Toolmaker Magnus Wahlstrom met patternmaker Rudolph Bannow in 1929, and within a year or so the two Swedish immigrants had started a business together, the Bridgeport Pattern & Model Works. In 1931 they began manufacturing a high-speed vertical milling attachment for horizontal milling machines. In 1936 they modified their design to accommodate boring and drilling operations, and sales began to pick up.
In 1938 they changed the business name to Bridgeport Machines, Inc. and began manufacturing complete vertical milling machines, the Bridgeport Turret Miller. Their machines quickly became very popular and, eventually, ubiquitous. Bridgeport milling machines were not as heavily and rigidly built as some, but for a great many buyers they were the best value for money.
At some point Bridgeport Machines, Inc., was acquired by machine-tool conglomerate Textron and became the Bridgeport Machines Division of Textron Inc.
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