The plant of the present Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Co., of Waterbury, was started in 1851, and in 1857 was consolidated in connection with the Ansonia Foundry under the name of the Farrel Foundry & Machine Co., and so continued until 1880. In the latter year the present company was organized as the Waterbury Farrel Foundry & Machine Company. The shop like many others in New England had no especial choice out of the many outlets for the stock of ingenuity and undertook a varied assortment of work in order to keep the business moving in the direction of a probable profit. When times were dull and orders scarce the men were employed on such equipment as the working demands of the plant would digest and the management built vertical millers, traversing head shapers, and other machine tools. Some of these tools are of ruggedly substantial design and are profitable machines even at this much later date. The plant has never lost this adaptable faculty and today the product has an extensive range. Machinery for rolling mills, wire drawing, tube making, thread rolling and cold heading is made in many forms and sizes. Automatic nut machines, power presses, shears, automatic forging drops, hinge machines, cartridge machinery, hydraulic tools, presses, accumulators and pumps, special machinery for the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, etc., are all regularly undertaken as demand arises.

      The men at the head of affairs have been with the company for many years. William E. Fulton is President and Treasurer, George B. Lamb Vice President and General Manager, and David C. Griggs Secretary. The western office is at Cleveland.

From an 1893 Catalog from this firm:

THE Waterbury Foundry and Machine business was started in the year 1851; was consolidated in 1857 with the Ansonia Foundry, under the name of The Farrel Foundry and Machine Company, and was so continued until 1880, when the present company was organized under the name of The Waterbury Farrel Foundry and Machine Company. New buildings and new machinery have been added yearly, and the capacity of the plant has quadrupled since the formation of the present company. Inspection of the various machines illustrated in this edition of our catalogue will be of interest to all manufacturers of general hardware, and will be of particular value to those who manufacture specialties from sheet brass, copper, steel, silver, etc. We call special attention to the portion of this Catalogue which shows the improved construction of heavy mill machinery for producing sheet brass and copper, brass tubing, and brass and copper wire. We carry a large stock of finished machinery—power presses, drop presses, foot presses, trimming lathes, polishing lathes, slitters, and rivet machines, in our store-house. The Waterbury Farrel Foundry and Maohine Co.

Information Sources

• Catalogue and price list By Waterbury Farrel Foundry and Machine Company, Waterbury, Conn., 1893
• 19th Annual report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the State of Connecticut, 1903 pg. 348-349
• Directory of Metalworking Machinery, 1951, pg. 44