in 1872 the Bowmanville Machine & Implement Manufacturing Co. was established. That same year they exhibited woodworking machines (lathes, planers, mortisers, tenoners, bandsaws, shaper, moulders) and metalworking machines (lathes, planer). The number of machines exhibited, particularly given the complexity of typical planers and tenoners, rather suggests that there must have been another maker that preceded the Bowmanville M&I Mfg. Co. The following year they added several machines to their display at the Provincial Exhibition at Ottawa, and won a number of prizes. In early 1876 the business was reincorporated as Bowmanville Machine Co. They exhibited at the U.S. Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. But it appears the company got into financial difficulty and went under in 1877.

• 1865-66 Northumberland and Durham Gazette and Directory lists businesses in Bowmanville. The only one that could plausibly be an ancestor of the Bowmanville Machine Co. is the Bowmanville Agricultural Works: "Situated on Clinton Street; manufactures Reapers, Mill Gearing, Threshing Machines, and all Kinds of Agricultural Implements."
• The October 1874 Canadian Monthly and National Review has an "Exhibition Supplement" for what seems to be the 1874 Provincial Exhibition at Ottawa.

  The Bowmanville Machine Company—The exhibit made by this Company of lathes, planing and morticing machinery was very fine. The first to which our attention was drawn was a wood and iron-framed tenon machine, the specialty being the width of tenon, 14 inches. A power morticing machine, particularly adapted to sash, door and blind work, was next inspected. Rapidity of motion was easily and promptly obtained, the machine executing its work thoroughly. It is provided with an adjusting wheel and rods. We were next shown an iron topped shaper, for shaping and rounding mouldings. A decided improvement is effected in this shaper over others formerly used; the belt is protected with iron flanges placed underneath the steel to, out of sight of the workman, and so arranged that they cannot possibly get loose by ordinary means. A band saw, shown by the same firm, with a cutting capacity of fourteen inches, came next in order. It has a continual cut and no back stroke. An adjustable table forms a part of the invention, and the whole carries a belt from one-half to two and a quarter inches. A one, two, three and four sided moulder was also on view, with a capacity of eight inches face. These machines are made for either one or four sides, and the same machines are also made in wooden frames. A splendid sample of mechanical skill was shown in the shape of an iron Lathe and Planer for iron work. Although this Company is of comparatively recent date, yet it finds employment for a large number of hands, and may safely be regarded as one of the great mercantile fixtures of the country.

• We have seen references to a lawsuit, Smart v. Bowmanville Machine and Implement Co. (1875), e.g., in the 1918-007-30 case of Gardner v. Merker
• October 1875 Canadian Patent Office Record and Mechanics' Magazine reports on exhibitors at the 1875 Provincial Exhibition at Ottawa at what is now Lansdowne Park. Bowmanville Machine Co. won several prizes:
  • 1st and $12 for their planing machine for metals.
  • 2nd and $7 for their assortment of tools for working in metals.
  • 1st and $8 for their turning lathe.
  • 1st and $8 for their surface planer for wood work.
  • 1st and $6 for their band saw.
  • 2nd and $3 for their resawing machine.
  • 2nd and unspecified cash for their collection of wood working machinery.
• The 1876 United States Centennial Commission, Official Catalogue of the International Exhibition lists "Machine Co., Bowmanville, Ont.—Turning lathe for wood, moulding machine, planing and matching machine", and "machine Co., Bowmanville, Ont.—Metal turning lathe, planing machine".
• 1876-77 Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia includes the case of Bowmanville Machine Co. v. Dempster. Dempster purchased a Bowmanville planer through an agent, one Alexander B. Almour. Dempster wrote off a debt that Almour owed him in lieu of payment for the machine, but Almour never paid Bowmanville Machine Co. The company then sued Dempster, probably because Almour had few or no assets. The Supreme Court decided that Dempster believed the planer to have belonged to Almour and the papers he signed implied indebtedness to Almour and not Bowmanville Machine Co.; Almour was judged to be an unreliable witness and the court ruled in Dempster's favor. The verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada and was upheld.
• 1877 Pettengill's Newspaper Directory and Advertisers' Handbook lists Canadian Statesman as the newspaper of Bowmanville. About the area it says,

  West Durham is unsurpassed as an agricultural district, and Bowmanville is noted for its manufacture of furniture, organs, iron and wood-working machinery of all kinds, and its numerous flouring mills.

• 1892 Report of Dividends Remaining Unpaid and [unclaimed] Balances in Chartered Banks of the Dominion of Canada lists Bowmanville Machine and Implement Co. as having an outstanding bank balance of $1.20. The date of the last transaction (with the Bank of Montreal) was 1877-11-20.
• 1892 Sessional Papers - Legislature of the Province of Ontario has a "List of Joint Stock Companies incorporated under the Ontario Acts between 1st July, 1867, and the 31st of December, 1891", including "The Bowmanville Machine and Implement Manufacturing Company (Limited)", with date of charter 1872-04-04. This business was reincorporated as "The Bowmanville Machine Company" on 1876-02-25.