Kilburn, Lincoln Machine Company.

The firm of E.C. Kilburn & Company was founded in 1846 in Fall River, Massachusetts by Elijah C. Kilburn, Mrs. John J. Kilburn and Jonathan T. Lincoln. John J. Kilburn, before his death in 1846, had been associated with J.T. Lincoln in building power looms. Lincoln's eldest son, Henry C. Lincoln, entered the business in 1856 and the firm was renamed Kilburn, Lincoln & Son. In 1868 the business was incorporated as Kilburn, Lincoln & Company. The name of the company changed again in 1915, when it became known as Kilburn, Lincoln Machine Company.

As was typical of early machine shops, Kilburn Lincoln offered a diverse product line, including turbine water wheels, shafting, hangers and pulleys and cotton looms and various kinds of machinery for print works. During the period 1846-1869, the firm's most successful product was a turbine water wheel of the Fourneyron type. The Fourneyron wheel, developed in France, had become known to George Kilburn, the master mechanic at a Fall River print works, in the early 1840's, when his employer returned from a trip to Europe. Kilburn built a similar wheel which was put into operation in 1844. George Kilburn was the brother of E.C. Kilburn and John J. Kilburn. When E.C. Kilburn and Co. was established in 1846, the Fourneyron wheel became the prototype.

The Fourneyron wheel was immediately successful and became the best-selling product of the company. It was sold not only in New England but as far away as New York, New Jersey, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Kilburn Lincoln did not long have the field to themselves. Competing wheels were designed, most notably by Uriah A. Boyden and James B. Francis in Lowell.

After the Civil War, the textile industry in Fall River grew rapidly. At the same time the Fourneyron wheel was being superseded by newer developments in water wheel technology. Kilburn Lincoln, seeing the huge expansion of the textile industry in Fall River, chose to concentrate on the manufacture of looms rather than re-invent the wheel. The firm eventually became known as a specialist in the manufacture of power looms.

With a strong local textile industry, Kilburn Lincoln did not spend much time cultivating business elsewhere. When Fall River declined as a cotton manufacturing center, the fortunes of the company declined as well. Kilburn Lincoln was liquidated in 1927.

From the guide to the Kilburn, Lincoln Machine Company records, 1835-1929 (inclusive), 1846-1869 (bulk), (Baker Library, Harvard Business School)