Heebner & Sons, of Montgomery County, PA, was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, particularly treadmill and lever-style horse powers, or horse-powered machinery. Heebner also made a table saw with an automatic blade guard and a portable farm steam engine in 4 sizes. As their 1885 catalog details, the engines were a lightweight design with no eccentric, connecting rod, or cross head.
HEEBNER & SONS, MANUFACTURERS OF LEVELTREAD HORSE-POWERS, LITTLE GIANT THRESHING MACHINES, ETC.
"Such is the title of this industrial establishment, now famous in every civilized country on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. David S. Heebner, the senior member of the firm, now in his seventy-fifth year, commenced the manufacture of agricultural machines in the year 1840, opening his works on the 1st of April that year, and at that date are still in use amongst the farmers of Bucks and Montgomery Counties. In those days Mr. Heebner had no help, but in his second year employed Mr. Daniel Shuler, now (1884) holding the office of director of the poor. At that time, it took about six weeks to build a machine; now two complete machines are made in one day. In 1862, Isaac and Josiah, sons of the proprietor, were admitted to partnership. In 1868 the firm dissolved partnership, David S. Heebner and Josiah purchasing the interest of Isaac, who removed to Lansdale, and started a small repair-shop on the site of the present splendid range of buildings. Here Isaac Heebner opened an agency for the sale of agricultural implements. In 1870, William D. Heebner, now the junior member of the firm, came over from Worcester township to Lansdale, and entered into partnership with Isaac, and the name of the firm was Heebner & Brother. In January 1872, David S. and Josiah Heebner dissolved the partnership in Worcester, and the father moved to Lansdale, uniting with his sons, Isaac and William, under the firm name of Heebner Sons & Co. In 1873 the firm resolved itself into the name which it at present bears, and from that day a new impetus was given to the work. In 1874 the brick warehouse at the southern end was built, the front one hundred and fifty-six feet on Broad Street, with one wing of one hundred feet and one of eighty feet, three stories in height, and surmounted by a beautiful dome.
The first year the firm sold fifteen horse-powers and threshers, ten mowers and reapers, and a few fodder-cutters. In 1883 they sold four hundred and fifty horse-powers, over one hundred mowers and reapers, and two hundred feed-cutters. The first year the business amounted to five thousand dollars; in 1883 it reached two hundred thousand dollars. Then the trade was only for local farmers; to day these machines are found from Maine to Georgia, in Canada, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Heebner & Sons, of Lansdale, manufacture more tread railway horse-powers than any establishment in the world, and are constantly extending their business to all quarters of the globe. The value of the plant is at least seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In 1868, Isaac D. Heebner, the elder of the sons, located in Lansdale and started business in a little shop still standing, the size of which was twelve by twenty-six feet, and upon the old shop now used as a carriage-house stands the spire that was first placed upon the pioneer building in what is now Lansdale. In this shop Isaac worked by hand at such employment as was afforded by the repairing and jobbing of the neighborhood, and by industrious labor the income amounted to less than one thousand dollars the first year.
In 1840, David S. Heebner, father of Isaac D., had opened a shop in Worcester township, this county, for the manufacture of the old-fashioned sweep horse-power threshers, and the first machine built was sold to Joseph Allebach, of that township, and the second was sold to a Mr. Swartzlander, of Bucks County. The first year Mr. Heebner employed no help and the second year only one person was employed, viz., Daniel Shuler, now one of the directors of the poor of Montgomery County. About 1850 the tread-power thresher made its appearance but was slow in gaining favor with the farmers of the county. In 1862, Isaac D. and Josiah, two sons of David S., were admitted as partners in the business, and engaged extensively in the manufacture of mowing machines, as well as threshers and other harvesting machines, which they continued till 1870, when a patent was obtained for, and the first level-tread power-thresher manufactured by David S. Heebner, in Worcester township, which proved a partial success, and the business continued till 1872.
In 1868, as above stated, Isaac D., having sold his interest, moved to Lansdale and purchased of Joel Wertz the lots upon which is now located the manufacturing establishment of Heebner & Sons, and, in 1870, William D. Heebner, now a member of the State Legislature, brother of Isaac D., was taken into the business as a partner, when the business began to increase rapidly, Isaac, however, having made arrangements with the railroad company, and laid the foundation for the present successful business. At that time Isaac's house and little shop were the only buildings in the town east of the railroad, except the old Jenkins farmhouse, which stands near the borough line.
On January 1, 1872, David S. Heebner, the father, was admitted as a partner with his sons, Isaac D. and William D., when the constant increase in business made it necessary to have more room for the manufacture of their machines, and in 1874 the firm, which had become Heebner & Sons, built the balance of their extensive shops and warehouses, into which a side-track of the North Pennsylvania Branch of the Reading Railroad is laid to accommodate the firm in the large shipments of manufactures they are constantly making.
Thus ,from an obscure and insignificant beginning has grown an important and prosperous business, extending beyond the borders of our own country to the opposite sides of the world. The Heebners are unassuming, gentlemanly men, who have built up their extensive interests by industry and attention to business, all being natural mechanics, neither one having served an apprenticeship, yet both are masters of the mechanic's art." (Quote from 1884.)
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