Ephraim Hartwell Bellows apprenticed as a machinist to noted Worcester machinist Samuel Flagg, and was one of the first employees of Samuel Flagg & Co. when that firm was organized in 1847. (One of Bellows' fellow apprentices and early Flagg employee was Lucius W. Pond who would become a noted machinery builder in his own right.) In 1864 Bellows began building steam engines from a shop on Exchange Street in Worcester, operating as E. H. Bellows. He built a wide range of portable engines, up to 40 HP, and a smaller range of stationary engines, up to 20 HP.

Advertisement from 1865 New England Business Directory

      In 1865 Byron Whitcomb became a partner in the business, which became Bellows & Whitcomb. In 1868 the partnership was dissolved. Under his own name, Byron Whitcomb continued to manufacture steam engines. Meanwhile E. H. Bellows resumed manufacturing under his own name, including a steam-engine slide valve of his own patented design.

Information Sources

• History of Worcester, Massachusetts,1889, pg. 1643
• American Lathe Builders: 1810-1910 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2001
• American Steam Engine Builders: 1800-1900 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2006 page32
• From the 1917 book Industrial Worcester by Charles G. Washburn.

  ...The firm of Samuel Flagg & Co. was organized in 1847. Mr. Flagg associated with him Henry Holland and two of his former apprentices, L. W. Pond, and Ephraim H. Bellows...

  E. H. Bellows commenced engine-building in August, 1864, renting a shop in Merrifield's building in Exchange Street. His specialty was portable engines, ranging from the smallest up to forty horse-power. He also built some small stationary engines, not exceeding fifteen to twenty horse-power. In 1865 Byron Whitcomb became a partner in the business, the firm name being Bellows & Whitcomb. The same line of manufacture was continued until 1868, when the firm was dissolved.