Belden Machine Co. of New Haven, CT, manufactured blacksmith's machinery. Its president, Russell A. Belden, first entered manufacturing in New Haven, CT, as R. A. Belden & Co. The firm moved to Danbury Danbury, CT in 1872. This was succeeded in 1874 by Hull & Belden Co., which also included Bartram & Fanton Manufacturing Co. and F. A. Hull & Co. Hull & Belden Co. displayed drop hammers and a dead-stroke power hammer at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The firm manufactured a range of machine tools including planers, lathes, milling machines, and screw machines. Hull & Belden Co. broke up, possibly due to Hull's death, and Belden again formed R. A. Belden & Co. Belden's Danbury plant was destroyed by fire in 1888, and he relocated to New Haven. About this time the name changed to Belden Machine Co. and they concentrated on building power hammers.

Information Sources

• Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 13
• Legislative History and Souvenir of Connecticut, by William Harrison Taylor, 1910, Pg. 39.
• The Technologist, Vol. 5, No. 11, Nov. 1874, Pg. 266.
• Hartford Courant, Aug. 6, 1888, Pg. 6.
• Hartford Courant, Aug. 14, 1899, Pg. 2.