C. E. Lipe Machine Shop
Encyclopedia
The C. E. Lipe Machine Shop was established in Syracuse, New York
in 1880 in the Lynch Building by Charles E. Lipe (1850-1895), a mechanical engineer. The building became an early industrial incubator and was commonly known as the Lipe Shop. While Lipe worked on his own ideas, he rented out facilities to others. Some of the leaders in industry worked both independently and side by side in this building to solve the industrial problems of their era. "These men sowed the germs that sprouted into major business enterprises in Syracuse and elsewhere" and for many years the machine shop was known as the "cradle of Syracuse industries."
is known as the "cradle of Syracuse industries," a phrase coined by Samuel Cook, an executive at the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company in 1916.
By August 1998, the machine shop had reverted to the home of a nondescript hardware store near the intersection of Geddes and Fayette streets.
Syracuse manufacturing concerns, which by 1921 represented "millions of invested capital" and employed thousands of individuals, had their inception in the building. For many years, the shop's office had been a "veritable museum" of designs, models, parts and pictures of various kinds of machinery developed there, or by the inventors and their associates.
, which relied on pumps, engines and other mechanical devices made in the Syracuse
area. Except for the addition of wings, the building remained unchanged for several decades.
After the salt industry began to wane, the building was used for the manufacture of farm implements for a few years. In 1875, the Robinson Plow Company occupied the plant, succeeding an earlier manufacturer of lawn mowers there. In 1876, the company went on to become the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company. By 1879, the Lynch Building was put up for sale.
engineering graduate of the Sibley College of Mechanics in 1873 and son of a German-born farmer from Fort Plain
, Montgomery County, New York
, moved into the building in 1880 and set up the C. E. Lipe Machine Shop. The building was commonly known as the Lipe Shop.
While Lipe worked on his own ideas, he rented out facilities to others. Next door, his old engineering professor from college, John E. Sweet, moved in and used the space to build steam engines. Sweet leased half the space in the building for many years. In 1892, Sweet moved into a new factory next door and the Straight Line Engine Company "remained a west side fixture" until the factory closed in 1961. It was replaced several years later by the Geddes Street Plaza.
The Lipe Shop was a "haven for inventors and an incubator of industries" and Lipe himself was a prolific inventor. He had invented a cigar-rolling machine, a broom making machine, motion picture equipment, automatic looms and time recorders.
, John R. Montague, Albert Seymour, H. Winifield Chapin, Lyman C. Smith, Hurlburt W. Smith, Wilbert Smith, John Wilkinson
, James Pass, and Herbert Leighton.
, a native of Fort Plain, New York
, was employed as a draughtsman for Lipe and began working in the Lipe shop as a 22-year-old apprentice in 1889. The two men were cousins. In 1894, at age 27, Casler invented the mutoscope, a peephole machine in which a viewer could watch a movie by turning a crank handle. In 1895, he invented the biograph camera, one of the world's first motion picture cameras and at the time, the best on the market. The first camera weighed more than 500 pounds.
Casler teamed up with Harry Marvin of the Marvin Electric Rock Drill Company who invented an electric rock drill in the machine shop that was used at Split Rock Quarry in Jamesville, New York
and elsewhere. Marvin, Casler, Elias Koopman, a New York City "novelty purveyor," and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, a former associate of Thomas A. Edison, formed the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1896 and moved the business to Canastota, New York
. Casler and Edison were the originators of motion pictures in the United States. Edison obtained a patent for his own movie camera in 1897. He sued Biograph in 1898 for patent infringement; however, lost the suit after years of legal battles. In 1908, a year after the courts upheld Biograph's camera patent, the establishment joined with Edison's company to form the Motion Picture Patents Company.
Not only did Casler perfect the first mutoscope
at the Lipe shop, the machine was manufactured there until 1905.
until they were bought out by John Deere Company
of Moline, Illinois
. During 1904, they advertised their "Success Manure Spreader and Fertilizer Distributer" in a national trade journal.
On that same floor, the first Franklin automobile
was first built. Herbert H. Franklin
had gone to the shop to manufacture his die castings at H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
and while there, met John Wilkinson
, who was working on an experimental motor car in the same place.
