In the early part of the 20th century this firm manufactured dental lathes and electric motors among their products.

National Refining Co. of Ohio was incorporated in 1882 and re-organized in 1901 in Delaware and then re-organized again in Ohio (as National Refining Co., Inc.) in Ohio in 1906. Their Canadian subsidiary National Refining Co., Ltd., was incorporated in 1907 with a capital of $20,000. It does seem odd that a company whose primary mission was oil refining was also making dental lathes and electric motors; we do not have any reports of surviving lathes and as of this writing we have only seen a single fractional horsepower AC motor.

Information Sources

• Seen on kijiji: a 70 watt two-speed 110 volt AC motor from this maker. Given the size and design of the motor, it seems likely that it was primarily intended as a power source for their dental lathes.
• 1908-03-15 issue of Dental Practice.

  THE HARVARD COMPANY, OF CANTON, OHIO.—This company turn out perhaps a larger line of Dental Furniture and Fittings than any other concern in the United States. Their factories are at Canton, Ohio, and are well worthy of a visit. They manufacture dental chairs, cabinets, electric engines, fountain cuspidors, tables, brackets, electric switchboards, compressed air pumps, air tanks, electric hot air syringes, electric mouth lamps, electric sterilizers, electric gold annealers, electric water heaters, electric pyrdmeter furnaces, laboratory work benches, lathe heads, wheels, etc., etc. For full particulars call upon the National Refining Company, 123 Bay Street, Toronto.

• The 1908 Sessional Papers of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario lists companies incorporated in 1907, including National Refining Co., Ltd., of Toronto, with a capital of $20,000.
• The 1913 edition of Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities provided the corporate history.
• The 1947 Canada Commissioner of the Combines Investigation Act, Dental Supplies: investigation into an alleged combine in the manufacture and sale of dental supplies in Canada has the following snippet.

  National Refining Company Limited (National Refining) , which operates a dental depot in Toronto. Its chief business is as a dealer, but it lists products of its own manufacture including chairs, cuspidors, electric engines, head rests, lathes, ...