Description

Antique Bronzed Cast Iron Advertsing Paperweight Byers Machine Co. Bear-Cat Crane Ravenna Ohio. Measures 3 3/16" wide & weighs 9 ounces. It is cast iron with the original bronze finish and it has a great aged patina - Excellent condition, guaranteed a genuine original old item. The Byers Machine Company was began as a machinery repair business, but its founder, John Byers, also used the company to design his own machinery.The John F. Byers Machine Shop was founded in Ravenna, Ohio, in 1874 as a machinery repair business. John Byers also designed machinery, including the steam engine that supplied power to the shop. He held 13 patents for various machines and mechanical devices; in Feb. 1879 he received a patent for improvement in oatmeal grinding machinery, and Byers sold this patent to the Quaker Oats Mill in Ravenna. This mill combined with four other mills (around 1901) to form the Quaker Oats Company. The John F. Byers Machine Company was founded in Ravenna in 1880 and incorporated in 1891. It became the Byers Machine Company by 1929, and ceased operations in 1954.