More on J.O. Smith Manufacturing

This mornings Buzz introduced you the the J. O. Smith Manufacturing Co., makers of Japanware, in Westfield.  When the founder passed on, his son took over.

James Owen Smith, born in 1814, came to Westfield with his father and learned the trade. His brother Herbert was treasurer for much of the 19th century.  In 1874, a fire virtually destroyed the mill and it was rebuilt. A photograph of the new factory is shown here.  The enterprise was enlarged again in 1916 with a three-story brick addition constructed by the Mylchreest Brothers.

Public demand for tin-plated and Japanned goods declined after 1880, so J.O. Smith extended its line to include varnishes, enamels and tinware in the form of cash boxes, typewriter covers, and other utilitarian products. This seemed to keep them busy for quite awhile.

In 1937, the J.O. Smith site was purchasd by Raymond Engineering, a corporation established by Horace Raymond, the inventor of the photoelectric-operated "Magic Eye" door.  His son, George, an MIT-trained engineer, took over after World War II; George's brother, Sam, also an MIT graduate, was in the forefront of underwater imaging systems, and his company, Benthos, created the undersea cameras used by Robert Ballard to find the Titanic.

The days of family-operated industry are long over.  Raymond Engineering was purchased by in 1986 Kaman Aerospace Corp.,  maker of "electromechanical devices and assemblies and navigational tape memory systems."