This business was founded in 1890 in Chicago, when Franklin and Henry Hardinge invented several watchmaking tools and a small foot powered lathe. In 1902, they bought the Cataract lathe line from Cataract Tool & Optical Co. In 1931 a company called Morrison Machine Products purchased Hardinge Brothers and moved them to Morrison's operations in Elmira, NY.
Hardinge's was known for their small, precise but relatively inexpensive lathes. Beginning in the early 1940s Hardinge was also making, or at least selling, horizontal milling machines. Beginning in the 1950s Hardinge also sold vertical milling machines that were made by the Fenlind Engineering Co.; see that entry for more information on those "Rockford" style mills.
Advertisement from the 1919-11-06 issue of "Canadian Machinery"
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