ACHSBanner8

drake01

Above is an advertisement from Drake Manufacturing Company.

DRAKE MANUFACTURING COMPANY

FRIENDSHIP, NY 

From 1965 Friendship Sesqui-Centennial Book 

The Drake Manufacturing Company was founded in 1897, successor to the Drake Hardware Company.  A building was erected on Sawyer Avenue for the manufacture of the Empire State Malleable Iron Range.  This range was very popular and was sold all over the eastern states.  A few years ago the Drake Company, which no longer makes stoves, received a picture from a lady in Vermont of one of the stoves with a cat and dog reclining before it.  She requested that grates for the stove be sent.  Drake employees did some searching and came up with the grates which were dispatched to Vermont.  Stove manufacturing ceased forty-five years ago.  The founders of the company were B. Frank Drake, L. S. Howard and Charles Day.  Later the sons of B. Frank Drake managed the company for some years until their deaths.

In 1952 Henry H. Macler bought a half interest in the company from the Drake family.  At that time there were sixteen employed and the main products were gray iron castings for Delco Company.  All the handling of metal and materials was done by hand.  In 1953 the Delco Company ceased their purchases but through extensive sales efforts the Rochester Product Division of General Motors Corporation began to buy casting which has continued to the present day. (1965)  In 1953 Donald Bowersox purchased the remaining half interest in the company from the Drake family.  During 1954 and 1955 production increased with increasing sales due to a reputation for service and quality.

In 1955 a new process called Shell Molding was introduced into this country from Germany and a few foundries felt this was a means to produce better castings.  Drake management took a tremendous chance in securing orders and producing castings in this process, before having any prior experience.  Drake is now considered one of the outstanding shell casting foundries in this country.  The employees of the company were organized by the International Association of Machinists in 1961.  Macler and Bowersox started Hearth Industries, Inc., in Wellsville in order to diversify their interest.  In late 1961 the Drake Manufacturing merged with T K M Electric Corp. of Rochester.  T K M was a builder of special permanent magnet generators for aircraft and missiles.  From 1961 to 1964 Drake employment grew to approximately 100 and the production to approximately 8,000,000 pounds of castings per year.

In January 1964 the T K M portion of the company was sold to the Garrett Corporation of Los Angeles, a supplier of military hardware.  In July 1964 Macler Industries, Inc. of Friendship purchased all the outstanding stock of Drake Manufacturing Company.  At the present time an expansion program costing about $350,000 is being made with the aim of becoming an outstanding production foundry in the east.  About 8,000,000 automobiles have Drake castings in their assembly and at the present time Drake is branching out into the aircraft and truck building fields.  The payroll now numbers slightly under 100 persons.

(In 2008 the company is no longer in business.)