Founded in 1886, by Elmer A. Beaman and George H. Smith. Elmer Beaman served in the Union Army and learned the machinist's trade at Wood & Light Co., Worcester, MA. In 1866 he began as treasurer of the Star Tool Co. and was treasurer and general manager of Beaman & Smith.

Beaman & Smith, Providence, R. I., have recently built and moved into new works, and now have a modern plant well adapted to the growing needs of the business As is well known, this firm manufactures milling and boring machines also other machine tools, many of which are of a special character. The demand for such machinery is not only increasing daily, but the tendency is toward heavier and more powerful machines to perform work that either was not done at all a few years ago or else was done on an entirely different type of machine. The new works not only afford increased capacity but provide the means for turning out machines of large size. Two boring machines of 45 tons capacity have lately been shipped and two others of similar design are now in the works.

The main building of the plant is 128 x 60 feet, with a wing 20 x 48 feet. The building is of self-sustaining steel construction with brick walls between the steel columns and there is room to add to both the end and the side of the building making it 120 by 250 feet in size. The large tools and erecting floor art served by a ten-ton Shaw electric crane and the tools throughout are driven by electric motors. These motors are distributed about the plant, a twenty H.P. motor driving the small tools, a fifteen H.P. motor the planers, a ten H.P. motor the milling and drilling machines, and even the tool room has its own drive in a three H.P. motor. One large Gray planer has its own motor. The shop is heated by the Sturtevant system of hot air, with the fan driven electrically. A convenient appliance is a three H.P. portable motor that is used to drive the machines built in the shop after they have been erected. At the time the writer called, this motor was attached to a heavy milling machine which was surfacing its own table in place.

As might be expected, a firm engaged in work of the character done by Beaman & Smith collects a great many patterns and it is important to have ample and secure storage room for them. Their building for pattern storage is 64 by 30 feet, three stories high and has several novel features. The windows are all made with one sash only and do not open, to obviate the danger from sparks coming through an open window or from rain beating upon the patterns. To secure ventilation there is an opening through the lower floor, with a screen to protect the opening, which allows a current of air to pass into the building from the outside. A ventilator in the roof allows the heated air to escape. All the windows have corrugated glass which diffuses the light and keeps the direct rays of the sun from inside the building.

Information Sources

• American Lathe Builders: 1810-1910 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2001, page 14
• American Milling Machine Builders: 1820-1920 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2007, page 13
• Who's who in New England A. N. Marquis & Co. 1909
• Journal of Railway Appliances 1899