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Manufacturers Index - W. R. & A. Inslee
History
Last Modified: Nov 4 2012 2:15PM by Jeff_Joslin
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This machinery maker has a short but confusing history. W. R. & A. Inslee were in business by 1844 when they made a tinsmithing machine. Then in 1847, A. Inslee partnered with fellow Newark machinist Ezra Gould, and the two of them produced a mortising machine. By 1848 Gould and Inslee had parted ways. Gould partnered with his brother in E. & S. D. Gould, and by 1850 Inslee was operating as A. Inslee & Co. In 1851 Inslee had entered a partnership with machinist John G. Dod, operating as Dod & Inslee. By 1853 Inslee was back to A. Inslee & Co. An 1855 mention is simply to A. Inslee.


W. R. & A. Inslee's mortiser. From "Appleton's Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics, Engine-work, and Engineering

Information Sources

  • 1844—Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Sixty-Seventh Session, 1844 lists the premiums awarded at the 1843 Fair of the American Institute, including to W. R. & A. Inslee of Newark, for their tinner's press for ornamental work.
  • 1848—The 1848-10-21 Scientific American writes, of that year's Fair of the American Institute, that "E. & S. D. Gould of Newark N. J. exhibit a really good portable Morticing Machine."The official results of the Fair report that "W. R. & A. Inslee, Newark, N. J." won silver medals for their "cutting engine" and "an excellent tinner's shear", plus a diploma for the "second best hand morticing machine". We could not find any mentions of Gould in those official results.
  • 1850—The report on the 1850 Fair of the American Institute has the following tidbits.
    The lathes on exhibition were of the most excellent workmanship, and elicited unusual praise. They were from the following manufacturers: McCulley's, from the Lowell Machine Shop; D. D. Badger & Co., New-York; A. Inslee & Co., Newark, N. J.; E. & S. D. Gould, Newark, N. J.; T. J. Lindall, New-York; J. Snow & Co., Meriden, Conn. ... UPRIGHT DRILLS. One from the Lowell machine co., and one from A. Inslee & Co., N. J., were of very superior workmanship.
    A. Inslee & Co.'s lathe won a silver medal for "best engine lathe, second size", and the upright drill won a diploma.
  • 1869—Appleton's Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics, Engine-Work, and Engineering, 1869, has illustrations of a machine somewhat similar to a Gould pattern mortising machine.
    MORTISING MACHINE. Figs. 2847 and 2848 represent a machine manufactured by W. R. & A. Inslee, Newark, N. J., and from the simplicity of its plan it is much less liable to get out of order than others of a more complicated character.