over 400 patents. His first patent, granted in 1865, was for a rotary steam engine that was manufactured by his father's company but was not very successful. George Junior then went out on his own, eventually establshing Westinghouse Electrical Manufacturing Co. in Pittsburgh in 1886. When George Senior died in 1884, control of the by-then successful and prominent G. Westinghouse & Co. passed to his three surviving sons (another son having been killed during the Civil War). His sons were ambitious and aggressively expanded the business, bringing in various cousins and brothers-in-law to keep control within the family. The business survived until at least 1895, but was gone by 1910.

A. B. Farquhar Co., Ltd.

York, PA, U.S.A.

The A. B. Farquhar Co., Ltd. has a long and interesting history. In 1852, Arthur Briggs Farqhuar, who was not quite 18 years old at the time, went to work for the W. W. Dingee & Company, a small manufacturer of agricultural implements in York, PA. Only 18 months later, he informed his bosses that he intended to leave the company and start his own business. By this time, Farquhar was so important to Dingee that they asked him to stay on for an extra month in order to facilitate the transition - but by the end of that period, Dingee instead offered Farquhar a partnership in the company in order to get him to stay.

Sometime during the Civil War (1861-1865), the Dingee factory was destroyed by fire, and at that time, Farquhar took over all liabilities and assets of the W. W. Dingee & Company and formed a new company called the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works. The company continued to make agricultural implements, including small steam engines.

While the new company was in business under the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works name, they were not formally incorporated until 1899, and then only because of estate planning purposes - Farquhar wanted to be in control of facilitating the distribution of his estate upon his death.

Eventually, the Pennsylvania Agricultural Works name was discontinued and the company instead went by their new incorporated name, A. G. Farquhar Company, Limited. Among other products,  they maunfacturerd steam engines, traction engines, circular sawmills and edgers. The company operated until its acquisition by the Oliver Corp. in 1952.

A. W. Stevens & Son

Genoa, NY; Auburn, NY; Marinette, WI, U.S.A.

      A. W. Stevens & Son was founded in 1842 in Genoa, NY. In 1878 the works were destroyed by fire and the firm moved to Auburn, NY. In 1898 the firm reorganized as the A. W. Stevens co. and moved to Marinette, WI.

Banting Mfg. Co. (Greyhound)

Toledo, OH, U.S.A.

The Banting Manufacturing Company was located in Toledo, Ohio and was known to be a manufacturer of steam traction engines (ca 1901-1922),  gas tractors, and automobiles. The company ceased manufacturing in 1930.

Fishkill Landing Machine Co

Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, NY, U.S.A.

Fishkill Landing Machine Co. was incorporated February 17, 1853, and its charter was renewed at the expiration of 20 years. The original capital was $25,000; it was increased to $35,000 in the late 1800's. The company was composed of some seventeen individuals, mostly residents of Matteawan, N.Y. who had been employed by the Matteawan Co. as iron workers. Robert J. Halgin was President; W.F. Sage was Vice-President. The company manufactured Corliss steam engines, and other boilers and machinery on Main Street, neat the H.R. Railroad, in Fishkill, N.Y.

The company first leased and subsequently purchased the building which had been used by the Matteawan Co. for the storage of cotton. They fitted up and occupied this place temporarily until another brick structure, one hundred and twenty feet by forty feet, two stories, was erected and ready for us in 1853. The comapny engaged in the manufacture of stationary engines, marine engines, and steam traction engines, besides doing a general machine business, in Fishkill-on-the-Husdon, N.Y.

A "Mills" steam traction engine was built in 1879 by the Fishkill Landing Machine Co. They had patents covering all the essential elements of this engine, and the "Mills" threshers and locomotive steam traction engines.

Geo. White & Sons Co.

London, ON, Canada, Canada

George White was born in Devonshire, England. As a young man he learned the blacksmith trade at his father's wagon-building shop.

Arriving at London, Ontario, in 1857, George White was delighted with the young country and decided to stay and open up a blacksmith and general repair shop in the fast growing city. As a result of White's vast knowledge of ironworking he decide to move back to the city and re-open shop since his services were in such high demand. Business was good and his small shop grew steadily and soon became known as the Forest City Machine Works.

While White was farming he realized that there was a large need for a suitable agricultural steam engine and since he had the shop and tools, he began to work on plans for the manufacture of such an engine. Several small steam engines were designed and built. When he was satisfied with his engine, he set about acquiring the necessary boiler making machinery. Finally, sometime in the early 70s, his first portable farm engine was completed, to be followed by many hundreds more known from coast to coast in Canada as White's Threshing Engine.

In the mid 90s, steam traction engines were becoming popular and to meet this demand the White factory built a number of traction engines of the return flue type using the U.S. Huber as a pattern. The George White engines were all simple and were built plain and sturdy, with no fancy fittings.

Previous to 1898 only engines were built. That year the firm absorbed the plant of the Macpherson Co. of Fingal, Ontario, which had been building the Challenge separator. This machine, already highly developed and well known, rounded out the White output advertised as "The First Quality Line," Self feeders and rear-cutting attachments were later added and the Challenge was built in all sizes to suit the eastern and western trade.

When the demand came for gas tractors, the firm became Canadian agents for the All Work kerosene tractor. Later the John Deere tractors were handled for many years and then the B. F. Avery agency was secured. George White had nine sons and three daughters. After finishing school, several of the boys started to work in their father's factory. Upon completing his apprenticeship, each son was absorbed into an executive position in the firm which became known in 1880 as The George White & Sons Co.

The last new machine was built in 1924, but engines were repaired and rebuilt for many years after. However, unlike many early threshing machinery manufacturers, The George White & Sons Co., Ltd., is still going strong, building a variety of farm power machinery (Circ. 1977)

George Page & Co.

Baltimore, MD, U.S.A.

In 1841, Page patented a circular sawmill. He aggressively litigated his patent, and was successful in claiming a broad scope. In 1856 he sued no less than 100 New York State sawmill owners and manufacturers. He lost his suit in District Court, but planned to take it to the Supreme Court; we are still waiting to be notified of the results.

The patent covered the use of a circular sawblade mounted on a shaft with end play, combined with the use of friction rollers near the blade's periphery that are used to guide the blade. The patent also covered the idea of making the mill portable by making the bed in two sections, and joining them with a rack. The first claim is the one that was infringed in at least two cases.

This firm operated from the  1840s until at least 1879, making sawmills, steam engines (ca 1843), and other ironwork.

Hagerstown Steam Engine & Machine Co.

Hagerstown, MD, U.S.A.

The Hagerstown Steam Engine & Machine Co. was located in Hagerstown, MD and was known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines (ca 1880's), and portable steam engines (ca 1870's).

Harrisburg Car Mfg. Co.

Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.

The Harrisburg Car Mfg. Co. was known to have been a manufacturer of steam traction engines, portable steam engines (ca 1880's), and railroad cars.