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Porter Industries history
Porter Industries company history timeline
Increased taxation brought about milder versions, and Wheeler’s invention of the malt roaster in 1817 made black malt available for the first time.
Tennessee RailroadsJul 11, 22 10:18 AMTennessee railroads got their start in 1845 with the Nashville & Chattanooga.
Washington State RailroadsJul 11, 22 04:19 PMWashington railroads' earliest history began with the Cascade Portage Railway of 1851.
Founded in 1866 by Henry Kirke Porter and John Y. Smith, the original name of the firm was Smith & Porter, which specialized in building various kinds of industrial equipment.
The company received their first order for a locomotive in 1867 and would go on to specialize in small industrial locomotives.
In 1871, a devastating fire completely destroyed the original shops.
In 1871 Porter merged with David Bell to form the Porter, Bell & Company while Smith left to form his own locomotive business, Smith & Dawson Locomotives (that became the National Locomotive Works).
After the fire, Porter went on to form a new partnership with Arthur W. Bell to create Porter, Bell & Company, which lasted until 1878 with the death of Bell.
In 1878, after the loss of Arthur Bell, Porter renamed the company after himself, H. K. Porter & Co.
Started in 1881, it utilized a network of salesmen to sell window screens for a wide variety of buildings, as well as temporary screens and screen doors.
In 1890 the company began marketing a compressed-air locomotive for use in coal mining operations.
Seven years later the organization was again renamed, as the H. K. Porter & Company and finally in 1899 as the H. K. Porter Company.
The locomotive proved to be highly successful with more than 400 built (Porter would come to construct roughly 90% of them). The year 1899 also saw Porter reach its peak in terms of locomotives manufactured, more than 400 in a single year.
While Porter tested gasoline-powered locomotives as early as 1910 it never spent heavily in research and development, instead relying on its popular small, steam-powered designs.
The builder also patented another new, non-combustible design around 1911; known as the fireless locomotive it essentially used a pressurized cylinder of steam and hot water to power the pistons and rods.
Bankruptcy was declared in 1939 and the H.K. Porter Company was sold to Thomas Mellon Evans, who kept the name and hoped to revitalize the manufacturer.
A similar fate befell the British porters by 1940 or so with the style niche completely taken over by stouts.
Since 1946, Porter Warner Industries (PWI) has been dedicated to serving the foundry and surface preparation industries.
The H. K. Porter company built their last locomotive in 1950, at which time the parts business was sold to Davenport Locomotive Works in Iowa.
A few years after Porter's purchase of Henry Disston & Sons in 1955, Porter's Disston Division introduced a line of portable power tools.
Anchor Brewing Company had done so as well, and in 1972 became the first American craft brewery to brew a porter post-Prohibition, followed by others soon thereafter.
Starting in 1979, British craft brewers followed suit, and today there are again commercial examples of the style being made by major British breweries.
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