Miscellaneous company documents

• A recipe to make a combination cutting/lubrication oil for cutting-off machines.
• The personal sales portfolio of Charles Gorton, circa 1939 or 1940 timeframe.
  Bound in leather, it is about 2 inches think, and contains all sorts of price sheets, product brochures & manuals, testimonial (reference) telegrams, a lot of product photos, and a few personal items - a bowling league result listing his score, photos of what appears to be a corporate mens' glee club(!) and even a photo of a formal 1937 company gathering.
• Envelopes and stationary with various company logos. The interoffice envelope probably dates from the 1960's (Chuck Larsen was there during the 1960s and 1970s).
• A patent licensing agreement between George Gorton Machine Co. and Niles-Bement-Pond Co., (Pratt & Whitney) from 1936
• A 4-party patent licensing agreement between George Gorton Machine Co. and the three assignees: Kearney & Trecker, Brown and Sharpe, and Cincinnati Milling from 1939

Early business correspondence and licenses

• Invoices: 1893 - 1898.
• Orders: 1893 - 1894.
Most of these appears to be business correspondance on behalf of the Racine Basket Manufacturing Co.
• General business communications: 1894 - 1895.
• General business communications: May 1895 - Nov, 1895.
• General business communications: Nov 1895 - May, 1896.
• General business communications: May, 1896 - Jan, 1897.
• General business communications: Jan, 1897 - Apr, 1897.
• General business communications: Oct, 1898 - Feb, 1900.
• Various business letters and designs: March 1895 - April, 1897 It is not obvious why the contents of this book are not in other books - some items are invoices, some are designs for parts, and some are simply requests for documentation from various places. One of the more surprising items is a letter to W.S. Buffham & Sons wanting an interest payment, and information as to why payment has not been prompt. Especially considering that W.S.Buffham is George's uncle.
• Inventory of the Racine Basket Co. This inventory was dated Nov. 1893, and taken for Judge E.B.Belden. It may have been part of the probate of the estate of George Gorton I.
• A patent licensing agreement between George Gorton Machine Co. and Taylor, Taylor, & Hobson, from 1898.
These are oversized documents, and were scanned in multiple parts. Interestingly, one signature on this is from the U.S. Patent commissioner Charles H. Duell. Duell is [in]famous for allegedly having claimed "Everything that can be invented has been invented." Said attribution is very likely urban myth, but interesting in any case.
• A patent licensing agreement between George Gorton Machine Co. and Taylor, Taylor, & Hobson, from 1905
• A patent licensing agreement between George Gorton Machine Co. and Taylor, Taylor, & Hobson, from 1906

Gorton Machine Corp. company policies

• A description of the pension plan, from 1968
• A description of the salary policy, from 1970
• The 1970 company Organization manual and chart

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Copyright, 2004 - 2007 Richard Gorton - gorton @ theworld . com