From February 1913 Machinery

The Van Dorn Iron Works was established by James H. Van Dorn, manufacturing iron fences in the back of his Akron home beginning in 1871, then moving to Cleveland in 1873 to larger premises. The business expanded to include a wide range of iron products, eventually including some related to electric railways.

In 1897, another Cleveland business, the Dorner & Dutton Manufacturing Co., was also supplying to the electric railway business when they ran into financial difficulty. It was quickly announced that company co-founder W. A. Dutton had "taken charge of the railway department of the Van Dorn Iron Works; soon afterwards it was announced that the Dorner & Dutton Co. had been established by J. H. Van Dorn, E. J. Leighton, H. H. Hodell, W. A. Dutton and H. A. Dorner. This new Dorner & Dutton Co. was nominally a spin-off of the railway department of the Van Dorn Iron Works but it probably included some assets of the now-defunct Dorner & Dutton Manufacturing Co. Less than a year later the Dorner & Dutton Co. was renamed to the Van Dorn & Dutton Co.

Like its predecessor, the Van Dorn & Dutton Co.'s primary product was gears. Within a few years they were also making electric motor components such as commutator bars and armatures. By 1910 they were making handheld electric drills, one of the earlier manufacturers of such tools.

In 1915 the Electric Department of Van Dorn & Dutton Co. was spun off as a separate business, the Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. In practice the divisions between the Van Dorn Iron Works, the Van Dorn & Dutton Co., and the Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. were rather blurred; the latter two companies shared factory space and some employees, and James H. Van Dorn was president of the first two companies until his death of a heart attack in September 1914. Mr. Van Dorn was succeeded as president of Van Dorn & Dutton by H. H. Hodell. The president of the newly formed Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. was Frank Schneider.

Besides electric drills, at some point, probably in the 1920s, Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. began making bench grinders.

In 1928, both companies changed ownership. Van Dorn & Dutton became the Gears and Forgings, Inc., as the result of a merger with Fawcus Machine Co. of Pittsburgh and William Ganschow Co. of Chicago; in 1934 the company reorganized as Ohio Forge & Machine Corp. Also in 1928, Van Dorn Electric Tool Co. was acquired by Black & Decker, although the Van Dorn name survived until about 1951. If you have a Van Dorn item where the address is Towson, Md., then it post-dates the B&D acquisition.

Illustration from article in October 1929 "Machinery"

Information Sources

• March 1897 Street Railway Journal.

  Mr. W. A. Dutton, well known in the street railway field has recently taken charge of the railway department of the Van Dorn Iron Works, of Cleveland, O. Mr. Dutton sold his interested in the Dorner & Dutton Manufacturing Company, about two years ago, and has since that time been connected with the company only as general sales agent, and was in no way responsible for the recent failure of the company. The Van Dorn Iron Works is an old established house in the iron trade and its street railway business will be well cared for in the hands of Mr. Dutton.

• June 1897 Street Railway Journal, page 376.

  The Dorner & Dutton Company, of Cleveland, O., is the title of a new company recently organized in that city to manufacture and deal in street and electric railway supplies. The incorporators are J. H. Van Dorn, E. J. Leighton, H. H. Hodell, W. A. Dutton and H. A. Dorner. The new company will commence operations in a new shop built expressly for it and equipped with a number of gear machines and will be able to turn out a very large amount of gears and pinions.

• 1897-06-19 The Age of Steel, page 32, in a list of Ohio incorporations.

  The Dormer & Dutton Company, Cleveland; to manufacture and deal in electric railway supplies; capital, $50,000. Incorporators—J. H. Van Dorn, E. J. Leighton, H. H. Hodell, H. A. Dorner and W. A. Dutton.

• 1898-03-15 Street Railway Review, page 210.

  By recent action of the board of directors of the Dorner & Dutton Compay, of Cleveland, the name has been changed to the Van Dorn & Dutton Company. The officers now are: President, J. H. Van Dorn, who is also president of the Van Dorn Iron Works Compay; vice-president, E. I. Leightonn, president and general manager of the Cleveland Punch & Shear Works; secretary and treasurer, W. A. Dutton, who is well known to the trade as the general sales agent of the Dorner & Dutton Company, and who will have full charge of the sales department of the new company. H. H. Hodell and T. B. Van Dorn, engineer of the Van Dorn Iron Works Company, are directors. Frank Schneider, formerly with the Brush Electric Company, and recently superintendent of the Sperry Engineering Company, has been appointed superintendent of the truck and gear department.

