From 1855 until 1864, Harrison Flint was a machinist in Danbury, Connecticut—the first machinist in that city. By 1859 he was manufacturing woodworking machinery, including Daniels and Woodworth planers. He also made woollen machinery. In 1864 he moved back to his home town of Lowell, Massachusetts and co-founded a company to make bunting (a type of light wool fabric with a polished surface). In 1867 he moved back to Danbury and worked in the fur business.

Information Sources

• From Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633-1897, by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks:

  Mr. Flint is a son of Dr. Simeon Flint of Dracut, Mass., born in 1826. He learned the machinist's trade in Lowell and worked there till 1855, when he went to Danbury, Conn., and started the first machine shop there, which he conducted successfully till 1864, when he returned to Lowell, and was associated with the late Gen. B. F. Butler, and others, in establishing the United States Bunting Co., the first to manufacture bunting in this country. In 1867 he sold his interest in this factory, and returned to Danbury to engage in the fur business, which proved very successful under his management. In 1877 he retired from active business.

• Text ads in 1858 to 1861 issues of Scientific American. To see these ads, click on the "Images" tab, above.