Honestus Morton Albee received some important patents for carving and routing machines. Starting in about 1876 he started to manufacture them himself on a small scale. In 1891 he partnered with W. H. Purdy of New York, and the following year the two of them created Albee Machine Co., operating out of Purdy's premises.
It is not certain how long the Albee Machine Co. continued to operate. Our last data point is from 1893, but we do not have many data sources for the late 19th and early 20th centuries so it is quite possible that the business survived into the early 20th century.
Information Sources
- 1887 mention, 1889, 1891-1892 ads and 1889-1892 articles in Manufacturer & Builder.
- According to an 1891 article, the manufacturing rights to Albee's Champion router were owned by W. H. Purdy of New York; the 1892 ad for Albee's machine is from Albee Machine Co. of New York, with the same address as given for W. H. Purdy in the 1891 article.
- Subsequent patents to H. M. Albee still listed his address as Newark, until the 1909 patent which gives Nutley.