In 1865, Erastus W. Roff apparently took over an existing manufacturing business that had been established in 1837. Roff manufactured a good-size line of steam engines and woodworking machinery, including outside moulders, fluting machines, planers, bandsaws, spoke machines, lathes, and mortisers. The name is seen variously as Huntington Machine Works or Huntington Machine Co.

By 1891, Roff had been succeeded by Smith & Landell. The product lineup seemed to remain largely unchanged.

We have come across a couple of court cases involving this firm, during the E. W. Roff era, and Myers & Eunson of New York. The latter firm had patented an ingenious circular resaw for thin stock. Huntington Machine Works copied the design and sold a number of them. Myers & Eunson sued for patent infringement, and won. They then went after all the purchasers of the Huntington resaw and demanded royalties, which were paid. See the Myers & Eunson entry for more information

Roff was represented in New York City by dealer George L. Cummings. The Works' machines apparently also sold well in Europe. As of 1874, Roff had 75 employees.

Information Sources

• Erastus W. Roff was listed in an 1840-41 Newark city directory as a sash and blind maker.
• From the December 1872 American Exchange & Review

  Among the many flourishing industrial establishments of the important city of Newark, we give place here to a notice of the Huntington machine works. The establishment is confined to the manufacture of steam engines and of wood working machinery. Among the last enumerated products of the factory we may mention planing and moulding machines of standard patterns, and as especially worthy of a detailed description a lathe for turning irregular forms, such as spokes, whiffletrees, cart-rungs, handles, &c, &c; and which might perhaps, for short, be called a spoke turning lathe. The arrangement of parts is generally as follows: It consists of an upright frame, in which is contained an oscillating frame, with the pattern of the article to be turned, together with the material to be fashioned. This oscillates by means of rests, so arranged as to give a certain motion against the cutter-head containing the cutters, which makes about 2,500 revolutions per minute. The material revolving with the pattern, and its oscillations against the cutters being governed by the former, it is clear that, when finished, the work will be fashioned exactly to the shape of the pattern.

  In the factory of the works (four stories in height, and 42 by 100 feet), a steam engine of 50 horse power is in operation, driving numerous lathes, planers, and other tools. The establishment employs, when in full operation, over 120 hands. The consumption of iron amounts to about eight tons per month; that of other materials being in proportion. The products of these works are quite extensively known, both here and abroad.

• The Industrial Interests of Newark, N. J., by William F. Ford, 1874, has the following paragraphs:

  THE HUNTINGTON MACHINE WORKS, E. W. ROFF, Proprietor; 135 and 137 Halsey-street. The well-known Huntington Works were established in 1837. The present proprietor, Mr. Roff, has long been engaged in designing and improving wood-working machinery, and as a result, the production of the works is mainly in this direction. By his study and inventive skill he has succeeded in producing a fine class of machines for carrying on the various processes of wood-working. Planing machines from the Huntington Works are very extensively used. There are also made band saws, Blanchard spoke machines, turning and mortising machines, and in fact nearly all machinery used by workers in wood. In addition, shafting, hangers, pulleys, &c., are made.

  The Huntington Machine Works is among the first of its kind in Newark, and is well-known abroad. Its productions are sold in all parts of the country, from Maine to California, and the wood-working machines made are sent to the planing mills of Europe. Thus European industrial progress is dependent on American enterprise and invention. Mr. Roff at present employs 75 hands, and the weekly pay-roll amounts to $1,300. The total value of annual production is $125,000.

• From Alex Farnham's Early Tools of NJ and the Men Who Made Them there is this about Huntington Machine Works:

  Established in 1865 by Erastus W. Roff, a sash & blind maker who manufactured a variety of wheel and woodworking machinery. By 1885 neither Roff nor Huntington Machine Works is listed in the Newark business directory.

• The 1855-11-03 issue of Scientific American contains a note:

  Blind Slat Tenoning Machines. Mr. E. W Roff exhibits an excellent machine, of his own invention, for cutting tenons on the ends of blind slats. Cutters are arranged on a small disk, against which the ends of the slats are pressed and clipped in an instant, leaving a smooth edge and round tenon. A very simple gauge apparatus serves to reduce all the slats to the same exact length. D. S. Condit, agent, 74 Spring street, N. Y.

• An ad in the 1859-02-26 issue of Scientific American reads,

  Blanchard's pattern spoke and handle lathe - This justly celebrated lathe for turning spokes, gun stocks, axe handles, and other irregular forms, is manufactured by the Huntington Machine Co., Newark, NJ.

  It is not clear what relationship existed between the "Works" and the "Co."
• Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 6, 1860, includes a "List of Premiums awarded by the managers of the Thirty-First Annual Fair of the American Institute, 1859", including "Huntington Machine Co., Newark, N. J., for a spoke lathe. Diploma."
• A Genealogical Memoir of the Huntington Family in This Country, by E. B. Huntington, 1863, lists "William C. [Huntington], born Mar 29, 1831, married, Oct. 2, 1857, Sarah Ann Chadwick, and lives in Newark, N. J., where he is one of the proprietors of the Huntington Machine Company."
• New Jersey State Business Directory for 1866 lists "Huntington Machine Works, 121 & 123 Halsey, Newark". The are listed as makers of steam engines and woodworking machinery, plus there is an ad.
• The 1869-10-16 issue of Scientific American has an article on that year's Fair of the American Institute, including this paragraph:

  George L. Cummings, of New York, exhibits a FLUTING MACHINE for banisters and all similar work, the peculiarity of which is, that the cutter-head, once set, remains immovable, the work being lowered away from the cutters by an adjustable center. By this means perfect uniformity in the work is secured. We were much struck with the simplicity and beauty of this machine. This gentleman also exhibits a saw table with a circular grooving saw, which works equally across or lengthwise of the grain, the saw being set inclined to the arbor. He also exhibits a 6-inch four-sided molding machine which is evidently capable of doing good work and a good deal of it.

• The 1869-11-25 issue of Scientific American has an ad.
• Transactions of the American Institute for 1870 lists "Premiums awarded at the Thirty-Eighth Annual Exhibition, 1869", including the following.
  • Roff & Huntington, Newark, N. J., George L. Cummings, agent, 140 Center street New York, for an outside head moulding machine. First medal and diploma.
  • Roff & Huntington, Newark, N. J., George L. Cummings, agent, 140 Center street New York, for a fluting machine. Second medal and diploma.
  • Geo. L. Cummings, 140 Centre street, New York, for the best carriage jack. Second medal and diploma.
  • Roff & Huntington, Newark, N. J., Geo. L. Cummings, agent, 140 Centre street New York, for a circular saw bench. Third medal and diploma.
  • Roff & Huntington, Newark, N. J., Geo. L. Cummings, agent, 140 Centre street New York, for a clap-board saw. Second medal and diploma.
• History of Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey, William H. Shaw, 1884, has this paragraph:

  Mr. [Ezra] Gould began busines over forty-five years ago. About the same time E. W. Roff started the Huntington Machine Works, the products of which found a maket throughout America and even in Europe.

  The book also lists Erastus W. Roff as one of the directors of The Firemen's Insurance Company when it was established in 1855.

• Ad in 1891 Lumbermans' Directory for "Huntington Machine Works / Smith & Landell, successors to E. W. Roff".
• We have received a report of a small sticker/molder from this firm.
• Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 150