In 1861 Amos H. Brainard patented a bench vise and in 1866 the Union Vise Co. began to manufacture his vises. Brainard realized that the most cost-effective way of manufacturing his vises was to use a milling process where a rotating cutter was moved across the workpiece. Eventually he designed his own milling machines and these were put into production by the Union Vise Co., despite skepticism from the company's owners. Eventually the milling machines were successful and became Brainard's main focus, although the vise line was also selling well.

When a fire destroyed the business in early 1871 the vise business was sold to Backus Vise Co., and Brainard bought the remaining assets from the insurers. In June 1871 he organized the Brainard Milling Machine Co.

The Union Vise Co. was still a registered corporation in 1875 but so far as we can tell they were inactive and we can find no evidence that any vises were made by them after the fire.

Information Sources

• 1869 catalog catalog page of Union Vise Co. vises and milling machines, from the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Catalogue and Journal of the Eleventh Exhibition. Courtesy archive.org.
• Report of the Tax Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 1875 lists "corporations existing under authority of this Commonwealth, December 31, 1875, and subject to taxation under the Corporation Tax Act", including "Union Vise Company of Boston, Boston. Organization certified February 4, 1867." The 1880 edition has an identical listing.
• April 1899 Machinery article on the formation of the Becker-Brainard Milling Machine Co., which provides a bit of history on the Union Vise Co. and its successor, the Brainard Milling Machine Co.
• Rootsweb post on the fire that destroyed the plant of the Union Vise Co.