One of the world's first coffee hulling machines was manufactured in the building by Engelberg Huller Company
, as well as many other innovations were invented there such as electrical supplies, building materials, tire chains and a time clock manufactured by Bundy Recording Company.
Globe Malleable Iron and Steel Company were founded in 1910 and was an "indirect product" of the machine shop. By late 1922, the company was expanding their Greenway Avenue plant and were planning on hiring 1,200 workers.
The machine shop was the incubus for the early typewriter industry in Syracuse
. Some of the young engineers who came out of that enterprise included Alexander T. Brown and brothers Lyman C. Smith, Hurlburt W. Smith and Wilbert Smith who were local industrialists and established Smith Premier Typewriter Works and L. C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter Company
, founded by Lyman C. Smith and later known as Smith-Corona.
He teamed with Walrath in 1880 to form Lipe-Walrath Company and invented a broom-sewing machine and by 1885 invented a cigar-box making machine.
Lipe was granted U.S. Patent 512,304 on January 9, 1894, for a hulling machine described as "improvements to patent 424,602 from Engelberg Huller Company
. Patent 525,813 was granted on September 11, 1894, for a hulling and cleaning machine which was "intended for hulling, cleaning and separating coffee berries."
This milling machine was considered "novel" because it had an "arm sliding in the head." The patent was purchased by the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company.
. According to manager, H. W. Chapin, the factory had been running nights to keep up with demand and "gears and transmissions made by this concern are being used by a large number of manufacturers."
Lipe's brother, Willard C. Lipe (1861-1929), stepped up after his brother died in 1895 and the company began making three-speed transmissions. Among his first customers were H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
, Yellow Cab Company and Henry Ford
. By 1906, the company moved into a new five-story factory at the corner of West Fayette and South Geddes streets. It is reported that Henry Ford
visited the Lipe Shop to oversee the construction of parts for his first automobile, the Model T.
in 1923 and later became the Inland Fisher Guide unit of General Motors
, which employed more than 1,300 people in Salina until the company closed that plant in 1993. The firm later came under the control of the Spicer Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio
and moved its plants out of Syracuse
.
, producing general-purpose roller bearings for heavy duty equipment used in steel, pulp and paper mills.
The Brown-Lipe Gear Company "re-emerged" again in 1917 under the management of Arthur E. Parsons. During 1942, the firm merged with the Rollway Bearing Company, creating the Lipe-Rollway Corp. who continued in business until 2002 when they became a division and key brand of Emerson Power Transmission, still in business today. At that time, the company employed 195 workers in the Syracuse area.
, having machinery and tools adapted to the widest range of work."
Lipe's brother, Willard C. Lipe was manager of the plant and estate. By 1921, the shop was still in the business of "building special machinery" and performing experimental work. The building became a laboratory for hundreds of mechanical experiments, some of which failed "while others succeeded even beyond the wildest dreams of the projectors."
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
in 1880 in the Lynch Building by Charles E. Lipe (1850-1895), a mechanical engineer. The building became an early industrial incubator and was commonly known as the Lipe Shop. While Lipe worked on his own ideas, he rented out facilities to others. Some of the leaders in industry worked both independently and side by side in this building to solve the industrial problems of their era. "These men sowed the germs that sprouted into major business enterprises in Syracuse and elsewhere" and for many years the machine shop was known as the "cradle of Syracuse industries."
History
The modest two-storied brick building, known as the Lynch Building, with 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) of floor space at 208-214 South Geddes Street in SyracuseSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
is known as the "cradle of Syracuse industries," a phrase coined by Samuel Cook, an executive at the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company in 1916.
By August 1998, the machine shop had reverted to the home of a nondescript hardware store near the intersection of Geddes and Fayette streets.
Syracuse manufacturing concerns, which by 1921 represented "millions of invested capital" and employed thousands of individuals, had their inception in the building. For many years, the shop's office had been a "veritable museum" of designs, models, parts and pictures of various kinds of machinery developed there, or by the inventors and their associates.
Lynch building
Patrick Lynch, a salt manufacturer, built the structure first known as the Lynch Building in South Geddes Street between Fayette and Marcellus streets in 1861 as a machine shop to serve the salt industrySalt industry in Syracuse, New York
The salt industry has a long history in and around Syracuse, New York. Jesuit missionaries visiting the region in 1654 were the first to report salty brine springs around the southern end of "Salt Lake", known today as Onondaga Lake...
