[Documentary Photography, Industrial] Photo album of machinery made by the Landis Tool Co, Waynesboro PA [Landis Tool Co.] Archives, Autographs & Manuscripts,Mechanical Engineering,Photographs & Photography,Trade Cards & Ca

Post bound album with 80+ linen-backed original photographs of machinery made by the Landis Tool Company. Oblong. 7 x 10 3/4 inches. Thin leather layer over card covers. Spine and corners frayed. "LANDIS TOOL CO. | WAYNESBORO, PA" lower right top cover. Images measure 7 x 9 5/8 inches, with hinged extension tabs for the binding. Front flyleaf with penciled signature and business card of Ingenior [Engineer] Ernfrid Nilsson of Goteborg firm Aktiebolaget Lars Fosselius. The 80+ photographs are in very good condition with nice tonality overall. While not identified, many of the machines appear to be setups for doing sophisticated grinding operations. Some images show the entire machine, others exploded portions to highlight details. Some photographs show equipment we found in a 1906 digitized catalog at the John Crerar Science Library, hence our rough dating. As often the case, this album was no doubt augmented over time and additional research would assist in both what the equipment is, and when it dates to. NOTE: please excuse the reflections in the photographs for this item. The actual images are far more compelling that they might indicate. Post bound. "In about 1874 brothers Franklin F. Landis and Abraham F. Landis started a small business, F. F. & A. B. Landis., for the manufacture of steam engines. They got into financial difficulty and in 1878 sold out to their large and successful neighbor, agricultural equipment maker Geiser Manufacturing Co. The brothers worked for Geiser, with Abraham as foreman of the engineering department of the machine shops, and subsequently in charge of their new tool department. While working for Geiser, Abraham developed and patented a universal grinder. In January 1890 the two brothers amicably left Geiser and opened their own shop to manufacture the grinder, operating as Landis Brothers. This new business was modestly successful, albeit constrained by lack of capital. Then in 1897 they suffered a fire that destroyed their factory. With investments from other Wayneboro citizens, the Landis Tool Company was formed, with capitalization quickly increasing to $250,000 by 1902. In 1903, with Landis Tool Co. working at full capacity on its line of grinders, Abraham Landis had invented a bolt threading machine. A new company, Landis Machine Co., was established to focus on bolt threaders and nut tapping machinery. Landis Tool Co. continued to thrive and expand their product lines, introducing grinding machines specialized for manufacturing automobile engines and for making ball bearing races. By 1919 they were also making a line of large radial boring machines." (Vintage Machinery dot org) While the company still exists today it's focus has shifted over the years to CNC tools. Few examples of earlier material from the company are found in OCLC/Worldcat, and what brochures are found are in just a few copies. While we aren't machinists and can't identify the machines shown, there is quite a variety all large, machinist shop oriented tools. A great album for anyone studying the company or state of the art in machinists' equipment. OCLC/Worldcat shows but a few catalogs from the company, all around 1900. While almost out of Romaine's time period, it shows a single entry for the "Landis Brothers" circa 1893 making machine tools, grinding macinery, etc. REFERENCES: Romaine, "A guide to American Trade Catalogs 1744-1900"