Forge Companies history

During 1881, the business had grown beyond the scope of the original proprietorship.

The record indicates that at the same time, James Williams left the business, as only Oliver Walker is shown as an officer of the company in the Cincinnati business directory of 1882.

After buying out his former partner Charles Hammelmann in 1883, William Wendt brought his brother Henry W. Wendt into the prospering business.

As early as 1884, Buffalo Forge discovered a way to warm air by circulating it through pipe coils which were heated by exhaust steam.

They found their success in the steel industry and opened a small, six-man hammer forge shop in Chicago in 1893, under the name A. Kropp Forge.

Bill Lynch, 1896 Buffalo Forge Co.

American Schools of Mechanical Technology (1899). The book is largely taken up with photographs of school shops equipped with Buffalo Forge equipment.

1900 - Buffalo Forge was incorporated With a capitalisation of $500,000 that was increased to $1,000,000 the following year.

In 1911, Carrier developed the psychometric chart, which forms the basis for air conditioning theory.

In 1914, Buffalo Forge published the First Edition of Fan Engineering, which was edited by Carrier.

In 1916 William sold his interest to Henry.

Then, two years later, the name was changed to Atlas Forge partly as a marketing endeavor so the company would be first in the phonebook - listing are alphabetical – and by 1919, Atlas Forge moved to Cicero, Illinois.

Listing in the June 1926 issue of Building Age and National Builder for the Buffalo Woodworker.

After Henry's death in 1929, Henry's son Henry was chairman and other son Edgar was president.

Buffalo's classic 15" drill press was introduced in 1937.

The company went public in 1941, when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

More information related to this maker is available in the Wiki, including a reprint of a 1952 speech concerning the history of the company.

In 1958, the Company was purchased by Howard Mayer and John Roth as a manufacturing base to underpin their successful business as Manufacturers’ Representatives.

Henry Wendt remained as chairman until he retired in 1966.

At this point, in 1977, the company name would change again to Scot Forge and a Scottish highlander became part of the corporate logo.

Additionally, in 1978 the owning family decided to sell the company to the Scot Forge employees starting the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

In 1979, when the H.K. Porter Company, a metal products concern controlled by Thomas Mellon Evans, acquired a big block of stock, Buffalo Forge bought the shares back for about $4 million.

The decision came a month after Howden Group P.L.C. of Scotland bought the struggling forge from the Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation, which had owned the factory since 1981."

March 1984 American Bar Association Journal.In response to a tender offer of $25 per share by the plaintiff, Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp., the board of directors of Buffalo Forge Co. began a search for more favorable offers.

Forge Resources Group’s history began in 1988 with the purchase of Dekalb Forge.

Note: In 1993, Buffalo Forge was acquired by the Howden Group.

A 1994 book, Bond of Iron: Master and Slave at Buffalo Forge, by Charles B. Drew, tells the story of this business and the people who worked there, especially those who worked there in slavery.

Buffalo Machine Tools was created in 1997 from the machine tool division of Buffalo Forge.

Photo © 2003 Stephen Corbett Poster source: Library of Congress American Memory Poster on display at the Buffalo History Museum Buffalo Forge Company Reprinted from Buffalo: Lake City in Niagara Land, by Richard C. Brown and Bob Watson.

In December 2017, further growth was facilitated through the acquisition of F.C. Mason.

2018 - Today Buffalo Forge is handled under our Howden Americas region.

Learn about the history of Howden and our ownership. It is expected that by the end of 2019 Howden will be owned by KPS Capital Partners.