In 1934 the Gray Iron Foundry & Manufacturing Co., Inc. made a line of woodworking machinery. We have not had any reports of surviving machines.

Information Sources

It seems that over the years there were three separate companies in Reading, Pa., whose names began with "Gray Iron Foundry". There was a Gray Iron Foundry Co. 1906-13, another Gray Iron Foundry Co. circa 1921, and the Gray Iron Foundry & Manufacturing Co., Inc., circa 1934.

• Gray Iron Foundry Co. 1906-1913
  • August 1907 The Foundry, page 540.

    The Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., has practically completed the additions to its foundry. A brass foundry will be added, for which an addition, 30 x 56 feet, has been made. The electro-galvanizing department will be largely increased and a new department of electro-plating, which will cater especially to the jobbing trade, will be added.

  • From a genealogical website containing a transcription of Morton Montgomery's History of Berks County, Pennsylvania 1909 edition:

    ...The Gray Iron Foundry Company (A. L. FRAME), which employs 15 to 25 molders for all kinds of small castings..." Another section of that back describes their galvanizing business: "A. Lincoln FRAME who started in the foundry business in 1903, trading under the name of the Gray Iron Foundry Company, adding a galvanizing department to his works in 1907, and has since employed 12 men in this branch of work.

  • 1911 Iron Age Directory lists Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., as providers of Mail Boxes, Water and Water-Meter Boxes, Galvanized Iron Castings, Gray Iron Castings, Iron Castings, Portable Vacuum Cleaners, Nut Crackers, Pipe Dampers, Galvanizing, Shutter Hinges, Spring Hinges, Broom Holders, Hammock Hooks, Sad Irons, Japanning, Stove-Lid Lifters, Lawn Mowers, Electro Plating, Plumbing Supplies, Polishing and Buffing Supplies, Clothes-Line Pulleys, Quoits, Stove Shakers, Gas Cooking Stoves, and Porch-Post Supports.
  • September 1911 The Foundry, page 44.

    The Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., has purchased the entire line of patterns from the National Brass & Iron Works of that city, consisting of mirror frames, tables, portables and other patterns for ornamental work.

  • February 1913 The Foundry, page 86.

    The plant of the National Brass & Iron Co., Reading, Pa., has been purchased by the Gray Iron Foundry Co., of that city. A large amount of new equipment will be purchased.

  • September 1913 The Foundry, page 390.

    The Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., has absorbed the National Brass Co.'s plant and the latter will be remodeled and will be used as a brass foundry, plating and finishing department of the Gray Iron Foundry Co.

  • August 1914 The Foundry, page 325.

    The Reading Casting Co., Reading, Pa., has taken over the business of the Gray Iron Foundry Co., and is making hardware castings. Sand blast equipment and machinery for hot galvanizing and nickel plating has been installed.

  • September 1915 The Foundry, page 383. "The plant of the Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., has been sold to H. Claude Bell, of the Reading Casting Co., for $14,000."
  • We have a report of a "Crown" shop vacuum cleaner manufactured by Gray Iron Foundry, Reading, Pa. This product is outside the scope of our website, but we did learn that it was manufactured between 1910 and 1913. Ads and article show a drum-style shop vacuum that is surprisingly modern in appearance.
• Gray Iron Foundry Co. circa 1921
  • 1921-12-01 The Foundry, page 953. "The Gray Iron Foundry Co., Reading, Pa., plans to increase its line of production to includes axes, hammers and other hardware."
  • For some local color, here is an excerpt from Prohibition! The failure of the 'noble experiment' in Reading & Berks County (1920-1933), by Edward A. Taggert:

    In 1928, an estimated 1,145,644 gallons of illegal liquor was produced in Pennsylvania. Some of it was processed in a big Reading still set up by New Jersey bootleggers. Residents in the 1400 block of Mulberry Street were complaining about the odor of mash. Federal agents soon pinpointed the source as the old Gray Iron Foundry in that block. In a pre-dawn raid they entered through an open garage door raised to let a truck out. Among the 10 men eventually rounded up, the only locals were Stanley Kozak, a former Minker driver and by now a Reading tavern owner, and Dr. Julius Goldsmith, who rented the Jersey bootleggers rooms at his home on North 10th Street.

• Gray Iron Foundry & Manufacturing Co., Inc., circa 1934
  • 1934 catalog from the Gray Iron Foundry & Manufacturing Co., Inc., for "The Keystone Line of Woodworking Machinery"; the catalog had six pages, and shows bandsaw, tablesaws, lathe, jointer, and a combination machine built around a lathe and bandsaw. Although one of the pages touts "New Inventions", a patent search failed to turn to any patents assigned to this company.