American Brass Company
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Brass manufacturing |
| Founded | 1834 (originally as the Wolcottville Brass Company) |
| Headquarters | Wolcottville, Connecticut (present-day Torrington, Connecticut) |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Israel Coe, co-founder John Hungerford, co-founder Anson Greene Phelps, co-founder |
| Products | Sheet, rolled and wire brass; brass tubing; brass fixtures; brass goods including clocks, gun and shell casings, electrical busses |
The American Brass Company was a prominent brass producer in the United States headquartered in Connecticut from 1893 until 1960. Its antecedents included the Wolcottville Brass Company and the Ansonia Brass and Battery Company. Recognized as the first significant brass manufacturer in America, it maintained a dominant position in the market throughout much of its history. In 1922, it was acquired by the Anaconda Copper Company and was fully integrated into Anaconda’s brass operations by 1960, thereby ceasing to exist as an independent entity.
Early history
The enterprise began in 1834 when entrepreneur Israel Coe, businessman John Hungerford, and industrialist Anson Greene Phelps, who also co-founded Phelps Dodge, established a brass mill in Wolcottville (now Torrington, Connecticut). Initially, the facility produced kettles and a limited range of brass buttons. To enhance craftsmanship despite industry opposition aimed at safeguarding market share, skilled artisans were brought in from Great Britain. By 1841, the company went public under the name Wolcottville Brass Company, concentrating on manufacturing rolled and sheet brass.
In 1844, Anson Phelps initiated a major industrial complex in what later became Ansonia, Connecticut, founding the Ansonia Brass and Battery Company. This firm broadened its scope to include copper rolling, brass mills, wire production, and by 1869 had diversified into clock manufacturing. The clock division was separated as the Ansonia Clock Company in 1878. Concurrently, Lyman W. Coe launched the Coe Brass Manufacturing Company in Torrington in 1863.
A significant legal dispute occurred in 1892 when Ansonia Brass contested inventor Alfred A. Cowles over alleged patent infringement. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Cowles, setting a crucial precedent that adapting an existing process for a new but similar application does not qualify for patent protection.
Formation
The American Brass Company was established on June 7, 1893, as a holding entity consolidating six brass manufacturers: Plume & Atwood, Benedict & Burnham, Waterbury Brass, Scovill Manufacturing, Holmes, Booth and Haydens, and Coe Brass. Incorporation was delayed until March 1, 1899 due to disagreements regarding production roles; most original companies withdrew except Waterbury Brass and Coe Brass, which were substituted by Ansonia Brass and Battery Company. Operations officially commenced on December 14, 1899. By the turn of the century, American Brass employed approximately half of the nation’s total brass workforce of 10,000. Benedict & Burnham along with Holmes, Booth and Haydens joined in 1901. By 1909, American Brass was responsible for producing two-thirds of all U.S. brass output, consumed one-third of domestic copper supplies, and ranked as the world’s largest fabricator of nonferrous metals.
Despite its scale, American Brass faced challenges such as redundant facilities and fragmented management. Up until 1922 it operated its subsidiaries independently which allowed competitors like Scovill Manufacturing to expand their market presence. Nevertheless, the company remained at the forefront of innovation—securing patents for hollow ventilated bus bars and creating specialized metallurgical alloys.
On January 1, 1912, American Brass consolidated its subsidiaries into a single corporate entity. It further expanded through acquisitions including Chicago Brass Company (located in Kenosha, Wisconsin), Waterbury Brass Goods Corporation, and Ansonian Land and Water Power Company. In June 1917 it acquired Buffalo Copper and Brass Rolling Mills—the largest independent brass rolling mill with a workforce of 5,000—bringing its total number of mills to seventy that year. During World War I, American Brass employed around 16,000 workers and produced one billion pounds of brass material. In 1921 the company was embroiled in a major embezzlement case when a cashier absconded with $100,000 from headquarters and fled to Italy.
Acquisition and Dissolution by Anaconda Copper Co.
In 1922, the American Brass Company became part of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company through one of the era's most substantial mergers. This strategic purchase enabled Anaconda to reach an unprecedented revenue milestone of $175.45 million, capitalizing on American Brass' leading position in brass manufacturing to implement price-fixing tactics. The division experienced rapid growth in Canada, which triggered a notable tax conflict related to its accounting practices. Between 1922 and 1937, Anaconda American Brass applied the FIFO accounting method before transitioning to LIFO, a change that resulted in a 1947 legal challenge from Canadian tax authorities under the Excess Profits Tax Act of 1940. Ultimately, in 1956, the Supreme Court of Canada determined that LIFO was unacceptable for taxation purposes, establishing a significant legal precedent. The company maintained its original name until 1960, when it was rebranded as Anaconda American Brass.
Ownership After Anaconda
In 1977, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) took ownership of Anaconda American Brass. Following several years marked by diminishing earnings, ARCO divested the company to Buffalo Brass Company. Subsequently, in 1990, Finnish mining firm Outokumpu Oyj acquired American Brass. Outokumpu later sold the business in 2005 to Nordic Capital, a Swedish investment group, for $800 million and renamed it Luvata Brass. In 2011, German copper manufacturer Aurubis AG purchased the company for around $370 million. By 2018, Aurubis declared intentions to divest its flat rolled products segment—including the Buffalo, New York plant—to Wieland Werke AG, a German metals producer.
External links
- American Brass Company Archives – Special Collections & Archives, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut (archived)
- Ansonia Copper & Brass Company – Former Ansonia division of Anaconda American Brass Company; renamed following a private sale in 1986
- Metal companies of the United States
- Defunct manufacturing companies based in Connecticut
- Torrington, Connecticut
- Anaconda Copper
- 1834 establishments in Connecticut
- 1960 disestablishments in Connecticut
- American companies established in 1834
- Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1960
- Ansonia, Connecticut
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment
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