In 1864 John H. Fanton established a foundry in Danbury. In 1872 Henry Fanton became a partner and the business name became Fanton Brothers. In 1883, ill health led Henry to retire; he sold his partnership interest to his brother. A new partner, Charles S. Peck, then joined the firm and the firm changed its name to Danbury Machine Co., which, despite the name, was a partnership rather than an incorporated company. In 1896 the assets of the business were acquired by hat machinery maker Turner Machine Co.

In January 1878 the Fanton Brothers announced that they were manufacturing an oval lathe. A couple of months previous to this two Danbury men, Morgan Chittenden and William A. Lyon, had applied for a patent for an oval lathe. The patent was granted in July of 1878, and we assume that the Chittenden and Lyon design is the lathe made by Fanton Bros. In any event, other than the initial announcement we cannot find a single mention of a Fanton Bros. oval lathe and we presume that it was not a success. Instead, the business focused on hat-making machinery.

Patent drawing of the Chittenden and Lyon lathe

Information Sources

• An 1875 map of Danbury includes "Fanton Bros. Foundry & Machine Shop, Machinery for Hatters use & Iron Fencing".
• 1875 The New England Business Directory and Gazetteer lists Fanton Bros., Danbury, under "Machinists and Machinery Manufacturers".
• January 1878 American Machinist.

  CONNECTICUT—Fanton Bros., Danbury, are manufacturing a new oval lathe.

• February 1878 American Machinist.

  Fanton Bros., Danbury, report business good, having plenty of orders to keep them busy, and are employing twenty men. They have just built them a fifty horsepower engine, with a boiler of sixty-six horse power. They are busy perfecting a new hat-forming machine, which will be of great advantage to this trade.

• Farley's Directory of the Metal Workers of the United States, 1883, lists Fanton Bros., Danbury, Ct., as an iron foundry.
• History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896, by James M. Bailey, 1896.

  DANBURY MACHINE COMPANY.
  The foundry business was begun by John H. Fanton in the spring of 1864. In 1869 he built the present factory on Canal Street. In 1872 Henry Fanton entered the firm, which then became known as Fanton Brothers. Henry Fanton retired from the firm to be succeeded by Charles S. Peck, and the firm became known as the Danbury Machine Company. It is an ordinary business partnership, not an incorporated company, and employs from thirty to thirty-five workmen.

• 1896-04-02 American Machinist.

  The Turner Machine Co., makers of hatting machinery, have purchased the entire plat of the Danbury Machine Co., Danbury, Conn. At this same place a new concern, known as the New Machine Co., has been organized, which will engage in general machine work.

• Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut, 1899.

  HON. HENRY NICHOLS FANTON, who passed away September 4, 1898, was for many years one of Danbury's most honored citizens, prominent alike in business, social, political and military affairs...

  Commander Fanton, our subject, was born September 6, 1836, at New Fairfield, Conn...when the Civil war broke out, in which, in 1862, he enlisted... He was mustered out of the service on August 30, 1863, and on his return home resumed business life, settling at Danbury, where he opened a grocery. After conducting the same for ten years he sold it and formed a partnership with his brother, John H. Fanton, engaging in the manufacture of machines and machinery, but ill health compelled him to dispose of his interest in 1883, his brother purchasing it...

  In a biography of one Samuel E. Dunham, it is mentioned that he learned the machinist's trade while "spending about five years in the establishment of Fanton Brothers".