, which relied on pumps, engines and other mechanical devices made in the Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
area. Except for the addition of wings, the building remained unchanged for several decades.
After the salt industry began to wane, the building was used for the manufacture of farm implements for a few years. In 1875, the Robinson Plow Company occupied the plant, succeeding an earlier manufacturer of lawn mowers there. In 1876, the company went on to become the Syracuse Chilled Plow Company. By 1879, the Lynch Building was put up for sale.
Lipe shop
The building became an industrial incubator after Charles E. Lipe, 29, a young Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
engineering graduate of the Sibley College of Mechanics in 1873 and son of a German-born farmer from Fort Plain
Fort Plain, New York
Fort Plain is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 2,288. The village is named after a fort built during the American Revolution....
, Montgomery County, New York
Montgomery County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 49,708 people, 20,038 households, and 13,104 families residing in the county. The population density was 123 people per square mile . There were 22,522 housing units at an average density of 56 per square mile...
, moved into the building in 1880 and set up the C. E. Lipe Machine Shop. The building was commonly known as the Lipe Shop.
While Lipe worked on his own ideas, he rented out facilities to others. Next door, his old engineering professor from college, John E. Sweet, moved in and used the space to build steam engines. Sweet leased half the space in the building for many years. In 1892, Sweet moved into a new factory next door and the Straight Line Engine Company "remained a west side fixture" until the factory closed in 1961. It was replaced several years later by the Geddes Street Plaza.
The Lipe Shop was a "haven for inventors and an incubator of industries" and Lipe himself was a prolific inventor. He had invented a cigar-rolling machine, a broom making machine, motion picture equipment, automatic looms and time recorders.
Business leaders
Lipe formed associations with early business leaders, all in different fields, including; Alexander T. Brown, author of more than 150 patents for creations ranging from typewriters to automobile transmissions, Herbert H. FranklinHerbert H. Franklin
Herbert H. Franklin was born in Lisle, New York located in Broome County in Southern New York State.In 1886, at age 19, he moved to Coxsackie, New York where he spent his early career as a newspaper editor for his uncle, who owned a newspaper and publishing company...
, John R. Montague, Albert Seymour, H. Winifield Chapin, Lyman C. Smith, Hurlburt W. Smith, Wilbert Smith, John Wilkinson
John Wilkinson (Franklin automobile)
John Wilkinson was born in Syracuse, New York. He invented the air-cooled motor which was used in the Franklin produced by H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company where he was chief engineer and designer from 1902 to 1924.He was a native of Syracuse and a member of an established, respected, wealthy...
, James Pass, and Herbert Leighton.
Motion picture camera
Herman CaslerHerman Casler
Herman Casler — American inventor , was co-founder of the partnership called the K.M.C.D. Syndicate, along with W.K-L...
, a native of Fort Plain, New York
Fort Plain, New York
Fort Plain is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 2,288. The village is named after a fort built during the American Revolution....
, was employed as a draughtsman for Lipe and began working in the Lipe shop as a 22-year-old apprentice in 1889. The two men were cousins. In 1894, at age 27, Casler invented the mutoscope, a peephole machine in which a viewer could watch a movie by turning a crank handle. In 1895, he invented the biograph camera, one of the world's first motion picture cameras and at the time, the best on the market. The first camera weighed more than 500 pounds.
Casler teamed up with Harry Marvin of the Marvin Electric Rock Drill Company who invented an electric rock drill in the machine shop that was used at Split Rock Quarry in Jamesville, New York
Jamesville, New York
Jamesville is a hamlet in De Witt, Onondaga County, New York, United States, part of the greater Syracuse area.The history of the community is documented in the book Water, Wheels and Stone: Heritage of the Little Village by the Creek, Jamesville, New York, written by Jean Schutz Keough, and...
and elsewhere. Marvin, Casler, Elias Koopman, a New York City "novelty purveyor," and William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, a former associate of Thomas A. Edison, formed the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company in 1896 and moved the business to Canastota, New York
Canastota, New York
Canastota is a village located inside the Town of Lenox in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 4,425 at the 2000 census.The Village of Canastota is in the south part of the Town of Lenox.- History :...
