Thread: Yale and Towne L5 Movement on Cannonball

November 29, 1899, The Hibbard-Rodman-Ely safe Company, was formed to manufacture safes made of manganese steel, which is claimed to be especially adapted to the making of fire and dynamite proof safes. The offices will be at 253 Broadway, New York. Alexander C. Humphreys – President, W.J. Taylor first vice-President, Henry D. Hibbard second vice-President, and Walter Gaston Secretary-Treasurer. The Directors are John Fritz, Albert C. Humphreys, W.J. Taylor, R.E. Jennings, Sidney Dillon Ripley, George W. Young, Henry D. Hibbard, Capt. Samuel Rodman, and Sumner N. Ely. The factory will be at High Bridge, NJ.
The name of the company was changed to the Manganese Steel Safe Company around 1901, though it appears that the original name may have been kept in use for a period of time afterwards.
The Manganese Steel Safe Company moved from Plainfield, NJ to New York in the early 1900’s.
The stockholders voted to dissolve the company and sell the assets to the Mosler Safe Company in mid 1909.

Hey Andy, a little more info on HRE. Taylor Iron and Steel Co. (TISCO) of High Bridge, NJ held the sole US license for the making of Hadfield's manganese steel at the end of the 1800's. I found an earlier Hibbard patent on the making of steel and has him listed as residing in Pittsburg. So I am assuming he probably was connected with TISCO when the HRE company was started. Rodman was a US Army capt in the early 1890's and in charge of the explosives testing on current state of the art for the US Treasury in 1893. Haven't yet found anything on Sumner Ely other than patents but he may have the design engineer for HRE. It was TISCO not the Manganese Steel Safe Co of NY that continued up into the teens and I still haven't figured out the relationship of the two companies but you will note that the VP Taylor most likely was the owner of TISCO. And I would bet the name change from HRE to MSS Co of NY was purely for advertising purposes.

Excellent addition, I wasn't aware that Taylor Iron & Steel (TISCO) had the Manganese patent. And I don't have them listed as a manufacture unless they were simply the foundry for some of the other companies.
I only have the Manganese Steel Safe Company listed up to 1909, when the stock holders voted to disolve the company and sell all of the assets to Mosler. They wern't around in the "teens".
During my research, I've noticed that a lot of various "officers" in a number of companies held positions in other companies as well, so it could very well be that Taylor was not only associated with MSS but with TISCO also.

Taylor Iron and Steel Co (TISCO) later became the Taylor Wharton Steel Co. TISCO did make bodies for several other safe companies but I have also seen several TISCO cannonballs with no mention of NY Manganese on them. In my original post I had mistakenly stated NY Mang went into the teens. It was TISCO not NY Manganese that had continued into the teens with making cannonballs. And the TISCO models are very similar to the NY Manganese models. It is all so confusing.