Ad from March 1871 "Journal of the Franklin Institute"

This short-lived partnership was the second in a series that owned and operated The Atlantic Works in Philadelphia. The namesake partners were John Richards and William S. Kelley. The owners of The Atlantic Works were

• Richards, Thorne & Co. (1860–July 1870). This firm established The Atlantic Works.
• Richards, Kelley & Co. (July 1870–July 1871)
• Richards, London & Kelley (July 1871–July 1877)
• London, Berry & Orton (July 1877–March 1888)
• Berry & Orton (March 1988–?)
• Atlantic Works, Inc. (In use by 1892, and overlapping with "Berry & Orton" by at least three years. Survived until at least 1912.)

A somewhat more detailed history is available under the entry for Richards, London & Kelley.

Information Sources

• The 1891 book, Philadelphia and Popular Philadelphians, published by "The North American" newspaper, provides the timeline given above. The lengthy passage is quoted in full under the entry for Berry & Orton.
• Because this partnership was so short-lived, there are few even passing mentions of it to be found. An 1870 issue of Journal of the Franklin Institute (available through Google Books) has a brief article: "Richards, Kelley & Co., of Philadelphia, manufacture a gig saw, illustrated in side and front elevation at Figs. 1 and 2, in which the saw is strained by ..." An 1878 version of the same journal mentions "RICHARDS, LONDON & KELLEY (Successors to RICHARDS, KELLEY & CO.) Engineers and Machinists, Manufacturers of IMPROVED BAND SAW MACHINES..."