|Born||Henry Marcus Quackenbush
April 27, 1847
Herkimer, New York
|Died||September 8, 1933(aged 86)|
Industrialist / InventorFounder of H.M. Quackenbush Co., Herkimer, NY
Emily E Wood Quackenbush (b.1854 - d.1895)Flora Franks Quackenbush (b.1867 - d.1958)
Paul Henry Quackenbush (1879 - 1946)
Amy Quackenbush (1886 - 1966)
Franks Quackenbush (1899 - 1988)Henry Marcus Quackenbush, Jr. (1904 - 1910)
Henry Marcus "H.M." Quackenbush (April 27, 1847 – September 8, 1933) was an American inventor and industrialist, who founded the H.M. Quackenbush Company in Herkimer, New York. His company was widely known for its air rifles and for the invention of the metal, spring-jointed nutcracker.
Early Apprenticeship / Invention of Extension Ladder
H.M. Quackenbush was born in Herkimer, New York, in 1847. At age fourteen, he began an apprenticeship at the gun manufacturer, Remington Arms Co. in Ilion, NY, where he acquired skills as a metalworker and gunmaker. At the age of 16, he invented the extension ladder, which he patented on Oct. 22, 1867, and then began manufacturing them himself, until he sold the patent for $500, a considerable sum at the time. Several years later, he left his job at the Remington Arms Co. to start his own metal working and gun shop in his hometown of Herkimer.
The H.M. Quackenbush Co.
In 1871, he founded the H.M. Quackenbush Company in Herkimer, New York, and obtained his first air gun patent (issued June 6, 1871) for his "Eureka" air pistol, which is to this day sought after by collectors.
Air Rifles (BB Guns)
The company began producing air rifles in 1876. Their spring/air design for air rifles, as well as the steam-powered manufacturing plant itself, were both considered to be considerably revolutionary innovations at the time.
In 1913, Quackenbush invented the spring-jointed nutcracker and a nutpick, designs still in wide use today. Over the years, his company produced over 200 million, and metal nutcrackers seen today stamped with the hallmark "HMQ" or "QBC" were those made by the H.M. Quackenbush Co. The company stopped making air guns in the 1930s, but continued making nutpicks and nutcrackers.
The company also developed and manufactured many other products over the years -- ranging from rifles and sport firearms, to kitchen gadgets and seafood tools. Based on U.S. Patent Office records, H.M. Quackenbush and his company were responsible for inventing, or significantly contributing to the development of, numerous early 20th-century inventions, including: bicycles; a foot-powered wood lathe; the scroll saw; darts; stair rails; the extension ladder; a bathroom shelf; the nut cracker and picks; the .22 caliber rim-fire rifle (3 models, including a bicycle rifle); various air rifles and pistols; ammunition for airguns, including lead air rifle shot (commonly known as "BB's"), felted slugs, and darts; the Kaleidoscope; and garment hangers, commonly known as "coat hangers."
In addition to the items he invented and manufactured, Quackenbush also had to invent the machinery needed to produce the items, which included many innovative manufacturing techniques and methods.
Death of Founder / Company Story Since Then
H.M. Quackenbush died in 1933, at age 86. He is interred in Oak Hill Cemetery in Herkimer, NY.
The following year his privately owned business was incorporated in New York by surviving family members as H. M. Quackenbush, Inc. Operations continued in the following decades under the direction of various Quackenbush family members. During World War II, the company contributed significantly to wartime production, and manufactured a number of military supplies -- including bullet cores, shell casings and other screw machine products used in the war effort.
Since then, most of the company's once prospering, large factories and facilities in Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley have been closed. But in 1979, H. M. Quackenbush Inc. acquired the assets of Utica Plating Co. Marketing, and transferred distribution of nutcrackers and related products to the M. E. Heuck Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving metal finishing as their primary remaining line of business. The downsized operation was reconstituted as the HMQ Metal Finishing Group, LLC in 1998, with Frederick H. Hager, the great-great grandson of founder H. M. Quackenbush, as chairman and CEO. The HMQ Group had three operating units, in addition to their corporate offices in Herkimer. These included the H.M. Quackenbushn plant in Herkimer, HMQ Chemtech LLC in Oriskany, NY, and HMQ National Plating LLC in Syracuse, NY.
- "Nutcracker history - invention of the nutcracker". ideafinder.com. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- "H.M. Quackenbush Guns". quackenbush.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- "All Things Quackenbush - The Inventor Henry Marcus Quackenbush". weebly.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- "Improved extension-ladder patent". google.com. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- Groenewold, John - "Quackenbush Guns", Quackenbush Co., N.Y., Jan. 1, 1999.