Foundry products operations (Cincinnati Milling Machine)

Foundry products operations (Cincinnati Milling Machine) was a subsidiary operation of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company (CMM), a company which no longer exists. Some parts of the company evolved into the present Milacron, Inc. and Cincinnati Machine. CMM relied heavily on castings for the manufacturing of its machine tool products. The castings were produced at Cincinnati foundries not owned by CMM and at multiple foundries owned by CMM (and later, Milacron, Inc.) between 1907 and 1988.

In 1884 the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company was incorporated. The company was in the business of making screws and taps but also began to make machine tools. A basic component in machine tools at this time was gray iron castings. The company bought castings from jobbing foundries for the machine tools it manufactured. Some of the Cincinnati local foundries which supplied to the machine tool company included the Blackburn Foundry, Buckeye Foundry Company, The Steel Foundry Company (Cincinnati) and others.

In 1889 the screw and tap business was sold off, as the machine tool business was being concentrated on, and the company was renamed the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. (CMM). CMM continued to operate in the central business district of Cincinnati and purchased castings from a number of local foundries.

In 1905 the company was sold in total to Frederick A. Geier, who became president. Geier had been a partner in the concern previously. Until this time the company had had some problems with the locations in the business district: at least one flood and a fire had caused it to relocate.

In October 1906 CMM announced plans for a new vertically integrated factory to be built in a suburb of Cincinnati named Oakley. A 102-acre (0.41 km²) site was purchased there which was named the Factory Colony. This site would include a two-story administration building 62 x 120 feet (37 m), a foundry building 62 x 280 feet (85 m), a building for cleaning castings and storing 62 x 530 feet (160 m), a charging building 62 x 180 feet (55 m), and a pattern shop 62 x 180 feet (55 m). These buildings would be all of brick and steel construction. A few months later the company announced the foundry would be 350 x 450 feet (140 m) with the pattern shop to be 50 x 160 feet (49 m). A power house would also be erected with a size of 75 x 100 feet. The foundry was planned to provide castings to all companies which would locate to the new industrial park.