Charles Cory & Sons | New York | 1845

Established in 1845 at 278 Division St. on the lower east side of Manhattan the Charles Cory Company fabricated brass ship's railings, bells, bell pulls, speaking tubes and the like. Cory was able to capitalize on being one of the only brass ship's hardware manufactures in the country at a time when steamships were scarce. Son John F. Cory entered the business in 1851 and the firm underwent a name change to Chas Cory & Son. 

Between 1866-1892 Cory & Son focused primarily on patenting and installing signaling equipment, including electrical telegraphs, for various navies and merchant marines. John F. devoted over 40 years to the development and design of electrical signaling equipment with Cory & Son before passing away in 1892 after which his two sons Charles and John M. resumed operations.

The company passed through generations of Corys continuing equipment production in various Manhattan & Brooklyn neighborhoods while expanding sales to offices in San Francisco, Seattle, and Philadelphia. 

In the spring of 1930, Bendix Aviation Corp of South Bend, Indiana, a partly owned subsidiary of General Motors, purchased outright Charles Cory & Sons Corporation. This marked the entrance of Bendix and General Motors into the marine industry. Cory & Sons was then operated first as a division of Bendix-Cory, other times Bendix Marine Corp (the successor to Cory & Sons & subsidiary of Bendix Aviation) until sometime in the early 1950s, the Cory & Sons name faded. 

  



Researched & Compiled by Susan Donnelly