The Farnham Manufacturing Company was in business by 1910. They manufactured elevating and conveying machinery and paper mill machinery, plus copper and brass working machinery.

In 1934 Farnham hired a new president and general manager in Paul Dubosclard, who was born and Sorbonne-educated in France and, after moving to the USA, had been awarded the rare honor of Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Under his leadership Farnham developed a new specialty as the only American maker of airframe manufacturing machinery. The country's entry into World War II created a tremendous increase in business for the company as they designed and built custom machines for milling aluminum wing spars, forming sheet aluminum into the leading edge of wings, riveting drillers and counter-sinkers, and contour routers. Dubsoclard proved himself to be an exceptional designer and engineer who kept a team of 20 to 40 designers and draftsmen busy fleshing out his designs. Dubosclard became so busy in that key role that he resigned as Farnham president so that he could focus on his design work.

In 1950 Farnham was acquired by The Wiesner-Rapp Co., and operated as the Farnham Division of Wiesner-Rapp Co.; Dubosclard left the business at about this time. In 1962 Wiesner-Rapp was acquired by the Lisk-Savory Corp., a small conglomerate of metalworking businesses; the former Farnham Division of Wiesner-Rapp now operated as the Farnham Division of Lisk-Savory Corp. By the early 1980s it had become the Farnham Division of GEMCOR, the latter being the former General-Electro Mechanical Corp. of Buffalo. The Farnham name lasted into the late 1980s but we do not find any reliable mentions of its existence after that time.

Information Sources

• 1910 The Stationary Engineers' Book, in a Directory of Stationary Engineers of New York, lists "Farnham Mfg Co Washington St1 eng gas 18 hp".
• July 1912 Forty-Third Annual Report of the Buffalo Park Commissioners lists a 1911-09-11 payment of $3.50 to Farnham Mfg. Co., for repairing a sprayer.
• June 1912 Steam. "The Farnham Manufacturing Company has arranged to move its plant to Indiana and Neary Streets, Buffalo, N. Y."
• 1915 issues of Flour and Feed have ads for Farnham's continuous molasses feed mixers.
• 1915 issues of Paper have ads from Farnham for their paper-making machinery.
• 1918 Condensed Catalogues of Mechanical Equipment has a full-page ad: "Farnham Manufacturing Co., 31-39 Indiana St., Buffalo, New York. / Manufacturers of Elevating, Conveying Machinery; Brass and Copper Mill Machinery; Trolleys, Switches, Turntables, Etc.; Paper Mill Specialties". A half dozen photos show their various specialities, including "rod pointing machines / for pointing Brass and Copper Rods". The 1920 edition carried an identical ad.
• 1932 Paper Trade Journal, v. 94 p. 170 has an ad for the Farnham Improved Vacuum Roll. "...FARNHAM MANUFACTURING CO. 36 Indiana St., Buffalo, N. Y. is an instrument which applied to the surface of a dryer or calender roll, instantly indicates the exact surface temperature..."
• A 1949 lawsuit involved "Farnham Manufacturing Company, successor by merger to Paragon Research, Inc., petitioner, v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent". Paragon Research was organized in 1942 in Buffalo. In 1946 he was absorbed into Farnham. The sole issue of the lawsuit was whether Paragon could be classified as a personal service corporation under the Internal Revenue Code. Paragon ownership was divided across the four company officers, with president Paul Dubosclard owning half the common shares and 71% of the preferred shares. Comptroller Frank L. Boutet owned 30% and 29% of the common and preferred shares, respectively. Those two men each owned 25% of the common stock of Farnham. Farnham accounted for the vast majority of Paragon's revenues (99% FY '43, 90% in FY '44). Dubosclard was born in France, graduated from the Sorbonne, a fellow of the ASME (one of fewer than 40 out of 20,000 members). He worked for a variety of companies and then in 1934 became president and GM of Farnham. Farnham was then the only US company making machinery for manufacturing aircraft. Their specialities were spar millers (machining wing spars), form rolls (form leading edge of wings), counter sinkers (for shaping rivet holes), drills (for drilling rivet holes), routers (for cutting contours). Paragon was designed the spar millers, almost solely for building fighter aircraft. Dubosclard was the chief designer and engineer for all the machines, assisted by Howard C. Reimann (Paragon treasurer) and Roland S. Georger (secretary), who supervised the designers and draftsmen. The ruling in the lawsuit was strongly in favor of Farnham/Paragon: Paragon was indeed a personal service organization.
• 1950 Aircraft Year Book, vol. 32 p. 336.