• August 1910 Machinery, page 143, has a half-page display ad from "Electric Department / The Van Dorn & Dutton Company / Cleveland, Ohio / New York / Pittsburgh / Chicago / San Francisco". The illustration shows their "Type D No. 0 Hard Service Electric Drill 1/2-inch Cap." Page 158 of the same issue has an ad for rawhide gears made by the Quiride Co., Syracuse, NY, and Van Dorn & Dutton of Cleveland is listed as a distributor.
• 1911 Iron Age Directory lists "Van Dorn & Dutton Co., Cleveland, O." under the categories of Commutator Bars and Segments; Rawhide Gear Blanks; Steel Gear Blanks; Drilling Machines; Automatic Stop Drilling Machines; Ball Bearing Drilling Machines; Electrically Driven Drilling Machines; Geared Drilling Machines; High Speed Drilling Machines; Horizontal Drilling Machines; Locomotive Frame Drilling Machines; Portable Electric Drilling Machines; Breast Drills; Electrical Repairs; Gear Cutting; Mill Gearing; Gears; Automobile Gears; Automobile Differential Gears; Planed Teeth Bevel Gears; Cast Iron Gears; Cast Steel Gears; Cut Gears; Electric Railway Gears; Equalizing or Differential Gears; Fibre Gears; Forged Steel Gears; Generated Teeth Gears; Helical Gears; Intermittent Gears; Internal Gears; Machine Molded Gears; Marine Reverse Gears; Miter Gears; Rawhide Gears; Spiral Gears; Spur Gears; Steering Gears; and Worm Reduction Gears.
• 1914-03-28 Electric Railway Journal, "Obituary" column, page 748.

  W. A. Dutton, one of the founders of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company, Cleveland, Ohio, which was organized more than twenty years ago, died in St. Augustine, Fla., on March 21, 1914. Mr. Dutton was actively connected with the Van Dorn & Dutton Company from the time of its formation until his retirement about four years ago from the position of secretary and treasurer of the company. Prior to his connection with the Van Dorn & Dutton Company Mr. Dutton was secretary and superintendent of the St. Clair Street line in Cleveland. Following his retirement from the Van Dorn & Dutton Company Mr. Dutton took up his residence in St. Augustine. He recently returned North and underwent an operation at the Lakeside Hospital, Cleveland, and returned to the South about six weeks ago apparently greatly improved. His death followed a second operation performed at St. Augustine on March 14. Mr. Dutton was sixty years of age and was survived by his widow and one daughter.

• September 1914 Electric Traction, "About People" column, page 575.

  Mr. James H. Van Dorn, president and one of the founders of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company and founder and president of the Van Dorn Iron Works Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, died suddenly at his home in that city on August 29, as a result of an attack of heart trouble. Mr. Van Dorn was born in York, Ohio, on December 4, 1841. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith trade at Elyria, Ohio. In 1871 Mr. Van Dorn started a small factory in the rear of his home in Akron, Ohio, for the purpose of manufacturing iron fences. In 1873 he moved to Cleveland, locating in a small factory he had prepared at the corner of East Madison street, now East 79th street, and the Nickel Plate Railroad, and here he began the manufacture of iron fences on a larger scale. From this small beginning was developed a business of great magnitude, embracing everything in the line of prison construction and metal furniture. To the above was added a complete line of ornamental iron works, joist hangers, and any special or intricate work. Nearly 20 years ago Mr. Van Dorn with W. A. Dutton, H. H. Hodell and F. I. Leighton, founded the Van Dorn & Dutton Company. Mr Van Dorn was also one of the founders of the Van Dorn Electric Tool Company, of Cleveland, formed to take over the electric department of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company. Mr. Van Dorn was known from one end of the country to the other in connection with the interests with which he has been identified and the products which they have distributed in a large way both here and abroad.

• October 1914 Electric Traction, "About People" column, page 685.

  Mr. T. B. Van Dorn, president of the Van Dorn Iron Works Company, has been elected vice-president of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, to succeed Mr. H. H. Hodell.
  Mr. H. H. Hodell, president of the Cleveland Galvanizing Works Company, has been elected president of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, to succeed the late James H. Van Dorn. Mr. Hodell was one of the founders of the Van Dorn & Dutton Company and was for many years its vice-president. He is also interested in several other Cleveland enterprises.

• Patents provide the information on Van Dorn & Dutton and also give us some data points on the years of operation.
• The 1915-10-04 issue of The Iron Age mentions a new factory that was being built for the Van Dorn & Dutton Company and the Van Dorn Electric Tool Company.
• The findagrave.com pages on James H. Van Dorn and William A. Dutton.