. Casler and Edison were the originators of motion pictures in the United States. Edison obtained a patent for his own movie camera in 1897. He sued Biograph in 1898 for patent infringement; however, lost the suit after years of legal battles. In 1908, a year after the courts upheld Biograph's camera patent, the establishment joined with Edison's company to form the Motion Picture Patents Company.
Not only did Casler perfect the first mutoscope
Mutoscope
frame|right|An 1899 trade advertisementThe Mutoscope was an early motion picture device, patented by Herman Casler on November 21, 1894. Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope it did not project on a screen, and provided viewing to only one person at a time...
at the Lipe shop, the machine was manufactured there until 1905.
Industries
After 1880, on the second floor of the Lipe Shop, Robert Love worked on a new fertilizer spreader. The horse drawn manure spreader was produced later by the Kemp & Burpee Manufacturing Company (founded 1878), which maintained a large plant in SyracuseSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
until they were bought out by John Deere Company
Deere & Company
Deere & Company, usually known by its brand name John Deere , is an American corporation based in Moline, Illinois, and the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. In 2010, it was listed as 107th in the Fortune 500 ranking...
of Moline, Illinois
Moline, Illinois
Moline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 45,792 in 2010. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities has a population of...
. During 1904, they advertised their "Success Manure Spreader and Fertilizer Distributer" in a national trade journal.
On that same floor, the first Franklin automobile
Franklin (automobile)
The Franklin Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in the United States between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, New York. Herbert H. Franklin, the founder, began his career in the metal die casting business before establishing his automobile enterprise.Franklin founded the H. H. Franklin...
was first built. Herbert H. Franklin
Herbert H. Franklin
Herbert H. Franklin was born in Lisle, New York located in Broome County in Southern New York State.In 1886, at age 19, he moved to Coxsackie, New York where he spent his early career as a newspaper editor for his uncle, who owned a newspaper and publishing company...
had gone to the shop to manufacture his die castings at H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company was founded in 1893 by industrialist Herbert H. Franklin in Syracuse, New York. The company specialized in machine die-casting and made small parts such as gears and bearing caps...
and while there, met John Wilkinson
John Wilkinson (Franklin automobile)
John Wilkinson was born in Syracuse, New York. He invented the air-cooled motor which was used in the Franklin produced by H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company where he was chief engineer and designer from 1902 to 1924.He was a native of Syracuse and a member of an established, respected, wealthy...
, who was working on an experimental motor car in the same place.
One of the world's first coffee hulling machines was manufactured in the building by Engelberg Huller Company
Engelberg Huller Company
The Engelberg Huller Company was established in 1888 in Syracuse, New York, by John R. Montague, to manufacture and distribute the Engelberg Huller machine which was invented by Brazilian, mechanical engineer and inventor, Evaristo Conrado Engelberg, to remove the husks and shells from rice and...
, as well as many other innovations were invented there such as electrical supplies, building materials, tire chains and a time clock manufactured by Bundy Recording Company.
Globe Malleable Iron and Steel Company were founded in 1910 and was an "indirect product" of the machine shop. By late 1922, the company was expanding their Greenway Avenue plant and were planning on hiring 1,200 workers.
The machine shop was the incubus for the early typewriter industry in Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. Some of the young engineers who came out of that enterprise included Alexander T. Brown and brothers Lyman C. Smith, Hurlburt W. Smith and Wilbert Smith who were local industrialists and established Smith Premier Typewriter Works and L. C. Smith & Bros. Typewriter Company
Smith Corona
Smith Corona or the SCM Corporation is a US typewriter and calculator company. Once a large U.S. manufacturer, the company experienced sales declines in typewriters in the mid-1980s due to the introduction of PC-based word processing...
, founded by Lyman C. Smith and later known as Smith-Corona.
Lipe innovations
One of the first products to be manufactured in the Lipe Shop in 1880 was a handheld corn planter that Charles Lipe had invented as a teenager. The spring-loaded device held kernels that were injected as the operator "stabbed the end of the soil."He teamed with Walrath in 1880 to form Lipe-Walrath Company and invented a broom-sewing machine and by 1885 invented a cigar-box making machine.
