In 1848 this firm sold a stave dressing machine that was patented in 1849 by George Gilbert. The partners are believed to have been William Fitch and Eleazor Thompson Fitch. The business survived until at least 1897, by which time they specialized in the manufacture of "carriage springs, malleable iron castings and saddle hardware".

Information Sources

• From an ad that ran in Scientific American, Volume 3 issues 37 through 49 (1848-06-03 through 1848-08-26):

  Stave Dressing Machine.
  THE undersigned are manufacturing and have now in operation, a machine for Dressing Rived Staves, which will dress 126 hogshead or 170 barrel staves per hour, with ONE HORSE POWER, and with TWO HORSES WILL DOUBLE THE NUMBER.
  
  It will dress CROOKED and WINDING staves to perfection, and leave the full thickness on those with thin edge, a desideratum worthy of attention.
  
  The machine is simple, compact and durable, and has received the approval of every practical Cooper that has witnessed its operations. We warrant it to perform FULLY EQUAL to our representation and shall be pleased to exhibit it to all who may favor us with a call. For further description and terms, apply to
  WM & E. T. FITCH, 2d., New Haven, Conn., or
  GEO. GILBERT, Westville, N. H. Co., Conn.

• Listed in Ken Cope's American Cooperage Machinery and Tools as "Fitch & Gilbert". The information is clearly taken from the above ad.
• The book, Carriages and Clocks, Corsets and Locks: The Rise and Fall of an Industrial City—New Haven, Connecticut, edited by Preston Maynard and Marjorie B. Noyes, includes information on "W. & E.T. Fitch Company". We have not yet seen this book ourselves.
• An 1897 New Haven company directory lists "W. & E. T. Fitch Co.", "manufacturers of carriage springs, malleable iron castings and saddle hardware", CEO John B. Fitch and located at 151 East St.
• The Connecticut State Library's online catalog lists Vol. 19 No. 5 of their Biographical Sketches includes the following: "To the business friends of William Fitch of the W. & E. T. Fitch Co., New Haven, Memoriam, 1877".
• The website for the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, lists the following in their Christian Cyclopedia: "Fitch, Eleazer Thompson (1791–1871). Educ. Yale Coll., New Haven Connecticut, and Andover (Massachusetts) Theol. Sem.; prof. Yale 1817; helped shape New Haven theol. Works include Two Discourses on the Nature of Sin." There is no guarantee that this E. T. Fitch of New Haven is the same E. T. Fitch of this firm. For example, the latter may have been a son of this theology professor.