In 1893, Edwin C. Henn and Reinhold Hakewessell developed a multiple spindle automatic lathe in Hartford, CT and received a patent for this machine in 1894. By 1895, the Acme Screw Machine Co. in Hartford, CT had been founded.

In 1901 the Acme Screw Machine Company moved to Cleveland, OH, where it merged with the National Manufacturing Co. to form the National Acme Manufacturing Co.

In 1907, a competitor in Windsor, VT introduced a 4 spindle bar machine known as the Gridley - by 1915, Acme had acquired this company and began selling the Gridley Automatic Turret Lathes as part of their line of machinery.

In 1968, The National Acme Company merged with the Cleveland Twist Drill Company to form the Acme-Cleveland Corp.

Bourn & Koch, Inc. is now the OEM for the National Acme machinery.

Information Sources

• October 1921 Machinery.

  George O. Gridley has resigned as manager of the Windsor plant of the National Acme Co. His outside interests have become of such volume and importance that he has decided to devote his entire time to banking, development work, and other affairs. Mr. Gridley's work in the building up of the manufacturing organization of the Windsor plant from its small beginning to its present proportions covers a period of a quarter of a century, during which time he brought into play his ability as an inventor, a business organizer, and a financier.

  Mr. Gridley was born in Harwinton, Conn., in 1869. In industrial work he was first employed by the Waterbury Button Co., and then went to Springfield, Vt., to learn the machinist's trade. He studied stenography during his leisure hours evenings, and was employed for a few months with the Jones & Lamson Co. as stenographer and office-man, also spending some time on the road as salesman. From there he went to Indian Orchard, Mass., where he started the Indian Orchard Screw Co., making bicycle parts, and later he went to Windsor, Vt., as superintendent of the Windsor Machine Co. In 1902 the Gridley single-spindle automatic was developed; later, the idea of the multiple-spindle machine was gradually evolved, until the first machine was built in 1908. From that time on the business grew rapidly.

  In 1915, when the National Acme Co. took over the Windsor Machine Co., Mr. Gridley was appointed manager of the Windsor plant. Previous to that he had been vice-president and general manager of the Windsor Machine Co., and he was also vice-president of the firm of Potter, Johnson & Gridley, Ltd., of England, which built a large factory in Birmingham. This factory was taken over by the British Government at the outbreak of the war. Mr. Gridley was a charter member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. From 1917 to 1919 he served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives. He is president of the State National Bank of Windsor.

• The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History has a short history on the Acme-Cleveland Corp, which includes some early history of The National Acme Company.
• A Profile of the National Acme Company is available at Findamachine.com.
  
• The 2012 book Images of America: Windsor, by Liz Ross. "Looking ahead at manufacturing in the early 20th century brings one back to the brick buildings on Main Street. The Windsor Machine Company, located on Union Street, is where Frank Cone began his career. In 1902, when Maxwell Evarts became one of the company's primary investors, the value of its stock increased tenfold. The National Acme Corporation, or NAMCO, then purchased it. It was NAMCO that propelled Windsor to the forefront of the precision tool and manufacturing industries."