  The Farnham Manufacturing Company of Buffalo, New York, known world-wide for the manufacture of precision aircraft machinery, is now operating as the Farnham Manufacturing Division of The Wiesner-Rapp Co., Inc. Through the expanded facilities, the Farnham line of aircraft machinery maintains its leadership in the aircraft industry. Farnham aircraft machinery consists of spar mills, twist mills, forming rolls, routers, countersinkers and carriage drills. These machines have earned an enviable reputation on the production lines of commercial and military aircraft—not only because of savings in manhours which they make possible but also because set-up time is minimized and expensive jigs and fixtures are eliminated through their use.

• 1955 issue of Western Machinery and Steel World, p. 148.

  True-Trace, El Monte, Calif., Given Huge Farnham Order

  One of the largest single orders for tracer controls ever to be received by True-Trace Sales Corp. of El Monte, Calif., has been issued to that firm by Farnham Manufacturing Co., Division of the Wiesner-Rapp Co., Inc., of Buffalo, N.Y. Under the Farnham order, TrueTrace provides complete hydraulic tracer control systems for the 30 spar milling machines, which comprise a $6 million contract recently awarded to Farnham by the Air Materiel Command. The spar milling machines are fully automatic and have been designed to machine large main structural members of aircraft wings to various shapes and contours of exact tolerance.

  In order to permit the consistently accurate duplication of the radical contour changes found in modern airframe design, President Arthur Wiesner said his company selected the True-Trace instruments to help accomplish this phase of their spar mill operations.

  "We are happy," said Wiesner, "to award this contract for 242 tracer control systems to a California company, True-Trace , which has exhibited its ability to help us fulfill the Government's exacting requirements for precision and speed in machining of unusual contoured paths."

• 1956-11-24 Billboard, in an article on Allan Herschell Firm buying Miniature Train Co..

  Allan Herschell (Company, Inc., "the world's largest manufacturer of amusement rides") today is owned by the Wiesner-Rapp Company, of Buffalo, and is operated by Lyndon Wilson, president. Wiesner-Rapp purchased the company in 1953 from the estate of John Wen- dler, who with his son, William, had acquired complete financial control in 1941...

• 1962 issue of Ceramic Industry (vol. 79, p. 46).

  Acquires Buffalo firm With the acquisition of Wiesner-Rapp Corp.—Lisk-Savory Corporation expands its operations. Before the acquisition, Lisk-Savory was composed of the Lisk Manufacturing Division of Canandaigua, N. Y.; the United States Stamping Co. of Moundsville, W. Va.; General Metalware of Minneapolis, Minn.; General Metalcraft Inc. of Portland, Ore.; and its Stor-All Division in Inglewood, Calif.

• 1969 issue of American Machinist (vol. 113, p. 9). "At Wiesner-Rapp Co. Division of Lisk-Savory Corp. Buffalo, New York Versatility of Warner & Swasey Bar Automatic with chucking conversion provides fast, economical start to turret lathe replacement program."
• 1974 issue of Mechanical Engineering: The Journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, p. 97, in the Obituaries section.

  P. M. Dubosclard (1892–1974). Los Angeles, Calif. Born and educated in France, Mr. Dubosclard came to the U. S. in 1919 and worked as assistant chief engineer in charge of research for the Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., in New York City. He was chief consulting engineer for the American Hoist and Derrick Co., St. Paul, Minn.; chief engineer for International Milling Co., Minneapolis; president and general manager of Farnham Mfg. Co., Buffalo, N.Y.; and president and general manager of Paragon Research, Inc., Buffalo, N. Y. He became a Member of ASME in 1933, and was elected to the grade of Fellow ASME in 1944.

• August 1983 Defense Logistics Agency's Industrial Plant Equipment Handbook, Miscellaneous Machine Tools lists "Farnham Div., Lisk-Savory Corp. See: General-Electro Mechanical Corp. Mfg Fed Code 24659".
• 2016 book, Buffalo's East Side Industry, by Shane E. Stephenson. "Wiesner-Rapp, in turn, was bought by the Lisk-Savoy Company in 1963 and remained on-site."
• A web page on aircraft rolls (a type of sheet metal rolling machine) gives a history of Farnham Mfg. Co., and also shows a Farnham aircraft roll.