The Bordentown Machine Co. was incorporated in 1857 by John L. McKnight, Joseph W. Allen, George M. Wright, George B. Raymond and James Molyneux; McKnight became company president and Molyneux was superintendent and, judging by patent records, was also the lead designer. They manufactured stationary and marine steam engines, sawmills and sawmill gearing, metalworking machinery (planers, shapers, slotters, lathes, steam hammer) and a wide variety of mill machinery, dredgers, oil-well machinery, etc.

The company never had a very high profile so it is difficult to be certain of their years of operation, but they do seem to have survived into the early 1870s.

Information Sources

• 1857 Acts of the 81st Legislature of New Jersey, page 509, gives the text of an act to incorporate the Bordentown Machine Company. The incorporators were John L. McKnight, Joseph W. Allen, George M. Wright, George B. Raymond and James Molyneaux, and the purpose of the corporation was "a general foundry and machine business, including the building of steam engines, sugar mills, mill gearing, and all other kinds of manufacturing incident thereto". Capital stock was limited to $100,000 in shares of $25, and they could commence their business once they had reached a capitalization of $50,000. The act was approved on March 20, 1857.
• 1859 Trenton City Directory lists Bordentown Machine Company, Bordentown, under "Machinists".
• 1861 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, page 398, in a list of "offers received by the Bureau of Construction" for side-wheel steamers, is one from ship-builder D. S. Mershon, engine to be supplied by Bordentown Machine Co.
• 1866 Talbott & Blood's New Jersey State Business Directory, page 165, lists "Bordentown Machine Company, J. Molyneux, Sup., on River, Bordentown" under "Machinists".
• 1877 Index of Colonial and State Laws Between the Year 1663 and 1877 lists an 1857 act to incorporate the Bordentown Machine Company, plus an 1857 act to modify that incorporation.