This firm was active from at least 1871 to 1949. They were a substantial firm that made railway locomotives, steam engines, and sugar mills, In later years they made the "Thomes core-box machine". A reported example carried a 1904 patent date. Frank E. Thomes also received a couple of later patents for core-box machines (in 1921 and 1926) and we assume those later designs were also made by the Portland Co.
Information Sources
- Advertisement in the Railways of Canada for 1870/71, published in 1871.
- 1923 Cosgrove's Handbook of Woodworking Machinery, page 11, lists makers of core-box machines, including The Portland Co.
- 1949 Conover-Mast Purchasing Directory (Volume 17, page T-69): "THOMES Core Box Machines - Portland Co., 56 Fore St., Portland, Me."