E. W. Bliss Company

The E. W. Bliss Company is a manufacturer of machine tools[1] founded by Eliphalet Williams Bliss. The company was based in Brooklyn, New York and is now based in Hastings, Michigan as BCN Technical Services.[2]

E. W. Bliss Company
IndustryManufacturing
FoundedBrooklyn, New York, United States (1885 (1885))
FounderEliphalet Williams Bliss
Headquarters
Brooklyn, New York
,
United States
Products
  • Machine tools
  • Munitions
E. W. Bliss Co. advertisement for the Blacksmith's Hammer & Swage Block, 1892

History

In 1857, Bliss formed a partnership with John Mays. Under the name of Mays & Bliss, they engaged in the machine press and die business. In 1871, Mays sold his share of the business to Bliss' cousin, J. H. Williams. Bliss later bought Williams' interest and conducted the business by himself.[3] In 1885, Eliphalet Williams Bliss, Anna M. Bliss, and William A. Porter, Frank M. Leavitt and Charles L. Hart incorporated the business with a capital of $100,000.00 divided into 4,000 shares of $25.00 each.[4] In 1890, the company was incorporated with a capital of $1,250,000, which was afterwards increased to $2,000,000. The company increased its holdings by buying out the business of the Stiles & Parker Press Company and the U. S. Projectile Company.[3]

Bliss Torpedo Works, Brooklyn

E.W. Bliss at one time was owned by American corporation Gulf + Western before it was consolidated into Bliss Clearing Niagara.

E. W. Bliss Co. Automatic Shearing Machine for Muck Bars, used in making sheet metal. This machine required a single operator and was driven by a steam engine

In December 1947, after 90 years, the Brooklyn plant was closed. Manufacturing facilities were then moved to Englewood, New Jersey, Hastings, Michigan, Toledo, Ohio, Canton, Ohio and Salem, Ohio. Bliss purchased Consolidated Press Company of Hastings, Michigan. The forms the last remaining company facility, now called BCN Technical Services.[2]

Products

The company produced a line of special presses adapted for sheet metal work, power stamping machines, automobile parts, torpedoes, shrapnel and armor-piercing projectiles. Notable among these products were the Whitehead torpedo, the Bliss-Leavitt torpedo and the Bliss automobile.

Bliss obtained defense contracts for the manufacture of torpedoes, used by the US Navy, and munitions during the Spanish–American War, World War I and World War II.

Bliss machines were often huge and very heavy, powered by steam and were sold or used by the company itself to manufacture pressed metal products. These machine tools sported names such as "Automatic Muck Bar Shear", "Gang-Slitting Machine", "Double Seamer for Flat Bottoms Machine", "Double Crank Press", "Double Eccentric Press, Geared", "Reducing Press" and "Power Press No 18 on Short Legs".[4][5]

References
  1. Chandler, Alfred Dupont (1994). Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Harvard University Press. p. 658. ISBN 0-674-78995-4.
  2. "Company History". BCN Technical Services. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  3. "E. W. Bliss Co". Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  4. Holland, Joy. "E.W. Bliss Co: Torpedoes and Telegraph Codes". Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  5. Morris, Montrose. "Walkabout: The Lords of Owl's Head, part 2". Retrieved 2013-05-29.
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