The Cove Foundry & Machine Co. was incorporated in 1842. By 1866, William Smith Granger was treasurer; in 1877 the business reorganized as Granger Foundry & Machine Co., with Granger as president. We have seen pictures of a two-cylinder steam engine labeled by Granger, but we have not found much information on their steam engine lineup and it is possible that these engines were actually built by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Co., since Granger's factory was in a building that was part of the Harris company's property.

The Granger specialties were paper and cloth machinery, both of which are outside of the scope of this website, in 1890 they were making some of interest to us: a tapping attachment for a drill press.

Information Sources

• A web page has pictures of a Granger steam engine from the collection of the New England Wireless & Steam Museum; it claims the engine was built in 1870 but since it bears the Granger name it must be from no earlier than 1877.
• The New England Wireless & Steam Museum has a page on this firm, which provided information on Cove Foundry & Machine Co. and the 1877 reorganization. A page on the William A. Harris Steam Engine Co. mentions that "part of the buildings owned by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company were occupied by the Granger Foundry and Machine Company". This suggests that Granger steam engines, which were specially adapted for running paper and cloth printing machinery, were actually built by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Co.
• In May 1877, the General Assembly of Rhode Island passed An act to incorporate the Granger Foundry and Machine Company. this act named William S. Granger, Walter B. Vincent and George M. Carpenter, Jr. as the incorporators of Granger Foundry and Machine Company, "for manufacturing stoves, machinery, and for the transaction of other business connected therewith". Capital stock was $50,000, and the company was to be based in Providence.
• 1889 Sampson, Murdock & Co.'s The Providence Directory lists "Granger Foundry & Machine Co., W. S. Granger, pres., H. A. Du Villard, treas. office 101 Gaspee c. Francis". Also listed as employees of that firm were Owen Martin (watchman), Herbert M. Tanner (supt.), and Henry A. Tillinghast (secy.). Some of these men were also employees of Benham Hydraulic Motor Co., and there may be a connection between the two firms.
• 1891-01-29 American Machinist has an illustrated article on "a new tapping attachment" for drill presses from Granger Foundry & Machine Co.
• 1894 Manual of the Railroads of the United States lists Granger Foundry & Machine Co. as makers of hydraulic machinery, hydraulic presses, pumps,
• In January 1895, the General Assembly of Rhode Island passed An act in amendment of the act passed at the May Session, 1877, entitled "An act to incorporate the Granger Foundry and Machine Company". This amendment increased the capital stock of the company to $100,000.
• 1895-10-03 The Iron Age.

  The new machine shop for the Granger Foundry & Machine Co., at Providence, R. I., will be one of the largest and most complete in the New England States. The building was designed and built by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Conn. The construction is similar to the Fuller Iron Works Machine Shop, designed by the same parties and which has been before illustrated in these columns.

• 1895-10-17 The Iron Age.

  The Granger Foundry & Machine Co., Providence, R. I., are building a new machine shop 110 x 306 feet, which will be one of the largest and most complete shops of its kind in the New England States.

• 1895-12-19 The Iron Age, in an article on The Advantages Claimed for Brick and Steel Factory Buildings.

  ...The Granger Foundry & Machine Company building, Providence, is another example. The main building is 80 feet in width by 305 feet in length, with a lean to 30 feet in width, extending the whole length of one side, in which are located the boiler, engine, storage and wash rooms. The main building is 37 feet in height to the ridge and is fitted on one side with an electric crane of 35 feet span and of 5 tons capacity, with a travel of 275 feet. On the opposite side is a gallery 275 feet in length and 40 feet in width, in which are the offices, drafting rooms and pattern shops...

• The 1901 book, biographical History of the Manufaturers and Business Men of Rhode Island.

  Granger Foundry and Machine Co.—Manufacturers of bleaching, dyeing, drying and finishing machinery for textile fabrics. Works located at the corner of Harris and Sims avenues, Providence. In 1842 the Cove Machine Co. was incorporated under the laws of Rhode Island, and located at the corner of Gaspee and Francis streets, in a building erected for them the same year next to the old State Prison, this this city, the last remains of which have been torn down. For thirty six years the business was carried on under this name, and then, in 1878, it was changed to the Granger Foundry and Machine Co...

• November 1902 The Foundry.

  The Textile-Finishing Machinery Co., of Boston, Mass., has been incorporated with $i,950,000 capital, of which $950,000 is preferred and $1,000,000 common. The new company is a consolidation of the Granger Foundry & Machine Co., the Phoenix Iron Foundry and the Thomas Phillips Co., of Providence, R. I., and the Rusden Machine Co., of Warren, R. I. At a meeting of the incorporators the following officers were elected: President. H. Martin Brown; vice president, Frederick C. Sayles, Jr.; general manager, E. A. Rusden; general sales agent, Frederick I. Dana, and Henry A. Tillinghast, secretary and treasurer.

• The 1914 book, New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial has a biography of William Smith Granger.
• 1916-01-13 The Iron Age, in their Obituary column.

  WILLIAM S. GRANGER, former president of the Granger Foundry & Machine Company, Providence, R. I., died at his home in that city Jan. 1, after an illness of several months, aged 71 years. He was born at Pittsford, Vt., and was educated at Brown University. In 1866 he became treasurer of the Cove Foundry & Machine Company, Providence, which was succeeded by the Granger Foundry & Machine Company, with Mr. Granger as president. The company was merged into the Textile Finishing Machinery Company in 1902, and he retired. At the time of his death Mr. Granger was a director of the American Wringer Company and a number of insurance companies.