In 1934 Harry McCoy established the McCoy Machinery & Supply Co. Ltd., in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1945 McCoy and his son, Archie McCoy, acquired Hamilton's venerable Kerr & Coombes Foundry which became McCoy Foundry. Shortly after that, McCoy Machinery & Supply briefly manufactured a small home-shop bandsaw.
The "Rae" line of bench vises was reportedly manufactured by McCoy Foundry machinery & Supply, presumably on behalf of Rae Machine Tool Works, Ltd., yet another Hamilton firm.
A modernized McCoy Foundry remains in business but they no longer manufacture vises or other items of interest to this Vintage Machinery website.
Information Sources
- 1915 Standard Metal Directory, page 533. "Kerr & Coombes Foundry Co., Ltd., Inc., 1892. Capital $32,000. W. H. Kerr, pres.; F. A. Kerr, treas.; G. A. Coombes, pur. agt. Equipment, Colliau 54-inch. Annual capacity 2,000 tons grey iron castings. Consume No. 1 fdy. pig iron, coke. Scrap No. 1, 2 cast."
- 1919 Transactions of the American Foundrymen's Association (Volume 27 page 582). "...Coombes, George, manager, Kerr & Coombes, Hamilton, Ont."
- 1927 Foundry (Volume 55, page 13). "George Coombes, formerly manager of Kerr & Coombes Foundry Co., Hamilton, Ont., who died recently, was one of the founders of the firm bearing his name. He was a native of Sandown, Isle of Wight, England."
- 1942 Modern Castings (Volume 4, page 26). "Kerr & Coombes Foundry Co., Ltd., Hamilton, Ont. (George A. Coombes, Secretary-Treasurer)".
- 1944 Industrial Canada (Volume 45 issues 7-12, page 196). "William Coombes.—The death occurred on October 23 of William Coombes, one of the founders of Kerr & Coombes Foundry Co., Limited, Hamilton. Until his retirement a few years back, owing to ill health, he had been President and General Manager of the Company. The late Mr. Coombes, who was in his 90th year, was born in the Isle of Wight but came out to Canada as a youth and made his home in Hamilton. He was identified with the Copp Stove Foundry until 1892 when the firm of which he was later the head was established."