OT - Info wanted for leather machinery companys

This isn't directly related to Machining but Hopefully you guys might be able to help.

The company I work for has been around for awhile and passed hands in ownership a number of times. We're in the process of building it back up and part of that includes restoring records on the companys history (machinery geneology). We're starting to get a good start on a collection of the equipment our company produced over the years but we could use some help finding historical documentation and photographs. The following are individual companies that have contributed to the current Campbell Randall Machinery Co. Each of them were HQed at times between New York, Boston, and Cincinnati. They're all related to the leather and heavy-duty textile machinery industry. We've got a fair handle on things from the 40's and 50's on but before that it gets spotty.

-Randall Machinery co. (also the J.D. Randall co.) - est 1858.
-Cambell Bosworth Machinery Co. - est. 1882 (might be seperate Campbell Co. and Bosworth Co. at earliest point?)
-American Stay Co.
-Ackerman Gould Leather Machinery Co.
-Ordinance Gauge Co. (probably linked more substancially to other machinery industries)
-Terex Co. (same as Ordinace Gauge)
-United Shoe Machinery Co.

Has anyone seen info on these companys? Google gets some but nothing substancial. I'm looking for pictures (machine and factory floor), brochers, catalogs, machine tags, ect.

Kindofa side note: If anyone ever runs across a Bosworth Sewing Machine (different than the Campbell), we would be VERY interested.

maybe this is one of your machines

New member needs identification - Leatherworker.net
Hello everyone,

My handle is Rolling Stone, I live just out of Knoxville, Tn. My buddy and I have been making knife handles and putting them on blades from the Knife Factory in Pigeon Forge, Tn. We do mostly small damascus for SASS shooters accessories.I have been sewing the sheaths on an old Singer 29-4. I had the chance to buy a needle and awl machine and did buy it. Now I would like to know more about it. It looks something like the big "C" casting on a Landis #3. There is my problem, the Landis flywheels are at a right angle to the machine and mine are like most treadle machines. Look at the pictures and see if anyone can tell me something about this heavyweight. Thanks for looking. Any info you can furnish will surely be appreciated. No tags or name anywhere on the machine. I had one guess, Puritan, but they will not claim it.
picturs here


R S

14 January 2010


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Wow that's an oldie! Actually can't say I've ever seen one of those. I doubt It's anything we made. The Landis #1 was longer and a bit different. Judgeing by the bottom assembly and pressure foot, it's not a conventional harness machine. Like a Puritan, it's probably a chainstitch machine made for doing boxes and stuff. If you call up Campbell Randall and ask to speek to Conrad, He might be able to help you with indentifying it (361-293-7015). I can tell you parts won't be available unless you can machine them yourself. Whatever it is, you've got a nice piece of history there!

Thanks for the info M.B.,
I've found awls and needles for it and reworked the needle rod and have gotten it to sewing. It sews a beautiful chain stitch. Getting the hang of capturing the ends so they don't unravel will come next I guess. I'll try Conrad.
Ulysses

USM (United Shoe Machinery) - wasn't that part of the Connecticut-based CONDEC conglomerate in the early to mid 1980's? CONDEC was built around Consolidated Diesel Electric, which was later known as ConDiesel.

CONDEC (the conglomerate) was purchased by Farley Industries of Chicago in a leveraged hostile takeover.

Farley broke up the conglomerate, selling off USM.

I hope I remember this correctly.......

SouthBendModel34 said:

USM (United Shoe Machinery) - wasn't that part of the Connecticut-based CONDEC conglomerate in the early to mid 1980's? CONDEC was built around Consolidated Diesel Electric, which was later known as ConDiesel.

CONDEC (the conglomerate) was purchased by Farley Industries of Chicago in a leveraged hostile takeover.

Farley broke up the conglomerate, selling off USM.

I hope I remember this correctly.......

Click to expand...

Probably. Campbell Bosworth Machinery used to be part of USMC in the 30's-50's era but I guess there was some legal trouble and they got broken up. Our company ended up with alota blueprints and inventory and continued working with a few of their machines. Every now and then we come across a "new" USM machine but they arn't near as big as they were back in the day.

United Shoe Machinery Co of Canada

I realize this is an old thread but I just found this article about the United Shoe Machinery Co of Canada From July 1916 and a following article on the neighboring United LastPlant
Canadian machinery and metalworking
I thought those who posted here might like to see it .
It would seem that they may have missed a page and put another in twice but there is still a fair bit of information.
Regards,
Jim

Thought the entry for George Grinnell here was interesting:

