Hiram Hough Scoville (1795-1879) was born in Meriden, CT, was raised in Oran, NY, and was trained as an engineer and manufacturer in Syracuse, NY. He married, had children, worked for a time in Chicago among other places, and in 1842 or early '43 he partnered with son-in-law Philetus Woodworth Gates to establish a machine shop and foundry in Chicago, "Scoville & Gates, machinists, millwrights, blacksmiths, and founders, s.w. cor West Washington and West Water." Around 1848 Gates sold his interest in the business to Scoville's three eldest sons, James Addison Scoville (1822-1896), William Harrison Scoville (1824-1884), and Ives Miles Scoville (1825-1913), and the business became H. H. Scoville & Sons. Youngest son Hiram Henry Scoville (1933-1902) joined the firm probably in 1851 when he turned 18. During this era, roughly 1846 to 1860, their factory was known as the Chicago Car & Locomotive Works.
In 1855 H. H. Scoville, Sr., retired and youngest son H. H. Scoville, Jr., became sole proprietor. William seems to have still been involved in the business and was particularly interested in building locomotives. In 1861 William left the business—ending the Scoville era of building locomotives—and moved to San Francisco where he made soap and candles.
Then, in 1860 and for unknown reasons, H. H. Scoville, Jr., shut down the business and moved briefly to Syracuse, NY and then to Denver, CO, although he seems to maintained a presence in Chicago as well. In 1866 he returned to Chicago and established a new Scoville Iron Works, operated by H. H. Scoville. During that 1860-1866 era he had been granted some patents related to ore-processing machinery and that would be a major focus of his new new business; such machinery is outside the scope of this site, however.
By 1876 the business of H. H. Scoville was manufacturing pneumatic power hammers for forging and blacksmithing, and were also manufacturing steam engines and sawmill machinery.
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