Cox & Sons Company Records
name: label: Creator
content: Cox & Sons Company
label: Former owner
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
topic: label: Topic
content: Machine-tools
label: Topic
content: Metalworking
label: Topic
content: Metal-working machinery
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection purchased from Walter Grossman, 1981.
creator: label: Creator
content: Cox & Sons Company
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cox & Sons Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection consists of photographs and catalogues documenting the work of Cox & Sons Company. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Bridgeton, New Jesery it manufacturered pipe cutting and threading machines as well as many other tools and machinery.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Cox & Sons Company were engineers and manufacturers of pipe cutting and threading machinery in addition to many other machines and tools including threading dies; die chaser grinders; socket tapping machines; scrap bundling machines for brass, iron, or steel; fuel oil burners; fuel oil apparatus; Siemens reversing valves; steam engine-driven machines; and air compressors. The company was in the Lafayette Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  According to a leaflet, in the Jay T. Last Collection held by the Huntington Library, Cox & Sons Company exhibited their products at the United States Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1876.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: .15 Cubic feet (1 box )
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1900-1935, undated
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Work & Industry in February 2022.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1533
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2023. Finding aid encoded by Audrey Willius, intern, 2023.
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: Collection consists primarily of black and white photographic prints of the machinery that was manufactured by Cox & Sons Company.  There are also a few catalogues with illustrations and  specifications for these products. Photographs of workers inside the shop and outside of the Bridgetown, New Jersey building and exterior views of the building itself can also be found among the materials.  A photograph of a letter from the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company to Cox & Sons Company in reference to the suit filed in the United States Court at Philadelphia against the Philadelphia Pneumatic Tool Company, Keller Tool Company, and all others for infringement of Boyer Pneumatic tool patents is also part of this collection. Materials are arranged in chronological order.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History 

For related material on blowing engines, see the following collections:


C. L. Strong Papers, NMAH.AC.0012

William J. Hammer Collection NMAH.AC.0069

Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143

Eisler Engineering Company Records, NMAH.AC.0704

Cooper-Bessemer Corporation Records, NMAH.AC.0961

Nordberg Manufacturing Company Collection, NMAH.AC.0975

Southwark Foundry and Machine Company, NMAH.AC.1107


For related material on engine driving compressors, see the following collections:

Frick Company Records, NMAH.AC.0293

Erasmus D. Leavitt Papers, NMAH.AC.0966

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Glass Plate Negatives, NMAH.AC.1089


For related material on metal working machinery, see the following collections:


Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Machinery, NMAH.AC.0060


Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143


Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Collection, NMAH.AC.0803


Max Kronenberg Papers, NMAH.AC.0813


James Nicol Halkett Papers, NMAH.AC.1455


Smithsonian Archives and Libraries


Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collections

Other Repositories


University of California, Libraries, Calisphere, Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, Cox & Sons exhibits, Philadelphia exhibition, 1876