New Britain Machine Company Records

The New Britain Machine Company of New Britain, Connecticut was established in 1895 by the officials of the J.T. Case Engine Company. Formed in 1887 the J.T. Case Engine Company was a leading manufacturer of steam engines. However, with the introduction of the gasoline engine the company was forced to reconfigure itself. In order to shift direction and keep up with the new technology the company rebranded itself as the New Britain Machine Company. The first product the company manufactured was a chainsaw mortising machine. This new wood-working machine was capable of cutting multiple mortises, revolutionizing the operations capable by a single machine.

By the turn of the twentieth century the company produced and sold a line of cast iron shop furniture for use by heavy metal fabricators. In 1911 the company purchased the George Prentice Company and began producing a line of automatic chucking machines, to be expanded to include automatic bar machines in 1913 when the company acquired the Universal Machine Company of Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1920 the company began producing a line of socket wrenches that could be sold to the general public for automobile service and repair. The production of automobile tools became a major industry for the company, starting what would become the company's New Britain Hand Tools Division. By the 1930s the company was divided between three major divisions, each producing precision metal tools and products.

Having created antiaircraft guns during the World War I, the company was able to easily shift production to accomodate the needs of the country during World War II. Following the war the company was able to add new precision machine tools to its production line thanks in part to new innovations and technologies in drilling and boring machines. In 1955 the company expanded its Hand Tools Division to include their Black Hawk line of hand tools. The new production of hand tools allowed the company to expand and grow, eventually producing numerous other lines of precision tools. In 1972 the company was purchased by Litton Industrial Products, who in 1990 shut down the New Britain Machine Company's century old operations.

For a more complete history of the New Britain Machine Company please see, Bingham, Harold J., History of Connecticut: Industrial and Institutional Records, Family and Personal Records, Vol. III. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1962.) pp. 53-56.