Who's who in New York (city and state). - Google Books

Pres. business corp'ns, author, ethnologist; b. Brooklyn, Sept. 20, 1849; s. George Blake and Helen (Lansing) Grinnell; ed. Churchill's Mil. Sch.. Ossinlng, N. Y., Yale. A.B., 1870, Ph.D., 1880; m. N. Y. City, Aug. 21, 1902. Elizabeth K., d. Col. F. D. Curtis. Ass't in osteology, Peabody Museum, New Haven, Conn., 1874-1880; 1880-1911 pres. and editorial nig'r Forest and Stream Publishing Co. Pres. Bosworth Machine Co., Lansing Co., Putnam Sewing Co., dir. Milford Land Co., Campbell-Bosworth Machine Co. Collaborated with ex-Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in writing American Big Game Hunting; Hunting in Many Lands; Trail and Camp Fire; edited American Big Game in Its Haunts ', Hunting at High Altitudes. As ethnologist regarded as authority on history and habits of tho Indians of the Plains and West generally. Author: Indians of Today; Blaekfoot Lodge Tales; The Story of the Indian; Pawneo Hero Stories and Folk Tales; Jack, tho Young Ranchman; Jack Among the Indians; Jack In the Rockies; Jack, the Young Canoeman; Jack, the Young Trapper; Jack, the Young Explorer; American Duckshooting; American Game Bird Shooting; Punishment of the Stingy; Brief History of tho Boone and Crockett Club; Trails of the Pathfinders; Jack, the Young Cowboy; Blackl'eet Indian Stories; Beyond the Old Frontier; Wolf Hunters; The Fighting Cheyennes. Fellow A. A. A. S., Am. Ethnol. Soc, Am. Ornlthol. Union, N. Y. Zool. Soc; Am. Museum Nat. History, Am. Geog. Soc.; mem. Am. Folklore Soc, Washington Anthropol. Soc Biol. Soc. Washington, N. Y. Acad. Sciences, N. Y. Zool. Soc. (mem. B'd Mg'rs), N. Y. Aquarium (mem. B'd Mg'rs). Mem. Com. ot 70, and took active part in reform movement of 1894. Mem. Soc. Colonial Wars, Soc. Mayflower Descendants. Clubs: Union, University, Century, Authors, Explorers, Boone and Crockett. Address: 238 E. 15th St., N. Y. City.

The part about renting and a per-stitch royalty here is interesting (right column):

1795-1895. One hundred years of ... - Google Books

My Family's company rented a Campbell machine for a while in the 80s. These things could destroy more work! we did allot of heavy sewing and had about 12 Puritans. I subbed out most of the "French Edge" work. You may want to contact CH Ellis Co in Indianapolis. They used to do a great deal of that and also had bought out Howe Case.

Rolling Stone-The Knife Sheath Sewing Guy

Hello Rolling Stone- I found your thread here from some months ago. I have been making a few holsters and doing horse tack repairs by hand with an awl. I just acquired a Singer 29K that needs some work to get it running. What size needle did you use on your 29-4? What size thread on the top, and the bobbin? Please, anyone who has this knowledge is invited to chime in. Do you have any advice on using a 29K for this type of sewing? Another project, I must be out of my mind. Regards, Clark

I thought I was the only one left outside the third world still using a 29-4. I sew motorcycle seats with it and mounted a servo motor in place of the treadle so I can stand at the end. I can't get the right length needle in St. Louis and have to use shorter ones and move them out until the thread stops breaking. Do any of you know where to get the right ones?

Bill

You might try Sharp Sewing Supply in Los Angeles. I found them with a "Singer 29-4" search on ebay. They seem to have a large supply of various needles. I have a 29K-51 that I am rebuilding. Do you know if the parts and service manuals for the 29-4 and my machine are similar or the same? Regards, Clark

I have a 29k and found that stitching real heavy leather was a pain. I can sstitch 3/16 up to a .25 but nothing more.

kpotter said:

I have a 29k and found that stitching real heavy leather was a pain. I can sstitch 3/16 up to a .25 but nothing more.

Click to expand...

29 series machines are nice cause they're fairly universal but they're still ment to be a light duty patching machine.

Here is the place to find out much about leather sewing.
http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showforum=50
Rolling Stone

Old thread but have learned a bit about our companies since last posts:

USMC had an atomic power division in the 50's. interesting


The Randall company owned an office supply line in the 40's-50's called Kodye. We've been lucky to find some "artifacts" from them on ebay every now and then. They also owned Wagner cookware. They also had a sizable automotive trim division around the same time period. The Randall company was deliberately broken up and sold off around 1959 and the automotive line became Randall Textron.

Another bit of Randall trivia I found was that they ran a tech school of sorts in wilmington ohio in conjunction with one of the local colleges. I assume it was a case where they were able to train their factory workers off site because the facility seemed mostly geared toward production trim work.

I've been fortunate to keep finding bits of our companies genealogy.

A couple years back I found a Randall company brochure from the 1950's that was targeted at investors rather than clients, which gave a much more broad view of the company. At this time, I'd estimate that 3/4's of the company was geared towards automotive trim manufacturing rather than the leather working machinery that started it all. Around 1959, the company divided and sold off their various divisions. The Leather machinery side was on it's own again and sold to a family in New York. The brochure is about 30 pages long, but here are some highlights.

Here's their old machine shop. It's comforting to know that they had tight crowded conditions too... I'm just carrying on the tradition. I can't prove how much in there remains today, but we do have a round-ram Bridgeport and Kearney Trecker Horizontal as seen in the foreground.




They had a 2nd plant mainly dedicated to a work-study program with the Wilmington College. Not sure of the details but it sounds like cheap labor for college credit. We found an old colleg yearbook from this time and there was a 1/4 page block thanking The Randall Co. for the program.

Also found this add, which I thought was funny and oddly apathetic.

"Some day when it rains, and you have nothing else to do, just sit down in your old easy chair and write your name and address across this page, and mail it to us.

We'll know what it means. Then our missionary will come and smoke a cigar with you and tell you some things that will be helpful. It's a free story."

Dunno if they were trying to parody religious missionaries or what, but it's the weirdest ad of ours I've seen so far.

Notice that the maintenance shop had a small DH planer in the background. Don't you wish you had that in your shop today! Ken