C. B. Cottrell Sons Co. printing specimens and trade catalogs

The C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company was founded in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1855 by mechanic Nathan Babcock and machinist Calvert Byron Cottrell. The company, originally known as Cottrell & Babcock, opened as a general machine manufacturer, but soon focused on the manufacture of oscillating printing presses. In 1868 the company began manufacturing printing presses exclusively. The company became known as the C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company following the 1880 retirement of partner Nathan Babcock and subsequent introduction to the business of C. B. Cottrell's four sons, Edgar H., Charles Perkins, Calvert Byron, Jr., and Arthur Cottrell. C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company continued to produce a wide line of printing presses throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, eventually becoming a subsidiary of the Harris-Seybold Company (later the Harris Corporation) in 1953.

The early foundation for the success of the C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company was the mechanical mind of its founder. Throughout the late nineteenth century C. B. Cottrell made a name for himself as an inventor of and innovator in printing press technology. Over the course of his life he applied for and received over one hundred American and European patents for improvements in printing press machinery, including patents for an air spring for the bed of a press, a tapeless sheet delivery system for a drum cylinder press, a front sheet delivery system, a rotary color printing press, and a shifting tympan for a web perfecting press. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century the C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company doubled the capacity of their Westerly, Rhode Island works. Following an extensive addition to the Westerly works in 1899, C. B. Cottrell & Sons became the second largest pressworks in America, only behind R. Hoe & Company.

Though the company was founded in Westerly, Rhode Island, the business's main administrative offices were located at 8 Spruce Street, New York City, beginning in 1867. The manufacturing works remained in Westerly, however. The company also operated several regional offices across the nation, namely in Chicago and Boston. In Chicago the company occupied offices at various times at 292 and 297 Dearborn Street, 112 Monroe Street, and 198 Clark Street. The Boston office was located at 174 Forthill Square. In addition to these offices, the company also exhibited their printing presses at many national and international exhibitions, including the Richmond (Virginia) Agricultural and Mechanical Exhibition, the Cincinnati Centennial Exhibition (1888), and the Paris Exposition of 1900. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the company conducted business with a sizable number of international customers, and many of their trade and exhibition catalogs were printed in foreign languages including French, Spanish, and German.

C. B. Cottrell & Sons Company was incorporated in 1892, a year prior to C. B. Cottrell's death, with a capitalization of $800,000. Three of Cottrell's four sons would go on to serve as presidents of the company in their lifetimes. During the twentieth century the company continued to manufacture letterpress and, occasionally, gravure presses, spending much of its time and effort in perfecting high-speed, natural-color, magazine presses. Beginning in the early twentieth century the company also began manufacturing printing plates. In 1953 the Cottrell Company was acquired by the offset press manufacturing firm of Harris-Seybold Company.

"Calvert Byron Cottrell."Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Available online via the Biography Resource Center at http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed April 22, 2010)."Cottrell, Calvert Byron."The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 3. New York: James T. White & Company, 1893. Available online via the Internet Archive at http://www.archive.org/details/nationalcyclopa02whitgoog (accessed April 22, 2010).Cottrell, Donald C.The Cottrell Company, 1855-1955, Color Press Pioneers. Address to the Newcomen Society delivered October 26, 1955. New York: Newcomen Society in North America, 1955.Additional information derived from the collection and accompanying accession information.