Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation Collection
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Abstract
The Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation (KME) was an integral part of the manufacturing industry in the United States in the early twentieth century. Keller machines created in the original factory on the Brooklyn waterfront were purchased by companies in Philadelphia, Upstate New York, Detroit, and England. By 1940, the company merged with Pratt & Whitney and moved to a new state-of-the-art complex in Connecticut. Although KME developed many products, the typical Keller machine was a tracer-controlled, horizontal milling machine, which duplicated molds and dies. The design of the tracer distinguished Keller from other milling machines because it allowed greater precision of patterns and therefore more accurate stamping and forging dies or casting molds. Eventually the automated tracer mechanism gave way to Keller machines with computer numerical control (CNC). Keller machines were essential to the early automotive and aeronautics industries and their design laid the groundwork for modern CAD/CAM (computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing) machines.
Biographical / Historical
In 1896, Sidney A. Keller and Joseph F. Keller went into the business of designing and manufacturing dies for the silverware industry in New York. Since there were no American-made machines that were sufficiently accurate to make such dies, the small Keller shop used engraving and reducing machines that had been made in Europe. Joseph Keller, a mechanical engineer, eventually constructed machines for their own use.
As the business broadened and prospered, the Kellers recognized a market for small forging dies as well as silverware dies. Joseph designed and built a one-to-one duplicating machine and also a weight-controlled machine for the duplication of forging dies. This machine was designated the E-1 Automatic Die Cutter Machine.
The Keller plant in Brooklyn, located at 70 Washington Street, thrived as customers became interested in purchasing Keller-built machines. As a result, the Keller Mechanical Engraving Company became machine tool builders, and changed the company name to the Keller Mechanical Engineering Company (KME). The first machine was sold to Crescent Tool Company in 1915. Shortly thereafter, orders for reducing machines (Type D) were received from Remington Arms in Ilion, New York, International Silver Company, and other silverware manufacturing companies.
In 1916, the mechanical engineer John C. Shaw joined KME. His experience with building mechanical-electrical valve control machines gave him the idea for a Keller machine with electrical tool control. Shaw's idea was put on hold while KME joined the war effort to make airplane propellers. After the Armistice, Shaw set to work; by 1920 he had completed designs for the first Electric Tracer Control Keller Machine – Type BG 1. The first machine, serial #550, was shipped to the Budd Company in Philadelphia in March, 1921, and the second machine was shipped in July of the same year.
The popular BG 1 was followed by larger BG machines. Machines larger than 6' x 4' were designated BG 2s, and even larger still was the BG 3. The BG machines were followed by the BL machine. An electric tracer was also developed for the E Type machine, and similar electric controls were developed for use on lathes, planers and other machines. By the time it was purchased by Pratt & Whitney Company, Inc. of West Hartford, CT (P&W) in 1930, KME had sold and shipped over 4,000 machines. By then "Kellering" had become a common verb in the tool and die industry.
KME produced a wide variety of burrs made of high-speed steel for use in Kellering machines. In a similar manner, it was recognized that nearly all the operations performed on Keller Automatic Milling Machines required the use of either ball nose or radius end mills. It followed that customers using such a machine had to have a quick and convenient way to resharpen and grind their cutters. Recognizing this need, KME developed the Keller Cutter and Radius Grinder. Modifications of this machine were later sold by P&W as welcome companion pieces for the Keller BL and BG type machines.
By the 1940s, design responsibility for the Keller line passed to J. J. Jaeger, then Chief Engineer and later President of P&W. Two of Sidney A. Keller's sons joined P&W: Alexander S. Keller as Vice President and Richard D. Keller, a graduate of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, as head of Sales for the Keller Division. Other members of the original Keller sales force at P&W were Paul Renno and Harry Reichert.
In 1954, P&W became part of the Penn-Texas Corp., assembled by German-born financier Leopold Silberstein, who hoped to make it part of a vast industrial empire. Soon after, Alfons Landa wrested control of P&W from Silberstein and used the company to seize control of old-line machinery manufacturer Fairbanks Morse, changing the name to Fairbanks Whitney. Boardroom battles ensued to determine who would head the company as it went into the red. Ultimately Pratt & Whitney and the Keller Division was absorbed into Colt Industries, which signaled the end of what was once one of the most prominent tool and die companies in the United States.
Source: The above is an abbreviated version of Peter Keller's history of the Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation. For the full historical note consult the on-site finding aid
Arrangement
Series are arranged by format type. Arrangement within series is either chronological, by photograph number (which is largely chronological), or by subject.
Scope and Contents
The Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation Collection includes company records, operating manuals, notebooks, scrapbooks, photographs, sketches, blueprints, publications, advertisements, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and product samples from 1916 to 1962. Due to preservation concerns, some materials were removed from their original housing. This is noted in the finding aid and, when possible, notebook and photo album covers were encapsulated and separated, but retained in the collection. If photographs were removed from an album or scrapbook, the original layout of the photographs is noted.
This collection documents machines and products of the Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation (KME) during its peak production years. Through the engineering innovations of the Sydney and Joseph Keller and their partner, John C. Shaw, the company, which began as an engraving shop in the late 19th century, grew to become an integral part of the twentieth century manufacturing industry. As KME produced newer, faster, and larger tool and die machines, the product line expanded from silverware to granite facades to automobile and aircraft parts. As KME's reputation grew, Keller machines were sold to factories in Philadelphia, Upstate New York, Detroit, and England. Mirroring the trajectory of many early twentieth century factories on the Brooklyn waterfront, KME eventually moved to a larger plant in Connecticut and merged with the Pratt & Whitney Company.
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Conditions Governing Access
Open for research without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Jane Keller Herzig were transferred to New York University in 2012 by Jane Keller Herzig. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Poly Archives. Please contact the Poly Archives, polyarchives@nyu.edu, 646-997-3530.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Keller Mechanical Engineering Corporation Collection; RG 001; box number; folder number or item identifier; Poly Archives at Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The collection was donated to the Polytechnic Institute of New York University Archives by the children of Richard D. Keller in 2007.
Sponsor Note
This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Documentary Heritage Program of the New York State Archives, a program of the State Education Department.