Patents
During April 1890, Lipe obtained a patent with John Lighton for a "coin controlled test lifting machine."Lipe was granted U.S. Patent 512,304 on January 9, 1894, for a hulling machine described as "improvements to patent 424,602 from Engelberg Huller Company
Engelberg Huller Company
The Engelberg Huller Company was established in 1888 in Syracuse, New York, by John R. Montague, to manufacture and distribute the Engelberg Huller machine which was invented by Brazilian, mechanical engineer and inventor, Evaristo Conrado Engelberg, to remove the husks and shells from rice and...
. Patent 525,813 was granted on September 11, 1894, for a hulling and cleaning machine which was "intended for hulling, cleaning and separating coffee berries."
This milling machine was considered "novel" because it had an "arm sliding in the head." The patent was purchased by the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company.
Brown-Lipe gears
The gear industry in Syracuse got its start in the Lipe shop in 1894 when together with Alexander T. Brown, the two engineers invented their two-speed Hy-Lo Bi-Gear for bicycles. In 1895, the men established the Brown-Lipe Gear Company, and although the bicycle gear failed to catch on during the days of the two-wheelers, it soon found a lucrative market in the automobile industry. In January 1904, the Brown-Lipe Gear Company moved to the former offices occupied by the Franklin Automobile CompanyFranklin (automobile)
The Franklin Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in the United States between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, New York. Herbert H. Franklin, the founder, began his career in the metal die casting business before establishing his automobile enterprise.Franklin founded the H. H. Franklin...
. According to manager, H. W. Chapin, the factory had been running nights to keep up with demand and "gears and transmissions made by this concern are being used by a large number of manufacturers."
Lipe's brother, Willard C. Lipe (1861-1929), stepped up after his brother died in 1895 and the company began making three-speed transmissions. Among his first customers were H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company
Franklin (automobile)
The Franklin Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in the United States between 1902 and 1934 in Syracuse, New York. Herbert H. Franklin, the founder, began his career in the metal die casting business before establishing his automobile enterprise.Franklin founded the H. H. Franklin...
, Yellow Cab Company and Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
. By 1906, the company moved into a new five-story factory at the corner of West Fayette and South Geddes streets. It is reported that Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
visited the Lipe Shop to oversee the construction of parts for his first automobile, the Model T.
Brown-Lipe-Chapin differentials and transmissions
In 1910, Alexander T. Brown, Willard Lipe and Winifield Chapin established Brown-Lipe-Chapin to build automobile differentials, transmission gears and clutches. The new company built a five-story factory at the corner of West Fayette and Seneca streets and employed close to 5,000 workers. The company was sold to General MotorsGeneral Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
in 1923 and later became the Inland Fisher Guide unit of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, which employed more than 1,300 people in Salina until the company closed that plant in 1993. The firm later came under the control of the Spicer Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
and moved its plants out of Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
.
Lipe-Rollway ball bearings
The Rollway Bearing Company was founded in 1895 as Department of the Railway Roller Bearing Company. The firm expanded through the early part of the 20th century and was incorporated in 1908 as the Roller Bearing Company and expanded steadily during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, producing general-purpose roller bearings for heavy duty equipment used in steel, pulp and paper mills.
The Brown-Lipe Gear Company "re-emerged" again in 1917 under the management of Arthur E. Parsons. During 1942, the firm merged with the Rollway Bearing Company, creating the Lipe-Rollway Corp. who continued in business until 2002 when they became a division and key brand of Emerson Power Transmission, still in business today. At that time, the company employed 195 workers in the Syracuse area.
C. E. Lipe estate
After Charles E. Lipe died in 1895, a large portion of the shop was maintained by the C. E. Lipe Estate, for the manufacture of special machinery and general machine work of the higher grades. It was the "best equipped machine shop in Central New YorkCentral New York
Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities:...
, having machinery and tools adapted to the widest range of work."
Lipe's brother, Willard C. Lipe was manager of the plant and estate. By 1921, the shop was still in the business of "building special machinery" and performing experimental work. The building became a laboratory for hundreds of mechanical experiments, some of which failed "while others succeeded even beyond the wildest dreams of the projectors."