The early history of Lucian B. Flanders is murky but patent records suggest that from the 1850s he was an engineer or mechanic involved in the railway industry. In 1870 he established the L. B. Flanders Machine Works in Philadelphia, manufacturing cylinder boring machines, crank-pin machines, valve-seat planers, and other machine tools intended for building and repairing railway locomotives and cars. Flanders died in 1877, age 55. The Works continued without him until 1881, when Daniel W. Pedrick and Henry C. Ayer founded Pedrick & Ayer as the successor to the L. B. Flanders Machine Works. The Flanders name continued as the name of their Works, and the Flanders name featured prominently in their ads and articles until at least 1886.

In 1894 the partnership of Pedrick & Ayer dissolved, with Henry Ayer leaving the business to establish the Ayer & Gleason Co., and Daniel Pedrick taking on new partners and incorporating the Pedrick & Ayer Co. to take over the business of the former Pedrick & Ayer.

By 1902, Pedrick & Ayer Co. had been taken over by the H. B. Underwood Co.; the Underwood company continued to operate it under the Pedrick & Ayer Co. name, and also used the name "L. B. Flanders Machine Works". In 1906 the Railway Appliances Co. was formed to purchase the Pedrick & Ayer Co. business; only a month later, the Railway Appliances Co. changed its name to Quincy, Manchester & Sargent Co.

Information Sources

• 1876 Burley's United States Centennial Gazetteer and Guide, page 829: full-page ad, "L. B. Flanders / Eleventh and Hamilton Streets, Philadelphia, / Manufacturer of / Flander's Patent Spring Packing for Piston Heads, / also / Flanders' Patent Portable Cylinder Boring Machines."
• Findagrave.com page for Lucian B. Flanders (1821-1877).
• 1880-01-04 Railway World page 1880.

  The L. B. Flanders Works, in this city, report an active demand for their specialties. Among the orders recently filled for valve-seat planers is one for the Lake Erie and Western Railway, one for the Virginia Midland, and other special tools for railways in the west and on the Pacific coast.

• 1880-01-18 Railway World page 1880.

  The L. B. Flanders machine shops, of this city, have recently made sales of their special tools for the Grand Trunk Railway, of Canada, and also for the Quebec, Montreal and Occidental Railway Company. The valve seat planers and crank pin turning machines manufactured at the above shops appear to be in use on all the leading railways in the country, and to some extent in foreign countries also.

• 1880-12-18 Railway World page 1205.

  The L. B. Flanders Machine Shops are fully employed on their leading specialties, which may be found in use in almost all the railway shops in this country and Canada. The Pennsylvania Railway Company have in use in their shops 17 of the Flanders cylinder-boring machines, 16 valve-seat planers, and 7 crank-pin machines.

• American Machinist 03 Dec 1881 page 15.
• 1882-01-07 Mechanics page 17, article on Steam Chest Milling Machine from the L. B. Flanders Machine Works, Philadelphia, Pa.
• 1882-01-11 Mechanics page 119, ad from L. B. Flanders Machine Works, 1025 Hamilton Street, Philadelphia, for their Patent Portable Cylinder Boring Machine.
• 1882-06-10 Mechanics page 435, Trade Publications column.

  The L. B. Flanders Machine Works, Messrs. Pedrick & Ayer, No. 1025 Hamilton street, Philadelphia, Penns., have issued a neat catalogue for 1882, describing the special tools for railway repair shops made by this establishment. The first article illustrated is Flanders's patent crank-pin machine... The second device described is a portable valve-seat rotary planing machine...Flander's radius planer for planing links, blocks and circular work on an ordinary planer. A steam chest seat milling machine, and a small portable engine called the "Gyp," specially made by this company for running its tools.The cylinder is 3 by 4 inches, upright. Independent of the fly-wheel the engine weighs only 115 pounds.

• April 1887 The Railroad and Engineering Journal (Vol. LXI, No. 3), pages 180-182, article on "Special Tools for Railroad Repair Shops". Illustrations show the Patent Portable Locomotive Cylinder Boring Machine, a Portable Cylinder Boring Machine (a different design from the previously mentioned boring machine), the Patent Portable Valve-Seat Rotary Planing Machine, and the Patent Portable Valve Chuck. "The tools illustrated in this article are made at the L. B. Flanders Machine Works of Messrs. Pedrick & Ayer in Philadelphia."
• May 1887 The Railroad and Engineering Journal (Vol. LXI, No. 5), page 230, illustrated article on Pedrick & Ayer's New Cylinder and Facing Machine.
• June 1887 The Railroad and Engineering Journal (Vol. LXI, No. 6), page 280, has an illustration of "Rieppel's portable drilling machine" set up on the end of a boiler. "The above machines are made by Messrs. Pedrick & Ayer, proprietors of the L. B. Flanders Machine Works, of Philadelphia."
• 1894-02-01 The Iron Age. "Announcement is made that Henry C. Ayer, of the late firm of Pedrick & Ayer, of Philadelphia, has associated himself as general manager with the Henry C. Ayer & Gleason Company, a new concern, with offices and works at Second and Diamond streets, Philadelphia, and an uptown office in the Beta Building in that city. The new concern will do a general machine businesses, paying especial attention to repairs to Corliss and other steam engines. They will the near future equip themselves with a line of improved cylinder boring machines, for the purpose of re-boring cylinders in their present positions. They will also make a specialty of the manufacture of machinery, machine tools and special tools for railway repair shops. In connection with the foregoing Henry C. Ayer announces that he has sold out all right, title and interest in the firm of Pedrick & Ayer, and that he has no connection with the newly incorporated Pedrick & Ayer Company." Elsewhere in that issue is the following. "Application was made on the 26th ult., at Harrisburg, Pa., for the incorporation of the Pedrick & Ayer Company of Philadelphia, a company formed for the purpose of taking over the business of the firm of Pedrick & Ayer, lately dissolved. The applicants for a charter are Daniel W. Pedrick, Eugene L. Manning, Charles A. Moore, Julius B. Price, Jr., and Charles G. Mayhew."
• March 1906 American Engineer and Railroad Journal. "RAILWAY APPLIANCES COMPANY.—This company announces that it has purchased and will operate the business of Pedrick & Ayer, at Plainfield, N. J., also that it has taken the sales agency for the Elastic Nut, manufactured by the National Elastic Nut Company of Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. Sheldon E. Bent, who for the past six or seven years has been superintendent of transportation of the Oceanic, of Mexico, and general superintendent of the Vera Cruz and Pacific, will hereafter be connected with the track department."
• April 1906 American Engineer and Railroad Journal. "QUINCY, MANCHESTER, SARGENT COMPANY.-This company has been incorporated and will take over the business heretofore operated by the Railway Appliances Company. This includes the business and plant of the Railway Appliances Company at Chicago Heights, Ill., formerly owned by the Q. and C. Company, also the business and plant of the Pedrick & Ayer Company, of Plainfield, N. J., manufacturers of locomotive repair tools, electric and pneumatic hoists, cranes, and pneumatic riveters. The Quincy, Manchester, Sargent Company will also act as the sole selling agent for the product of the Elastic Nut & Bolt Company of Milwaukee, Wis."
• American Planer, Shaper and Slotter Builders: 1830-1910 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2002 page 131