Dayton Malleable Iron Co. Patented Smelting Ladle
Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Industrial Tools, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Industrial Tools, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman

Dayton Malleable Iron Co. Patented Smelting Ladle

A brass brush brought it back: DAYTON MALLEABLE IRON CO. / PAT AUG 15 / 1871. Not just the year — the month and the day. August 15, 1871. The same day M. Hose & Lyon, across town in Dayton, patented their own competing ladle design. The dried slag in the diamond-form cup is still there. The thermal patina is still there. SSC will not remove either one. This is what a working foundry tool looks like after 155 years when you choose preservation over restoration.

Read More
Greer & King Mfg. Co. No. 8 Three-Legged Bail Bean Pot Kettle
Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman Pre-1905 Collection, Ohio Cast Iron, Hollow Ware, SSC Museum Collection Steve Thaman

Greer & King Mfg. Co. No. 8 Three-Legged Bail Bean Pot Kettle

The Greer & King Mfg. Co. of Dayton, Ohio received their patent on November 3, 1868 — three years after the Civil War ended, when Reconstruction was still unfinished and the western frontier had not yet closed. The bean pot sitting on these three iron legs predates Wagner by two decades and Griswold Erie by more than twenty years. This is the oldest patent-dated piece in the SSC Museum Collection, and one of the primary surviving physical records of a Dayton foundry that the standard reference databases have never documented.

Read More