The Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co. Cast Iron Chain Pulley
SSC MUSEUM COLLECTION
Catalog No. SSC-PG-PLY-1876-001
Industrial Chain Pulley | Single Sheave | Cast Iron with Chain | Cincinnati, Ohio
Circa 1870–1900 • Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co. • Ohio Foundry Corridor
City side showing “CIN O” cast in raised letters on the upper frame plate of the pulley. The single cast iron sheave sits within a heavy frame, with a forged swivel eye at top for suspension. Two mounting holes are visible on the frame plate. The attached heavy link chain with threaded bolt connector completes the working assembly. Rust and patina consistent with age and agricultural or industrial service.
Most of the things a nineteenth-century hardware manufacturer made were never meant to be admired. They were meant to be used. A pulley hung in a barn loft, a chain wrapped around a beam, a sheave spinning under load—these were the invisible tools of daily work on American farms, in warehouses, and on loading docks. Nobody framed a pulley. Nobody wrote the manufacturer’s name in a ledger. The pulley did its job, the chain held, and the farmer moved his hay or hoisted his feed sack without giving a thought to who cast the iron that made it all possible.
But someone did cast it. And in this case, that someone was the Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio—a general hardware manufacturer whose name appears on an enormous range of cast iron products from the second half of the nineteenth century: bells, sad irons, fluting machines, traps, door hardware, bellows, pulleys, agricultural implements, and more. Their 1876 illustrated catalog ran to approximately four hundred pages of products, each with detailed specifications and illustrations. The catalog’s title page tells the story: “Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of General Hardware and Agricultural Implements.” Perin & Gaff didn’t specialize in one thing. They made everything a hardware dealer or farmer might need, and they made it in cast iron, from their foundry in Cincinnati.
This single-sheave chain pulley is one of those catalog items—a functional piece of industrial hardware, cast in iron, marked with the full company name on one side and “CIN. O.” on the other, and sold through the same distribution network that moved Perin & Gaff bells into church steeples and Perin & Gaff sad irons into laundry rooms. It is not decorative. It is not rare in the way a miniature skillet ashtray is rare. But it is marked, it is Cincinnati, and it is a piece of the working infrastructure that built Ohio’s agricultural economy—and that makes it exactly the kind of artifact the SSC collection was designed to preserve.
The Hardware Manufacturer’s Catalog
Manufacturer’s side showing “PERIN & GAFF MFG CO” cast in raised letters in an arc across the upper frame plate of the pulley. The forged swivel eye allows the pulley to rotate freely under load. The cast iron sheave retains its original pivot bolt. The heavy link chain terminates in a threaded bolt with nut, used for attaching to a load or anchor point. This is the second Perin & Gaff piece in the SSC collection, joining the Susan R. Knox Patent Crank Fluting Iron (SSC-PG-FLT-KNOX-001).
The Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Company operated out of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, during the second half of the nineteenth century. The company’s surviving 1876 catalog—a hardbound volume of approximately four hundred pages—documents the extraordinary breadth of their product line. They manufactured and sold bells for churches, schools, and farms; sad irons and fluting machines for the laundry; traps for pest control; door hardware and building supplies; bellows for blacksmiths; pulleys and rigging hardware for barns and warehouses; drills and agricultural implements for the field. If it could be cast in iron and sold through a hardware dealer, Perin & Gaff probably made it.
This breadth of production places Perin & Gaff in the category of general hardware manufacturers—a type of company that was common in Ohio’s major cities during the post-Civil War industrial expansion but that has largely vanished from the historical record. These were not single-product foundries. They were full-catalog operations that served the entire supply chain of American hardware retail, producing hundreds of different items from a single foundry complex. The 1876 catalog was not just a sales tool—it was a snapshot of what American commerce required in the Gilded Age: an inventory of the physical objects that made daily life function, from the bell that called children to school to the pulley that hoisted hay into a barn loft.
The company’s products were marked consistently: “PERIN & GAFF MFG CO” with “CIN. O.” or “CINCINNATI, O.” depending on the piece. The marking style—raised letters cast directly into the iron—was standard practice for the period. No paper labels, no paint that could wear off. The foundry’s name was part of the casting itself, permanent and legible for as long as the iron survived.
Piece Details
Manufacturer
Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co.
Piece Type
Cast Iron Chain Pulley (single sheave)
Form
Single-sheave pulley with cast iron frame plate, forged swivel eye, and attached heavy link chain with threaded bolt connector
Material
Cast Iron (frame and sheave), Wrought Iron (chain and hardware)
Marking
“PERIN & GAFF MFG CO” on one side; “CIN. O.” on reverse
Purpose
General-purpose lifting/hoisting pulley for agricultural, barn, warehouse, or industrial use
Date of Manufacture
Circa 1870–1900
Place of Manufacture
Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio
Condition
Good — legible company name and city mark; sheave rotates; chain intact with threaded bolt; surface rust and patina consistent with age and outdoor/barn use
Acquisition Date
March 13, 2026
Acquisition Source
eBay — Seller: bird-dogmusic
eBay Item Number
374849384121
Order Number
03-14370-01064
Purchase Price
$40.00 item + $17.22 shipping + $4.85 tax = $62.07 total
SSC Catalog Number
SSC-PG-PLY-1876-001
Collection Designation
Ohio Foundry Corridor
Corporate Timeline: Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co.
c. 1860s
Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co. established in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. The company manufactures a broad line of general hardware and agricultural implements from its Cincinnati foundry.
