This firm was created in 1917 by William A. Greaves and his three sons following the elder Greaves' departure from Greaves, Klusman & Co. At some point after the 1923 death of William A. Greaves, the business was acquired by J. A. Fay & Egan Co. and operated as a division of that firm, although retaining its original name.

The creation of the company seems to have been a bit messy. For unknown reasons, there were two companies incorporated. Acme-Greaves Machine Tool Co. was incorporated on April 4, 1917, with a capital of $1 million. Greaves Machine Tool Co. was incorporated on December 26, 1917, with a capital of $100,000. The Acme-Greaves company was dissolved on May 29th of the following year.

Information Sources

• 1917: The periodical Standard Corporation Service, Daily Revised, by Standard Statistics Company, lists

  ACME-GREAVES MACHINE TOOL CO., CINCINNATI. Incorporated on April 4, 1917, in Ohio, with a capital of $1,000,000. Incorporators: A. H. Atkins, B. B. Quillen, George Langon, A. J. Jones and Wm. A. Greaves.

• 1917: Annual Report of the Secretary of State to the Governor and General Assembly, by the Ohio Secretary of State, for 1917, lists "Greaves Machine Tool Company / Cincinnati" for the purpose of manufacturing "Machinery, etc.", was incorporated on December 26, 1917 with a capital of $100,000.
• 1918: Annual Report of the Secretary of State to the Governor and General Assembly, by the Ohio Secretary of State, for 1918, has the following line in its listing of "domestic corporations—dissolutions": "Acme-Greaves Machine Tool Company / Cincinnati / May 29, 1918", the date being the date of filing the certificate of dissolution.
• 1922: The June 1922 issue of Machinery carried an obituary for William A. Greaves.

  William A. Greaves, president of the Greaves Machine Tool Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, died April 18, aged sixty years. Mr. Greaves was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1889 he organized the Arm of Greaves-Klusman & Co., in association with H. H. Kinsman, to manufacture lathes. Later he retired from this firm, and with his three sons organized the Greaves Machine Tool Co. in Cincinnati. He is survived by his widow and three sons.

• 1955: Listed in the 1955-56 issue of Hitchcock's Wood-Workers' Digest Directory. "A division of J. A. Fay & Egan Co."
• Correspondent Tom March reports that he used to work at "Greaves Fay & Egan", which was the division's informal name. Tom writes (ca. 2002),

  They were in one building which was originally two almost identical attached buildings with the adjoining wall removed. The machine shop was mostly a jobbing machine shop, although they still manufactured a line of small horizontal milling machines, but only bought up old used Fay & Egan machines and rebuilt them. I used to re-bore and turn to true-up the wheels for the large 48" band saws. In the two years I was there, I only saw band saws except for one dowel making machine and a shoe last machine. Greaves only made horizontal milling machines, but had produced a 24" engine lathe at one time. For some reason, the engine lathe never made it and they only made two of them, one of which they had there on the floor. It didn't run and was only used for straightening shafts.

  The building was attached to another building yet which was the I. T. Verdin Co., the oldest bell manufacturer in the country. Several times at Greaves Fay & Egan, I turned large bronze bell castings for them. In later years, after Greave Fay & Egan closed, Verdin bought the building and equipment.

  James Wulfeck, Sr. was one of the partners when I was there. He later founded Jet Machine, a jobbing machine shop and bought up the patents for the Fay & Egan machinery and made parts for them. His son now does this under the James Wulfeck, Inc. name.