Founded as a private company in 1880 by George Richards, the firm was also know as the Atlantic Works. In 1896 the company was taken over by Tilghmans Patent Sand Blast Co. By 1912, the company confined its activities solely to the manufacture of high class machine tools including the "Pearn-Richards" patent universal horizontal surfacing, boring, milling, drilling and tapping machines.

Information Sources

• A 1912 report from the US Consulate in Melbourne reports on the shops of engineering firm Geo. W. Kelly & Lewis of that city. The shop's machinery is itemized. "What is probably the most notable machine in the shop, certainly the one about which the managers had the most to say, is a horizontal boring and facing machine (Pearn's patent) from George Richards, of Manchester. As this machine has been illustrated and described, in the American Machinist of December 28, 1907, a detailed description is not necessary here; but it may be said that, in this shop, the tiling and revolving table feature has been found especially useful in machining the locomotive cylinders previously mentioned. By means of the revolving table the steam and valve cylinders are bored and faced on both ends with one setting of the work; and, as it happens that the exhaust and steam branches of the cylinder are not at right angles to the center line of the cylinder, the tilting table allows for the adjustment necessary for machine this end, without resetting the work. The same machine has been found very useful for many other classes of work, one of which is the cutting of large spur gears by means of a dividing head and homemade milling attachment."
• More history and machine information can be found at Grace’s Guide.