Olney & Warrin, established in December 1897 by George H. Olney and Ernest Warrin, is known to have been active through 1932, and perhaps for longer. They were mostly a reseller rather than a manufacturer of steam engines, gas engines, and woodworking machinery. In the first decade or so of their existence they did manufacture steam engines of up to 15 HP, and they also manufactured model locomotives in various sizes, from desktop up to models several feet long that could give rides to children and fairgrounds. Their model locomotives were available as both raw castings and as completed modeld.

Shown below is one of a handful of woodworking-related items we have seen that were actually made by Olney & Warrin. Another is a shaper guard, and still another is a miter chopper.

Olney & Warrin sash mortising drill. Compare to a similar unit from Grand Rapids Sash Pulley Co.

Olney & Warrin was a dealer for a number of companies, some of which are identified below. Like other dealers, it appears that they sometimes sold "white label" products that were manufactured by others but bore only the Olney & Warrin name.

Information Sources

• An owwm.org discussion references several useful articles, including an article in the 1898-08-22 Tammany Times that gives the December 1897 founding date.
• January 1898 Power.

  Olney & Warrin, 36 Dey St., New York City, dealers in engines, boilers, and supplies, report business very satisfactory. This company handle all kinds of engineers' and electricians' supplies as well as boilers, engines, etc., of any size. They will be glad to send information regarding their goods to any one interested.

• March 1898 Power.

  Olney & Warrin, 36 Dey St., New York City, have just taken an order for a complete working model of a New York Central locomotive for use at a fair ground. This model is something out of the ordinary: it will be 9 1/2 feet long over all, including the tender, and will pull six model coal cars, each of which will carry two children The weight of the engine and tender will be about 600 pounds, and the whole outfit will be quite a novelty. They are also busy on other sizes of locomotives, information in regard to which they will be glad to furnish any one inquiring of the same.

• July 1898 Power has an ad from the Buffalo Steam Pump Co., listing Olney & Warrin as a dealer.
• 1898-08-18 American Machinist.

  Olney & Warrin, who opened a machinery and supply house in this city a few months since, and have a manufactory in Brooklyn Borough in connection therewith, remark very satisfactory conditions, they being particularly busy on steam and gas engines and special machinery.

• 1898-09-29 American Machinist.

  Olney & Warrin, New York city, have sent us catalog of the Olin Gas engine, for which they are the agents. For small printing offices, residential electric lighting plants, &c., these engines can readily be adapted. They are made in sized ranging from 2½ to 35 horse power. The catalog is 5½ x 7 inches.

• 1898-08-22 Tammany Times

  Olney & Warrin

  Although the firm of Olney & Warrin, consisting of George H. Olney and Ernest Warrin, was established only in December of last year, it is already among the most popular and prosperous in its line.

  Olney & Warrin are exclusive selling agents for one of the largest manufacturers of steam engines and boilers in the United States. They are also exclusive selling agents for a very prominent line of steam pumps. In addition to this, they have the agency for one of the best gas engines in the market, which, owing to its simplicity and economical use of gas, is having a phenomenally large sale.

  The firm carries a large line of these goods in stock, accompanied, in each instance, with all the necessary or desirable accessories, supplies, and all material required by power users and contractors.

  But it must not be supposed that the business of the firm of Olney & Warrin is confined entirely to the manufactures of others. They have their own manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, where they build steam engines up to twelve and fifteen horse-power, and manufacture every kind of special machinery in demand by the trade they supply.

  One of the prime factors in the success of the firm is the fact that both members of it are practical men in their line, and have each had at least twenty-five years' experience as manufacturer and dealer. They say now that they never knew how many friends they had until the establishment in business.

  Then they discovered that they had not only the best wishes of their acquaintances, but their hearty support in business, which support has pleasantly manifested its usefulness in a steadily increasing trade, which, starting from the time of their opening, has made material advances every day since.

• 1902 Polk's (Trow's) New York Copartnership and Corporation Directory lists "Olney & Warrin (George H. Olney & Ernest Warrin) 36 Dey".
• Obtained from the New York Public Library are a number of ads from the NY Times from 1900 to 1903 for boilers, smoke stacks, steam engines, shafting and pulleys and electric tool post grinders made by Schauer Co. This obit was included in the info;

  ROBERT GRAHAM ZEPP. New York Times. New York: Feb 28, 1932. p. 25 (1 page)
  Robert Graham Zepp, vice president of the machinery firm of Olney & Warrin, Lafayette Street, Manhattan, died yesterday at his home, 25 Jackson Place, Baldwin, L.I., at the age of 45. ...

• 1908 Iron Age Directory lists Olney & Warrin, 66-68 Centre St., N. Y., as providers of portable boilers, steam boilers, iron and steel chimneys, mechanical engineering services, gas and gasoline engines, steam engines, pipe fittings, grinding machines, steam pumps, factory tanks, steel stock and windmill tanks, and woodworking machinery.
• The 1914 Directory of Directors in the City of New York lists "OLNEY, GEORGE H., 66 Centre Street. Olney & Warrin, Dir." Also listed at the same address and firm is "WARRIN, ERNEST... Pres. and Dir.
• For-sale listing reported in the owwm discussion forum for a 12" jointer. This machine turned out to be a Crescent with an Olney & Warrin dealer's badge.
• A web search found a mention of an Olney & Warrin steam engine.
• A 26 inch Band Saw was recently uncovered with an Olney & Warrin Badge, but the machine is believed to have been made by Silver Manufacturing Co. of Salem, Ohio, and resold by Olney & Warrin.
• An Olney & Warren badged mortiser is clearly a Model K mortiser from Brackett Machinery Co. The Brackett name has been ground off the castings. There are two plausible explanations. It is possible that Olney & Warren contracted with Brackett for a "white label" machine that O&W would apply their own badging to. Alternatively, we know that Bracket went out of business while the Model K was in production, and it is possible that O&W bought raw castings and/or partially complete machines and then finished building the machines in-house, applying their own branding to them. We have not been able to find any information that would favor one or the other explanation.