Taylor Instrument Companies

Taylor Instrument Companies

Corporate History & Heritage

Taylor Instrument Companies Ames Street Plant

Ames Street Headquarters (Completed 1906)

Founded:	1851 (Kendall & Taylor)
Founders:	David Kendall George Taylor
Headquarters:	95 Ames Street Rochester, New York
Trade Marks:	Tycos, Taylor
Incorporated:	1890 ($75,000 cap.)
Acquisitions:	Hohmann & Maurer (1895) Short & Mason (1900)
Successor:	Combustion Eng. (1983) ABB Group (1989)

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Taylor Instrument Companies was an American industrial precision manufacturing firm headquartered in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1851 as Kendall & Taylor, the firm evolved from a modest, single-room workshop producing handcrafted tin-case thermometers into an international leader in temperature, pressure, meteorological, and automated process-control instrumentation.

Under the guidance of the Taylor family and prominent executives such as Herbert J. Winn, the company supplied instruments critical to global aviation, heavy chemical manufacturing, naval aviation, and the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, operating as an independent entity until its 1983 merger with Combustion Engineering and subsequent integration into the ABB Group.

Origins & Early Growth (1851–1889)

The foundation of the firm began in November 1851 when David Kendall, a master instrument craftsman trained in New Lebanon, partnered with 19-year-old George Taylor above Post’s Drug Store on Exchange Street in downtown Rochester.

• Kendall & Taylor (1851–1853): Kendall fabricated glass thermometer tubes and graduated scales while Taylor oversaw distribution and sales throughout western New York.
• 11 Hill Street (1853–1859): George Taylor bought out Kendall and relocated the enterprise to larger quarters on Hill Street to expand its artisan workforce.
• Taylor & Richardson (1866): George's brother Frank Taylor arrived in Rochester from New Hampshire in 1862 and established Taylor & Richardson at 145 Buffalo Street with Hamlet F. Richardson.
• Taylor Brothers (1872): George acquired Richardson's interest in 1870, uniting operations with Frank under the celebrated partnership name Taylor Brothers, leading the firm until George's death in 1889.

Corporate Expansion & Acquisitions (1889–1906)

Following George's death in 1889, Frank Taylor assumed the presidency and led the firm’s incorporation in 1890 as the Taylor Brothers Company with $75,000 in capital stock. Bringing George's sons—J. Merton Taylor and G. Elbert Taylor—into executive leadership, Frank orchestrated decisive corporate acquisitions that shifted the firm from domestic consumer instruments to heavy industrial control:

1. Watertown Thermometer Co. (1891): Consolidated domestic and fever thermometer production.
2. Hohmann & Maurer Manufacturing Co. (1895): Brooklyn makers of high-range industrial thermometers and steam gauges; relocated to Rochester in 1896.
3. London Branch (1898): A manufacturing and sales depot opened at 106 Hatton Garden, London, initiated by traveling representative Herbert J. Winn.
4. Short & Mason Co., Ltd. (1900): High-precision London fabricators of aneroid barometers, compasses, and meteorological instruments.
5. Davis & Roesch Mfg. Co. and R. Hoehn Co. (1905): Broadened the company's automatic regulators and specialty measuring devices.

The Ames Street Main Plant (1906)

By October 1900, corporate capitalization had grown to $535,000. In response to rapid growth, the company commissioned a sprawling modern manufacturing complex at 95 Ames Street in Rochester. Completed in January 1906, all corporate offices, laboratories, glass-blowing shops, machine works, and the Watertown plant operations were consolidated at the Ames Street campus.

World War I and the Tycos Era

Under the presidency of J. Merton Taylor (1910–1913) and subsequently Herbert J. Winn (1913–1938), the company established dedicated Chemical and Physical Research Laboratories and opened sales offices across North America.

During World War I, Taylor expanded its workforce from 600 to more than 1,270 employees, manufacturing altimeters and aircraft instrumentation for the United States government—advancements made possible through Short & Mason's early aeronautical expertise. In 1922, the company opened the dedicated Tycos Company Library on site to document its expanding scientific patents and publications.

In 1930, the firm incorporated Taylor Instrument Companies of Canada, Ltd. and gradually phased out the Tycos trade name in favor of a unified Taylor trademark.

World War II & The Manhattan Project

During World War II, Taylor Instrument Companies was selected as the prime contractor for process-control instrumentation for the classified gaseous diffusion plant (K-25) in the **Oak Ridge Atomic Bomb Project** in Tennessee.

The company also manufactured:

• Classified bomb sights for A-26 Invader attack aircraft.
• Pressure-modulating medical boots for wounded soldiers.
• Millions of compasses for the U.S. Army and Army Corps of Engineers.
• Precision barometers and altimeters for military aircraft.

For excellence in wartime production, Taylor was awarded the prestigious Army-Navy “E” Award three times, as well as the joint Award for Chemical Engineering Achievement.

Centennial and Modern Legacy

In 1951, the company celebrated 100 years of operation with an open house and citywide centennial events in Rochester.

In 1983, Taylor merged with Combustion Engineering, becoming a cornerstone of industrial process automation in the United States. Following Combustion Engineering’s purchase in 1989, the Taylor manufacturing lineage was integrated into the global instrumentation operations of the **ABB Group**.

Archival Primary Sources

Primary Archival Repository

Primary records, executive minutes, plant photographs, and blueprints documenting Taylor Instrument Companies are held in the Taylor Instrument Company Papers (Collection D.75) at the University of Rochester Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation:

• Series I: General History (1851–1951) — Charters, Ames Street building records, and Centennial records.
• Series II: War Efforts — Documentation of World War I aircraft contracts, World War II Manhattan Project production, and Army-Navy "E" Awards.
• Series III: Business Papers — Scientific research files, catalogs, patents, and sales records.

University of Rochester Collection Record & Finding Aid (D.75)