1866
The company manufactures the Susan R. Knox Patent Crank Fluting Iron (U.S. Patent No. 59,913, November 20, 1866) under license, expanding its domestic hardware line into patented laundry equipment.
1874
Knox et al. v. Loweree et al. is heard in federal court, involving patent rights to the Knox fluting machine. Perin & Gaff’s role as a licensed manufacturer is documented in the case record.
c. 1876
The company publishes its “Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of General Hardware and Agricultural Implements,” a hardbound volume of approximately 400 pages covering bells, traps, door hardware, bellows, pulleys, drills, sad irons, fluting machines, and more.
1876
Perin & Gaff introduces the Royal 80 Fluting Machine under its own patent, a mechanical crank-operated fluter with corrugated rollers.
1881–1888
Nelson Lyon files a patent infringement suit against Perin & Gaff in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati), involving metallic stiffeners for boot and shoe heels. The case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court as Lyon v. Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co., 125 U.S. 698 (1888).
Late 19th c.
The company’s products—bells, sad irons, fluting machines, pulleys, and agricultural implements—are distributed through hardware dealers across the Midwest and beyond. Surviving pieces carry the marks “PERIN & GAFF MFG CO” and “CIN. O.” or “CINCINNATI, O.”
Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co.: Cincinnati’s General Hardware Foundry
The Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Company was a Cincinnati-based general hardware manufacturer active during the second half of the nineteenth century. The company operated from Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, and produced an exceptionally broad catalog of cast iron goods: bells in multiple sizes for churches, schools, and farms; sad irons and fluting machines for domestic laundry; traps, door hardware, and building supplies; bellows, pulleys, drills, and agricultural implements. Their circa 1876 illustrated catalog—a hardbound volume of approximately four hundred pages—remains a primary source document for understanding the range and scale of their operations.
Perin & Gaff’s product line reveals a company positioned at the intersection of domestic, agricultural, and industrial markets. Their bells rang in Ohio schoolhouses. Their sad irons heated on Ohio stoves. Their fluting machines crimped the ruffles on Ohio dresses. And their pulleys—like this one—hung in Ohio barns and warehouses, doing the heavy lifting that farming and commerce required. The company’s reach extended well beyond Ohio: their products were distributed through hardware dealers across the Midwest and beyond, and their name appeared in patent cases heard as far away as Indiana and before the United States Supreme Court.
The company was involved in significant federal litigation that confirms its industrial stature. In Lyon v. Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co., 125 U.S. 698 (1888), the U.S. Supreme Court heard a patent infringement case involving metallic stiffeners for boot and shoe heels—evidence that Perin & Gaff’s manufacturing activities extended even beyond traditional hardware into shoe-industry components. The case was originally filed in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio, sitting in Cincinnati, confirming the company’s legal domicile and operational base in that city. Separately, the firm manufactured fluting machines under the Susan R. Knox 1866 patent, and the related patent litigation (Knox et al. v. Loweree et al., 1874) further documents their role as a licensed manufacturer of patented household goods.
The Perin & Gaff name appears on a remarkably diverse range of surviving antique items: numbered sad irons (#9 and others), Royal 80 fluting machines (patented 1876), Knox patent crank fluting irons (patented 1866), cast iron bells in sizes from small farm bells to large church bells measuring eighteen inches across, and—as this pulley demonstrates—industrial and agricultural hardware. This diversity is the hallmark of a general hardware foundry: a single company casting iron for every corner of American life, from the laundry room to the church steeple to the barn loft.
The Pulley in Context: Cincinnati and the Ohio Hardware Trade
Cincinnati in the second half of the nineteenth century was one of America’s great manufacturing cities. Before Cleveland and Akron rose to industrial dominance in the early twentieth century, Cincinnati was the economic engine of Ohio—a river city with access to raw materials, transportation, and markets stretching from the Ohio Valley to the Great Plains. The city’s foundries produced everything from stoves and cookware to machine tools and municipal castings. Perin & Gaff operated within this ecosystem as a general hardware manufacturer, producing the broad catalog of iron goods that hardware dealers needed to stock their shelves and supply their communities.
The SSC collection now documents multiple Cincinnati manufacturers: W. Resor & Co. (waffle irons), Kingery Manufacturing Company (ice cream scoops), Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co. (fluting irons and now this pulley), and others. Each Cincinnati piece represents a different facet of the city’s foundry and manufacturing industry. Resor made cookware. Kingery made food-service equipment. Perin & Gaff made everything. Together, they document a city where the hardware trade was not a sideline—it was a foundational industry, casting the iron objects that built and sustained communities across the Ohio River Valley and the American Midwest.
