Machines

1924 · 53007 — Rochester NY: Consolidated Machine Tool Corp. 1924-1953. Two vols. 4to. 147; 131 leaves all w/ 278 silver gelatin photos sized 8.5 x 11 in. all preserved in archival mylar sleeves and nearly all with typed captions dated and often pen & pencil annotations on versos most with hole punches at gutter blank margin from being bound originally in 3-ring factory binders. Uniformly bound in recent black cloth post-binders gilt lettering stamped on covers & spines NF set. This remarkable factory photo archive documents the durable and invaluable machine tools which built American industrial production through the 1920s and the post-World War II era. The Colburn drill presses turning lathes boring machines and boring mills were essential for such companies as Ford Motor Co. Maxwell Motorcar Co. John Deere Oakland Motor Car Co. Delco Light Co. International Harvester Nash Motors Co. Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co. Caterpillar Tractor Co. Monarch Tractors Co. Hughes Tool Co. of Los Angeles part of Hughes Aviation Westinghouse and so many others. Many of the images show the connecting rods gears bearings engine blocks and other parts manufactured by these massive machines. A large number of the photos in the first volume show machines built and installed for the first National Machine Tool Builders’ Exposition which was held Sept. 19-23 1927 in the Cleveland Auditorium and attracted over 12000 attendees including Henry Ford the Dodge Brothers Durant George Westinghouse and many other automotive and industrial innovators and builders at the time. A number of these machines were also sold to Railroad companies including the Missouri Pacific the International & Great Northern Railway in Palastine TX the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. in Huntington WV and more. The second volume includes Newton duplex milling machines cold saws and hot saws for metal especially aluminum and more. These photos show Newton machines being sold to Dodge Chrysler Buick General Motors Ford Bendix Wright Aeronautical Corp. ALCOA as well as photos showing engine blocks being milled and the internal works of many of the machines. Newton was originally founded in 1880 by Charles C. Newton who specialized as a twist drill manufacturer in Philadelphia and continued to expand operations until merged with Betts Machine Co. and Colburn Machine Tool Co. in 1922 to form the Consolidated Machine Tool Corp. of Rochester NY. Colburn Machine Tool Co. was founded sometime in 1890 by Henry J. Colburn and after his death in 1902 was run by his son Leslie who died in 1918. The Company which maintained a number of machinery patents for drill presses and table saws was merged later with Consolidated in 1922. Consolidated Machine Tool Corp. operated on Blossom Road in Rochester NY producing tools and machinery used in metal and plastics manufacturing. In 1951 they were acquired by the Farrel-Birmingham Co. operating until 1983 when they were sold to the Conlon Corp. See: Directory of American Toolmakers: Early American Industries Association 1999; Betts Machine Co. Manufacturers Index Vintage Machinery 2017; Colburn Machine Tool Co. Franklin PA Manufacturers Index Vintage Machinery 2017. Consolidated Machine Tool Corp., hardcover