Edward Holmes		Britain Holmes

E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co.

      Founded 1856 by the brothers Edward and Britain Holmes, operating as E. & B. Holmes. They specialized in barrel-making machinery. By 1900 they were known as E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co. They remained in business until at least 1955, and probably somewhat longer.

Information Sources

• American Cooperage Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2003 page 31
• 1860 article in Scientific American.
• The Annual Report of the New York State Agricultural Society, 1861 lists the results of the 1860 State Fair, including "Stave dresser and jointer, E. & B. Holmes, Buffalo Trans."
• 1875 ad, plus 1874,1875, 1884, and 1885 articles in Manufacturer & Builder.
• The September 28, 1876 issue of The New York Times carried a multi-page listing of award-winners at the Centennial Exhibition. E. & B. Holmes won for their "Machines for making Casks, &c."
• Mentioned in Planers, Matchers and Molders in America as being around in 1897.
• A 1900 patent gives the company name as E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co.
• The 1911 book A History of Buffalo: delineating the evolution of the city: Volume 2, by Josephus Nelson Larned, Charles Elliott Fitch, and Ellis Henry Roberts, has this tidbit: "In 1856 the brothers Edward and Britain Holmes, who had been dealing previously in lumber and timber and carrying on a large planing mill and sash and door factory, established a manufactory of patented machinery for cooperage and other wood-working, which grew to large proportions, and has been carried uninterruptedly to the present day."
• Ads in a 1920 issue of The Wood-Worker show this company's variable-feed ripsawing machine and a small swing cutoff saw.
• Listed in 1955-56 Hitchcock's Wood-Workers' Digest Directory.
• In 2009, The Cooperage, which was the main factory building for E. & B. Holmes Machinery Co., was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.