Manufacturers Index - Gordon Machine Co.
Gordon Machine Co.
Cincinnati, OH, U.S.A.
Manufacturer Class:
Wood Working Machinery & Metal Working Machinery
Last Modified: Dec 14 2022 11:14AM by Jeff_Joslin
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The Gordon Machine Co. of Cincinnati was incorporated in October 1915 by Fred Thomas, Louis A. Hauck, M. Mitchell, John Ellis, and C. S. Johnston, with a very modest capital of $10,000. This company would maintain an exceedingly low profile: we have found no substantial ads or articles about them or their products. In November 1917 they were building a new 48 x 115 foot factory building. In April 1918 they won a $134,000 contract to supply bench drills to the War Department. We could not find any information on the eventual disposition of this contract but there is a good chance that the contract was only partially completed due to the end of the war. War's end was followed by a prolonged depression in the machine tool business which must have been difficult for this company, particularly if their war contract was never fulfilled, as they must have already spent a good deal of money on the new factory and equipment. In 1920 the Gordon Machine Co. bought the plant and equipment of the Printing Machinery Co. of Cincinnati and consolidated the two operations in their own factory. In September 1922 the Gordon Machine Co. was formally dissolved.
Over the years we have had just a couple of reports of drill presses from this maker. We have not heard of any other products from them. But as mentioned, the firm was not one for publicity so it is difficult to be certain of anything related to their activities.
Information Sources
- 1915-11-11 The Iron Trade Review, page 961.
CINCINNATI.—The Gordon Machine Co. has been incorporated; capital stock $10,000; by Fred Thomas, L. A. Hauck and M. Mitchell.
- December 1915 Iron Tradesman, page 210.
The Gordon Machine Company, of Cincinnati, has been incorporated for $10,000. Machinery has been installed in the plant which will be in operation in a short time, the company already having secured a number of orders for machinery and machine tools. The incorporators are all Cincinnati men—Fred Thomas, Louis A. Hauck, M. Mitchell, John Ellis and C. S. Johnston.
- 1916 Annual Report of the Secretary of State, to the Governor of Ohio, page 22, in a list of incorporations of manufacturing companies: "Gordon Machine Company / Cincinnati / Machinery, tools, etc. / Oct. 25 [1915] / $10,000".
- November 1916 trade-union periodical the Machinists' Monthly Journal, page 1129, lists Gordon Machine Co. among Cincinnati employers where strikes were, or were recently, under way. They are also listed thusly in the December issue, page 1225.
- 1917-11-01 The Iron Age, page 1102.
The Gordon Machine Co., Cincinnati, has had plans prepared for a new one-story brick plant 48 x 115 ft., to be erected at Spring Grove Avenue and Township Street.
- December 1917 Iron Tradesman, page 55.
Important additions are being made to the Gordon Machine Co.'s plant, in Cincinnati, at a cost of $30,000...
- 1919 War Expenditures: Hearings Before the Select Committee on Expenditures in the War Department, Serial 1—Part 9 / War Contracts of $100,000 and Over, page 745, lists "Gordon Machine Co. / Cincinnati, O. / [date of contract] Apr. 23, 1918 / [amount of contract] $134,964 / [amt added to June 1, 1919] - / [nature of contract] Bench drills / [officer executing contract] Col. S. McRoberts, by Lt. Col. C. N. Black".
- 1920-02-12 The Iron Age, page 521.
The Gordon Machine Co., Cincinnati, has purchased the plant and equipment of the Printing Machinery Co. It is understood that the machinery will be moved to its plant on Evans Street.
- 1922-11-09 Iron Trade Review, page 1300, news of an unrelated firm of the same name.
BOSTON—The Gordon Machine Co. has been incorporated with $300,000 capital by Andrew Y. Hodgdon, Dedham, Mass., Donald Macnaughton, Wagan, Mass., and James R. Longstreet, Newburyport, Mass. The 1922-11-23 issue, page 1442, repeated some of this information and added, "Donald MacNaughton is president."
- 1924 Annual Report of the Secretary of State to the Governor and General Assembly of the State of Ohio for the Year Ending June 30, 1923, page 115, in a listing of Corporate Dissolutions: "Gordon Machine Company / Cincinnati / [filed] 9-28-22".
- Louis A. Hauck:
- 1909 patent granted to Louis A. Hauck, for a "switch for electric tools", patent 967,190.
- 1911-06-08 The Iron Age, page 1437. "The Cincinnati Tobacco Machinery Company, Cincinnati, is a new incorporation, with $30,000 capital stock... The incorporators are: W. J. Friedlander, Louis A. Hauck,... W. J. Friedlander, the principal incorporator, is president of the Hisey-Wolf Machine Company, Cincinnati." The 1911-06-12 Industrial World, page 728, provides a similar notice buts adds they the incorporators "formerly were connected with Day & Night Tobacco Company, of this city."
- 1922 Cincinnati Directory lists the Louis A. Hauck & Son Machine Co., 652 Evans. The son was Julius Hauck.
- C. S. Johnston:
- 1919 edition of The American Bar—A Biographical Directory of Contemporary Lawyers of the United States and Canada, page 703: "Roettinger, Philip & S. C. / General Practice. Firm consists of: Philip Roettinger, Stanley C. Roettinger. Associate: Campbell S. Johnston. / ... / Campbell Swing Johnston, b. Batavia, O., Oct. 3, 1888; a. to bar, 1913, O.; ed. Walnut High School, Cincinnati; grad. Miami Univ., A. B., 1910; legal ed. Cincinnati Law School, LL.B. Captain of Infantry, U. S. A. Mem. Phi Delta Theta, Phi Delta Phi fraternities. ..."
- 1922 Cincinnati Directory lists only one C. S. Johnston: "Johnson Campbell S salesman 301 st Nat Bk Bldg h 1118 Calvin".
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