In 1874, Henry Bickford, having moved from his home state of New Hampshire, established a machinery manufacturing business under the name H. Bickford. He quickly established a specialty in heavy drill presses.

Advertisement from the 1878 Williams' Cincinnati Directory

By the mid-1880s Bickford had twenty-five employees. In 1887 the business re-organized as the Bickford Drill Co., and immediately introduced a line of radial drills. in 1893 the company reorganized as the Bickford Drill & Tool Co. and in 1894 bought out its competitor, the Universal Radial Drill Co. In 1904 the company merged with Cincinnati Machine Tool Co., to form the Cincinnati Bickford Tool Co.

Information Sources

• Advertisement for drill presses from H. Bickford in the 1878 edition of the Williams' Cincinnati Directory.
• The 1886 book, Leading Manufacturers and Merchants of Cincinnati and Environs, carried the following writeup.

  H. Bickford, Manufacturer of Machinists' Tools, Northeast corner of Second and Pike Streets.—This gentleman, who is a native of New Hampshire and forty-two years of age, founded this enterprise in 1874 at No. 179 East Front street, and continued it there until 1880, when he transferred his operations to his present premises on the northeast corner of Pike and Second streets. Here he occupies the first floor of a four-story brick building, 40x125 feet in dimensions. The workshop is equipped with lathes, planers, drill punches, and other machinery and tools of ample quantity, and the machinery is operated by a twenty-five-horse power steam-engine. Twenty-five skilled and experienced workmen are permanently employed, and all kinds of machinists tools are produced, which for first-class workmanship, neatness of finish, strength, and durability are unsurpassed in the trade. A specialty is made of drills, in which the house does a large business. The manufactures of the establishment are shipped to all parts of the country.

• English and American Tool Builders, by Joseph Wickham Roe, 1916, has the following snippet:

  ... The Bickford Drill Company was organized in 1887 and the business was extended to include radial and universal drills.

• Advertisement in the 1890-07-05 issue of The Age of Steel.