In 1850 to 1856, and perhaps for longer, this company produced wheel-making machinery, in particular a patented machine for cutting fellies (wheel-rim segments).

Information Sources

• The report of the Sixth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association at Faneuil and Quincy Halls, in the city of Boston, September, 1850, lists the following:

  JOSEPH ADAMS & SONS, Hadley, Mass. A Model Machine for Cutting Felloes. This appears well adapted for the purpose. The work is performed by means of cutters, placed in an arm projecting horizontally from a vertical shaft, which has a rotary motion—there being two cutters placed at such distance as to give the required depth of the felloe, cutting the outer and inner curves of the segment at the same time; as as the size of the wheel varies, the cutters are moved to a greater or less distance from the upright shaft. Diploma. Dogs for securing timber upon a Planing Machine. A good arrangement.

• Transactions of the American Institute for the year 1850, including awards for that year's Fair of the American Institute: Joseph Adams & Son, Hadley, Mass., for a machine for cutting felloes. Silver medal.
• The Report of the Committee on Exhibition for the Third Annual Exhibition of the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, held October 14th, 1850, at Washington Hall, Baltimore, lists "1 Felloe Machine, made and deposited by Joseph Adams & Sons, North Hadley, Mass., a simple and effective machine for cutting Felloes, it works with rapidity and precision, is cheap and durable. Silver Medal."
• Ad in the October and November 1850 issues of Scientific American: "Felloe Cutting Machine—essrs. Joseph Adams & Son, Amherst, Mass., offer for sale town, county and State rights, or single machines, with the right to use, of this unrivalled Felloe Cutting Machine, illustrated in No. 5 Vol 6, Scientific American. It is portable, easily kept in order, requires but little power to drive it, and will execute in the most rapid and perfect manner, cutting 60 good felloes in one hour."
• The 11th Annual Exhibition the Agricultural Society of New York State was held at Rochester, 16-19 September 1851. The Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1851 lists among the exhibitors, "Dog for planing machine, Joseph Adams & Son, Hadley, Mass., Transactions." The last word seems to be their equivalent of a participant ribbon.
• The History of Western Massachusetts, by Josiah Gilbert Holland, 1855, has the following paragraph:

  The lumber mill of Joseph Adams & Sons, occupying the upper site on mill river, about two miles North-westerly of Amherst College, in Plainville, district, is the most extensive establishment of the kind in town. Between 5 and 600,000 feet of lumber are annually manufactured from logs, by two saws, one circular and the other upright. A lathe machine turns out about 100,000 feet of strip lath, and three or four other circular saws and a jig saw, are used for various purposes. The establishment also embraces a planing-machine, felloe machine, for making piecefelloes, turning works and apparatus for steaming and bending wheel rims.

• Google Books lists a single-page broadside or flyer, "Joseph Adams & Sons' patent felly machine: This unrivaled machine..."
• Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Agriculture of the Sate of Ohio for the year 1856, List of entries at the seventh annual fair of Ohio, Cleveland, September 1856. J. Adams & Son, Amherst, N. Y., felloe machine (Diploma) "Adams & Son, of Amherst, Mass., exhibited a machine for cutting felloes, which will entire supersede the old system of sawing them. The machine is delivered at the depot for $150."
• Transactions of the American Institute for the year 1851, including that year's Fair of the American Institute: Adams & Son, North Hadley, Mass., for an improved felloe machine. Silver medal.
• A Massachusetts lawsuit from 1884 involved Joseph Adams' sons and a man to whom they sold a portion of land, and a portion of a barn, that had been willed to them by their father. The sons were Benjamin, Joseph H., Charles W., and Levi. Their parents were Joseph Adams and Rebecca E. Adams. Joseph Adams had bought the land in 1841; his will was dated February 13, 1863, and it was admitted to probate "in 1864", which narrows down his death date. In May, 1853, Joseph, Benjamin, and Levi were "doing business as copartners, under the firm name of Joseph Adams & Sons".
• Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 9