In 1887 a new business was established in Erie, Pa., to manufacture natural gas burners under contract to the Griswold Manufacturing Co. In 1890 that business incorporated as the Hollands Manufacturing Co., with Robert B. Hough (superintendent), Caleb Hollands (president), and John S. Rilling, with E. S. Rockafellar (treasurer and general manager) and H. L. McWorther (secretary); Caleb Hollands was very ill at the time but recovered and was still with the company a decade later.
Early in their existence the firm began making plumber's vises and then machinist's vises, and they grew to become one of the leading U. S. vise manufacturers of the 20th century. They were purchased by Erie Tool Works in 1959. Their brand names were Hollands and Keystone.
Information Sources
- Archived article by Todd Werts (ToolArchives.com) Hollands Manufacturing Co.
- From article in a 1909 Plumber's Trade Journal. "The Hollands Manufacturing Company, Erie, Pa. ... of which was established in 1887 by Mr. Caleb Hollands, who introduced the one-piece natural gas burner..."