A pulley like this one would have been a catalog item—one of dozens of rigging and lifting hardware pieces illustrated in the Perin & Gaff catalog alongside hay forks, rope, chain, and other barn and warehouse equipment. It was sold through hardware dealers to farmers, warehousemen, and anyone who needed to lift, lower, or move heavy loads. The single-sheave design with a swivel eye and attached chain is a standard configuration for a general-purpose lifting pulley: hang it from a barn beam or warehouse rafter, run a rope through the sheave, and you have a simple mechanical advantage for hoisting hay, feed sacks, grain, or equipment. It is the kind of piece that would have been ordered by the dozen and sold by the piece, used until the chain wore through or the barn came down, and then thrown in a scrap pile without a second thought.
That this one survived with legible markings is the improbable part. That it carries the name of a Cincinnati hardware manufacturer whose four-hundred-page catalog documented the material culture of Gilded Age America is what makes it worth preserving.
Two Pieces, One Foundry: The Growing Perin & Gaff Story
This pulley is the second Perin & Gaff piece in the SSC collection, joining the Susan R. Knox Patent Crank Fluting Iron (SSC-PG-FLT-KNOX-001)—a thoroughly documented entry supported by the original 1866 patent, a Smithsonian catalog entry, and the federal court case Knox et al. v. Loweree et al. (1874). The fluting iron represents one end of the Perin & Gaff product spectrum: a patented domestic household device, manufactured under license, designed for the laundry room. This pulley represents the other end: an unpatented utilitarian piece of agricultural and industrial hardware, designed for the barn loft.
Together, these two pieces illustrate the defining characteristic of a general hardware manufacturer. Perin & Gaff did not specialize. They served the entire range of American hardware needs from a single foundry in Cincinnati. The same company that cast the delicate corrugated rollers of a Knox fluting machine also cast the heavy frame plate of a barn pulley. The same company name that appeared on a laundry-room countertop also appeared on a beam in a hay barn. This breadth—this refusal to be defined by a single product category—is what made companies like Perin & Gaff essential to the hardware trade, and it is what makes their surviving products so valuable as historical documents.
Why This Piece Matters
The Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co. cast iron chain pulley matters because it is the piece nobody saves. Bells get hung on walls. Sad irons get displayed on shelves. Fluting machines get photographed and written about. But pulleys—the actual working hardware that built and sustained American farms and warehouses—end up in scrap piles, rust heaps, and landfills. A marked pulley from a documented Cincinnati hardware manufacturer is a survivor of a category that was never meant to survive. It was meant to work, and when it stopped working, it was meant to disappear.
This one didn’t disappear. It carries the name of a Cincinnati foundry that cast iron for every corner of American life in the second half of the nineteenth century, from the church steeple to the laundry room to the barn loft. It is the second Perin & Gaff piece in the SSC collection, and it expands the documentation of this manufacturer from the domestic sphere into the agricultural and industrial sphere. A four-hundred-page catalog cannot be reassembled from surviving pieces alone—but every marked piece that surfaces adds another page to the story. This pulley is one more page.
This pulley—forty dollars on eBay, a heavy iron wheel with a rusty chain—is a piece of that story. It was designed to lift loads in barns at a time when Cincinnati foundries supplied the hardware that built rural America. It was made in Cincinnati by a company that cast everything from church bells to boot-heel stiffeners. And it carries the mark of an Ohio manufacturer that the SSC collection exists to preserve.
The iron endures. The markings tell the truth. The story deserves to be told.
Sources & Further Reading
Physical examination of piece: Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co. cast iron chain pulley with single sheave, forged swivel eye, and attached heavy link chain. Marked “PERIN & GAFF MFG CO” and “CIN. O.” in raised cast letters on frame plate.
Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co., Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of General Hardware and Agricultural Implements (Cincinnati, Ohio, c. 1876). Approximately 400-page hardbound catalog documenting bells, traps, door hardware, bellows, pulleys, drills, sad irons, fluting machines, and agricultural implements.
Lyon v. Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co., 125 U.S. 698 (1888). U.S. Supreme Court case involving patent infringement claim for metallic stiffeners for boot and shoe heels, confirming Perin & Gaff’s operations in Cincinnati and the breadth of its manufacturing activities.
U.S. Patent No. 59,913 (November 20, 1866), “Improvement in Fluting-Machines,” granted to Susan R. Knox. Manufactured by Perin & Gaff Mfg. Co. under license.
Urban Remains Chicago (urbanremainschicago.com) — Listing and description of the c. 1876 Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Company hardbound catalog.
SSC Internal Collection Records — Perin & Gaff pieces: SSC-PG-FLT-KNOX-001 (Susan R. Knox Patent Crank Fluting Iron). Cincinnati manufacturer pieces: W. Resor & Co. (SSC-RESOR-WAF-1880-001), Kingery Mfg. Co. (SSC-KINGERY-SCP-1894-001).
About Steve’s Seasoned Classics
Steve’s Seasoned Classics is an online museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the heritage of American cast iron, with a focus on Ohio foundry pieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The SSC collection features over 130 pieces with detailed provenance, historical research, and photography for each item.
