Standard Tire Setter Co. began in about 1900 to manufacture a cold tire setting machine developed by Henry T. Henderson. From the beginning, Herbert M. Lourie was involved; he was an experienced and wealthy businessman and seems also to have been mechanically inclined. The Henderson cold tire setter held the wheel horizontally and used hand power via a long lever. The company formally organized in July 1901 with all the stock held by Henderson and the Lourie family. It was amply funded and advertised aggressively. Although their machine could only handle wheels of diameters between 34 to 56 inches, for those wheels it seems to have been a successful and well engineered product.

By January 1903 Herbert M. Lourie had started a new business, the National Machine Co., to manufacture a hydraulically powered version of the Henderson machine. There are no hints as to why a new company was organized to sell relatively minor revision of the machine. Perhaps Henderson vetoed the idea, perhaps Lourie wanted to own all of the rights to this improvement: we can only guess.

Beginning in early 1903, pairs of ads appeared in the trade journals, with one ad showing the Hercules Hydraulic Tire Setter from National Machine Co., and an adjacent ad showing the Henderson Hand Power Tire Setter from Standard Tire Setter Company.

From September 1904 American Blacksmith

For reasons unknown there is little to be found on Standard Tire Setter Co. between 1904 and 1908. By October 1908 they were advertising their "Scientific Hydraulic Tire Setter". Ads from blacksmiths featuring their Scientific Hydraulic Tire Setter started appearing in community newspapers as early as June 1908; these ads must have been written by Standard Tire Setter Co. even though the company name is never mentioned: the graphics and the writing both strongly resemble ads that were explicitly from that company.

From October 1908 American Blacksmith

By 1910 the Standard Tire Setter Co. had quietly disappeared and their Scientific hydraulic tire setter was being manufactured by the National Hydraulic Tire Setter Co., which was a reorganization of the National Machine Co. and which in 1911 would become the Lourie Mfg. Co.

Information Sources

• 1899 issue of Farm Machinery and Equipment, page 8 (could be either from 1899 or 1900). "Standard Tire Setter Co., Keokuk, Ia., exhibit cold tire setters. Mr. Henderson is in charge." In a later issue in the same volume, page 4. "The Standard Tire Setter consists of a circular bed plate, about five feet in diameter, with a raised rim, through which sixteen screws are placed to operate against cast blocks, which follow each other in tiers from the largest to the smallest diameter circles. These follower blocks are made to conform to the outside diameters of wheels from 34 inches to 56 inches in diameter, in large size machine, and from 34 to 48 inches in small size. Tires from smallest size to 2x3-4 can be reset in large machine, and up to 1-16x1-4 in small machine..."
• 1901-07-19 Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, Iowa), page 5.

  Keokuk.—The Henderson patent tire setter has grown to be so popular that a new corporation has been formed here to manufacture it, with $10,000 capital stock, and to be known as the Standard Tire Setter Company. The machines have been shipped to all parts of the globe and the output has been the capacity of the present factory. Now it is to be pushed in earnest, having worked its own way thus far, and without doubt the business will be an immense one soon. The stock in the new corporation is all held by the patented and the family of H. M. Lourie, the very prominent implement and vehicle man of Keokuk. It will not be sold to outsiders, the holders considering that they have too good a thing to divide.

• 1901-10-24 The Iron Age page 54, in a listing of "Price-Lists, Circulars, &c.": "The Standard Tire Setter Company, Keokuk, Iowa: Circulars descriptive of the Henderson Hand Power Tire Setting Machine, which sets the tire cold. It is stated that the machine keeps the proper dish in wheels and that it resets tires without taking out the bolts in wheels. It is referred to as simple, strong, effective and moderate in price."
• January 1902 The Blacksmith and Wheelwright, page 30, "Sparks and Shavings" column.

  Henderson's Hand Power Tire Setter.—This tool is manufactured by the Standard Tire Setter Co., Keokuk, Ia. See announcement, with illustrations, on another page. Further particulars with testimonials will be sent to any reader who will write for them and mention "The Blacksmith and Wheelwright." This tool sets either new or old tires cold. It also sets steel channels for rubber tires.

• June 1902 The Blacksmith and Wheelwright, page 260.

  The Henderson Hand Power Tire Setter.—In this issue will be found a new announcement of the Standard Tire Setter Co., Keokuk, Ia., manufacturers of the Henderson Hand Power Tire Setters. Send for descriptive circular and prices, and mention "The Blacksmith and Wheelwright."

• 1905 Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory (Volume 13, page 842, section for "Keokuk"): "Standard Tire Setter Co The, H M. Lourie pres, Y M C A bldg."
• 1909 Hendricks' Commercial Register of the United States, page 1010, under Setters (Tire): "Standard Tire Setter Co. ('Scientific,' 'Henderson's' Hand Power), Keokuk, Ia." Also listed is "National Machine Co. ('Hercules' Hydraulic), Keokuk, Ia."