In 1849 Rufus Lombard Howard established the Howard Iron Works in Buffalo. They made an exceptionally wide range of products that included items of interest to this website: hand and hydraulic presses, bolt cutters, bench vises, bark mills, and centering lathes, and very likely other items of interest to us. Howard's line of vises was as a result of their purchase of Buffalo Vise Works in about 1870.

The Works were located on Chicago street, close to the Main and Hamburg canals and Granger street. At the peak of the business over 300 people worked there.

Rufus Howard must have been an energetic man: besides running the highly successful Works, he personally designed many of their products. He was a Major and then a General in the National Guard. He was a serious farmer and breeder of horses and cattle. After Howard's death in 1896 it appears that the Works suffered from the loss of his energy and leadership. In 1904 the Howard Iron Works were bought by J. D. Cousins and Sons. In 1905 the Works were acquired by the Otis Elevator Co., with R. W. Gardner of Otis overseeing the Works. In early 1911 Gardner was promoted within the Otis organization and was relocated to Chicago, and the running of the Howard Iron Works was briefly taken over by a consortium of Buffalo businessmen. Meanwhile, another Buffalo manufacturer, the gas engine maker A. H. Alberger Co., was reorganized as the Alberger Gas Engine Co. which promptly acquired the Howard Iron Works.

Information Sources

• National Cooper’s Journal 1905

  Manufacturers of Hotel, Factory and Store Hydraulic, Power and Hand Elevators, also Grain Elevators, Printers' and Book-Binders' Machinery, Steam Engines, Shafting, Hangers, Pulleys, Bark Mills, Tannery Fixtures, Schlenker's Bolt Cutters, Howard Parallel Bench Vises, Taps and Dies, Set Screws, Every Description of Railroad Work, and Iron Castings in General— Agency for the "Otto" Gas Engine— No. 287 Chicago St.

  The above is one of those great representative establishments that have contributed to the up building of Buffalo, not only in the volume, variety and value of their products, but in spreading abroad an accurate knowledge of her manufacturing and commercial resources. Established in 1849 by Mr. Rufus L. Howard, who still remains at its head, this superb enterprise at once took rank with the leading concerns of this continent, and has always sustained a pre-eminent reputation for the material, ingenuity, skill, finish and general excellence of its machinery, tools, castings, and, in short, every item of work done on its premises. Ten years ago at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition these works were awarded the first grand prize medal and diploma for superior machinery over all competitors — an award the value of which will be appreciated when it is stated that the most famous iron and steel manufacturers, engine and machinery builders and inventors of this country, England, France, Germany and Italy entered their best productions and were eager, determined rivals for the honors accorded this unpretentious, yet grandly substantial and deserving Buffalo house. Since then, as before, the course of the Howard Iron Works has been steadily and undeviatingly onward and upward, original and independent, always leading, never following, sustaining and strengthening its claim to superiority by the introduction of novelties in machinery and the improvement of old devices whereby they are rendered capable of faster and better work than ever. It has ever been the policy of the Howard Iron Works to encourage and employ inventive talent, the result of which is seen in the unusual number and recognized capacity of the ingenious mechanics found in its various departments, and the constant stream of new and improved devices designed and manufactured here.

  The premises, fronting on Chicago street, the Main and the Hamburg canals and Granger street, embrace something over two acres of the most valuable ground in the manufacturing district, two-thirds of which is covered by commodious and substantial buildings, containing the immense foundry, machine and wood-working shops. Two fine blast furnaces of twenty tons daily capacity add to the completeness of the works and enable the proprietors to make their own finished iron direct from the pig — an advantage that will readily be appreciated by all who possess any knowledge of the business. The equipment in every department is as complete as long experience and practically unlimited means can make it, and is unsurpassed anywhere. A working force of nearly 300 skilled mechanics and laborers is constantly employed under the personal supervision of Mr. E. Schlenker, himself an accomplished machinist and inventor. The capital invested is between $200,000 and $300,000, and the annual output varies from $300,000 to $400,000.

  It would be impossible in the limits of an article of this kind to more than glance at and mention by name the various products of this truly colossal concern. Among the more important are the Howard steam, hydraulic and hand elevator for hotels, stores and factories, grain and coal elevator machinery, printers' and binders' machinery, including hand and hydraulic presses, paper-cutters, stabbers, backers, etc.; Schlenker's patent revolving bolt cutters of all sizes, Howard patent parallel bench vises, bark mills, centering lathes, railway frogs, switches, etc., iron and steel set screws, machine screw taps, bolts, and every description of small machinery and appliances for every conceivable purpose. They also have the general agency for the silent "Otto" gas engine.

  Mr. Schlenker, who is the patentee of much of the machinery they manufacture, exercises constant and close superintendence of every department, and nothing leaves the works until it has passed a rigid inspection.

  The Howard Iron Works enjoys the abundant confidence of the machinery-buying public everywhere, and its productions are in general use throughout this continent. Those interested are advised to send to headquarters for catalogue and price-list — a handsome book of over 100 pages — from which may be obtained much valuable information on the subject of manufacturing and machinery in general.

• National Cooper’s Journal Feb 1911 page 16.

  Edward B. Holmes elected vice-president of Howard Iron Works and the Alberger Gas Engine Co.

  The Howard Iron Works, which was established in 1847 in Buffalo, N. Y., and which is considered one of Buffalo’s oldest and well known manufacturing establishments, has been reorganized. Since 1905, the concern has been controlled by the Otis Elevator Co. under the able and successful management of R. W. Gardner, but him having been elected vice-president of the Otis company last fall and having moved his residence from Buffalo to Chicago, it resulted in some well known business and professional men of Buffalo taking over the works. The directors of the Howard Iron Works, elected January 24th, are: Alvan H. Alberger, president; Edward B. Holmes, of the E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co., cooperage machinery manufacturers, vice-president; George H. Gardner, secretary and treasurer; J. H. McNulty and Harvey L. Brown.

  The new management intends to continue the business of the Howard Iron Works as founders and machinists, manufacturers of transmission machinery. Burdict nut and bolt machines and general machinery repairs, as heretofore, but with increased facilities.

  The Alberger Gas Engine Co., recently incorporated with a capital stock of $221,000, has acquired substantially all the capital stock of the Howard Iron Works and has also acquired the gas engine business, which has been successfully conducted in Buffalo by the A. H. Alberger Co. The Alberger gas engines are manufactured in sizes from 15 to 500 horsepower and are well known throughout the country and abroad. They will, as heretofore, be manufactured at the plant of the Howard Iron Works, and it is planned by the new corporation to increase largely the manufacture and sale of the engines. The directors of the Alberger Gas Engine Co. are Alvan A. Alberger, president; Edward B. Holmes, vice-president; Harvey L. Brown, secretary and treasurer; Thomas Heath and J. H. McNulty.

  Besides these officers, the following men are interested: William II. Andrews, Walter P. Cooke, Buffalo, N. Y., and J. P. Gowing. Chicago, Ill.

• Industries of Buffalo, 1887, pg. 207
• Biography of Rufus Lombard Howard from BuffaloStreets.com.