James L. Haven & Co. claimed to have been founded in 1846. We have found advertisements dating back to 1858. They remained in business until the mid-twentieth century. For their entire existence they were primarily a foundry, but until their later years they also manufactured completed products. In their early years they cast bells and school-desk sides. By 1863 they were making power hammers, saw gumming machines, mortising machines, drill presses and horizontal boring machines among numerous other products that are outside the scope of this website—tobacco shredders, sorghum sugar separators, and steam pipes, to name a small sample.

In 1899 the business reorganized as the Haven Malleable Castings Co. (an unfortunate choice of names as there was already a "New Haven Malleable Castings Co." in Connecticut). Over the next decade or two they seem to have sold off or closed down all their operations other than foundry work. They survived until at least 1949 but in their later decades they generally kept a low profile.

From an 1867 design patent granted to James L. Haven: "Design for a blacksmith's drill"

Information Sources

• We have had many reports of products from this maker that are outside the scope of this website: tobacco shredders, bells, coffee mills, feed mills, and furniture. This website's focus is woodworking and metalworking machinery plus engines and motors. We do not attempt to track information on other products and cannot provide more information on them. If you are looking for information on Havens' other products, you might want to look at the Patents tab, above.
• This company frequently advertised in Scientific American, with ads beginning in 1858 and appearing until at least 1869, which is the last year covered by the Making of America archive.
• Ad in 1858 Scientific American for used foundry equipment. Ad in 1862 Scientific American for for Sedgebeer's burr mills and patent iron mills. Ad in 1863 for Howell's patent trip-hammers. 1865 ads for malleable and grey iron castings. 1866-1867 ads for "Judson's governors, malleable castings, saw gummers, carriage and machine bolts, bark mills, hoisting machinery, sorghum sugar separators, steam pipes for warming with escape steam, steam pipes for boiling paper stock, iron castings." 1869 ad featuring Sturtevants's fan blowers, and Judson's governors.
• Listing in 1874 Wiley's American iron trade manual of the leading iron industries of the United States: "56 Plum Street. Iron foundry, hardware, and agricultural implements."
• 1898-06-11 The Age of Steel lists attendees at a conference, including "W. A. Haven, James L. Haven Malleable Iron Co., Cincinnati, O."
• 1899-09-23 Iron and Steel

  The Haven Malleable Castings Company, capitalized at $50,000, is a new corporation at Cincinnati. The incorporators are James L. Haven, George A. Schneiger, William Haven, Henry J. Schumacker and Frank H. Schaffer.

  The December 2 issued noted that they had increased their capital stock to $75,000. The December 30 issue reported that "Work has commenced to the Haven Malleable Casting Company's plant in Cumminsville, O. Five immense shops and foundries will be erected at Dane street and Spring Grove ave."
• 1900-01-06 The Age of Steel, in an article (page 89) on "Cincinnati's machine tool and manufacturing industries in the year 1899".

  The Haven Malleable Casting Company, a new corporation succeeding the old firm of James L. Haven & Company, are in the act of erecting a fine plant on a four-acre tract recently purchased by them on the corner of the C. H. & D. Railway and Dane street. It is the expectation that these buildings will be ready for occupancy the first of next April. The foundry building will be 100x230 feet and 18 feet to the eaves; the annealing and cleaner building is to be 60x200 feet, of the same height; the machine shop will be two stories, 60x135 feet, and the furnace building which adjoins the foundry is to be 40x100 feet. W. A. Haven, the president and generatl manager, is responsible for the statement that the company will start with a very full order book and will give employment to 250 men.

• 1908 Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Department of Inspection of Workshops, Factories and Public Buildings to the Governor of the State of Ohio lists James L. Haven & Co., manufacturer of Castings, employing 135 males and 15 females, including 14 boys.
• February 1949 Foundry, Volume 77 p. 248.

  Old Foundry Acquires the New Look
  by Robert O. Mayer
  Assistant Manager
  Haven Malleable Castings Co.
  Cincinnati

  It is not often a company hears about one of its products that has been in service over 100 years, However, that happened recently to the Haven Malleable Castings Co., Cincinnati, as the company is now known. Originally founded in 1846 as the James L. Haven Co., the company produced school desk sides of gray iron and bells for various uses made of "steel composition iron." One of these bells recently was found and put into use again and the present owner wrote to the Haven Malleable Castings Co. giving a brief history of the bell. A few organizations in the country brag nationally about their father-and-son combinations. The Haven Malleable Castings Co. not only can do that but in several instances the third generation is following the family tradition. The fathers and grandfathers can remember the days when chains, cider mills, and saddlery hardware were a large portion of the annual business. Elevators enjoyed quite a period of prosperity. These were not only manufactured in their entirety but also installed for the customers. Although the elevator business was discontinued in 1904, the company still receives occasional inquiries for repair parts. As these various departments were discontinued, they were sold to other companies rather than abandoned.

  In 1900 the company moved to its present location. At least a dozen times the foundry has been flooded, but each time the company has resumed operations with a resignation...

• James L. Haven was granted several patents, and his company was assigned several patents. See the Patents section for a list (believed to be complete) of these patents, which give some hints as to what products were manufactured.
• Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 109
• According to Jack Devitt's Ohio Toolmakers and Their Tools, James L. Haven & Co. and successor firms produced a variety of ironware from the late 1850s well into the 20th Century.
• Used horizontal borer seen in ca. 1920 catalog.