Holyoke Machine Company
The Holyoke Machine Company was an American manufacturer of industrial machinery, best known for its work in paper manufacturing equipment and water turbines.
History
The company, formed in 1863, was founded by Nathan H. Whitten, T.C. Page, T. B. Flanders, Richard Pattee, and S. S. Chase, after the Holyoke Water Power Company's machine shop had been sold off. Stephen Holman, the company's treasurer, president, and largest shareholder during different times in its first decade, is credited as its founder, though the nature of his early involvement is not well documented. Holman would purchase the company's foundry works in Worcester in April 1873, a second manufacturing branch which remained open for several decades.The best known among turbines manufactured by the company was the Hercules turbine; a design developed by engineer John B. McCormick, who improved upon the Francis turbine, it was the first true mixed flow turbine of a high efficiency. With a maximum efficiency of 87%, a considerable improvement over previous designs of the era, the turbine would become ubiquitous in mills in the United States, as well as Europe.
The central location of the company, and its design improvements for various papermaking machinery such as Fourdrinier machines, contributed to the paper making and textile economy of Massachusetts and more specifically the paper industry of the Berkshires, granting ready-access to machinery that often had to be shipped great distances from other manufacturers. In addition to turbines and papermaking machinery, the company was also known to have produced a wide variety of cast parts and custom orders. Among those known were Thomas Edison's personal elevator at his Orange, New Jersey laboratory, as well as doors for the US Capitol Building.