"The Progress Lithographing Company (est. 1903) was purchased by my father, Charles H. Klein, in 1934. In 1942 he purchased only the patterns, tooling and drawings of a key-seating machine tool. Though he was in the printing business, he was a machinist at heart, but by manufacturing a machine tool during WW2, his employees would not be drafted. The Reading Machine Company was so named because it was located in, and part of, Progress which was located, in 1942, in Reading, Ohio. The castings were produced in a Cincinnati foundry and all assembly and machining was done in the Progress machine shop. In 1951 Progress moved to a new 90K SF facility in Amberley Village, Ohio. It later became Pre-Lith Packaging Corp, a division of Novelart Manufacturing Co. At its peak, Pre-Lith employed over 350 employees in seven plants in four states. I worked for my father’s corporation, off and on, from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. During my tenure, only a few key-seaters were manufactured – all hand machined and constructed - but a number of the special cutting bars were produced and sold yearly. As to what remains of the castings, drawings or patterns the reader might wish to contact Topicz, present occupiers of the Amberley Plant (https://topicz.com/)."

Charles (Chuck) H. Klein, Jr., son of Charles H. Klein

      In 1944 Charles H. Klein was the president of the Progress Lithographing Co., and was also running a machine shop in his home basement. It appears that Klein decided to commercialize his machine shop: he moved his shop into the Progress plant in Reading, Ohio, had Progress reimburse him for all expenditures related to the machine shop, and officially incorporated the machine-shop business as Reading Machine Co. A 1944 decision of the National Labor Relations Board states that the Reading Machine Shop never elected officers, issued stock or acquired the machine-shop assets. Instead it was operated as a division of the Progress company.

For about a decade the Reading Machine Co. manufactured keyseaters.

Information Sources

• 1905 List of Charters of Corporations Enrolled in the Office of the (Pennsylvania) Secretary of the Commonwealth lists "READING MACHINE COMPANY—Reading, April 8, 1905. Capital, $25,000. The manufacture of iron or steel, or both, the manufacture of machines, tools, engines, machinery, specialties of iron and steel and the other iron steel or metal products of similar or cognate character." This appears to be an unrelated earlier business of the same name.
• From a 1944 National Labor Relations Board decision regarding Progress Lithographing Co..

  In the Matter of THE PROGRESS LITHOGRAPHING CoMPANY, READING MACHINE CO. DIVISION and PAPER WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, C. I. O.
  Case No. 9–R—1556–Decided November 30, 1944...

  ...A portion of the plant owned by Progress is occupied by a machine shop engaged in the manufacture of machine tools. The machine shop was originally established by Charles H. Klein, the president of Progress, in his home, and was later removed to its present location, at which time Progress reimbursed Klein for all expenditures theretofore incurred. About 6 months prior to the hearing, Articles of Incorporation were secured from the State of Ohio in the name of Reading Machine Company for the purpose of conducting the business as a separate corporate enterprise, but no officers have ever been elected, nor has the corporation issued any stock or acquired the assets of the machine shop. Although the record discloses that a bank account is maintained in the name of Reading, which also uses its own letterheads for correspondence and bills its own customers, Progress, through its president, has retained active control in the management of Reading. ...

• September 1949 Modern Machine Shop has an ad from Reading Machine Company, Reading (Cincinnati), Ohio, for keyseaters.
• 1951 Directory of Metalworking Machinery lists Reading Machine Company as a maker of keyseating machines.
• Correspondence from Charles H. Klein Jr., son of Charles H. Klein/li>