Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Geometric Tool Co.
• Geometric Tool Co. c.1896-1980

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Machine Tools, Machinery

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

Thread cutting machines/tools and lathe chucks William Smith was an inventor without a market when Howard Adt joined Geometric Tool Co. in 1896. The 3-year-old firm had but several employees making Smith's Geometric Drill, an ingenious device with no practical application in manufacturing. Adt's training in his father's New Haven toolmaking shop enabled him to recognize the futility of marketing Geometric Drills and the possibilities in another of Smith's patented devices, the Automatic Self-opening Die Head. Adt redirected production to this device, which proved to be of great utility in mass production of threaded metal parts. The Die Head cut threads with two chasers, which were actuated by a plunger to withdraw from the surface of the workpiece after a predetermined length of thread was cut. This made it unnecessary to reverse the rotation of the work while retracting the Die Head. Used mostly on screw machines and turret lathes, the tool almost halved the time for many threading operations and greatly simplified the setting-up of the machines. It expanded the high-production capabilities of these crucially important machine tools and was applicable to manufacture of an unlimited range of products. The firm that Adt built around the Die Head was successful but not large, with the number of employees never exceeding 200. In 1905 Geometric Tool Co. bought the property it had rented and began to build a new plant. (Roth)

Number of Existing Buildings

n/a

Dates of Construction

1905, 1912, 1916, c.1940s-1950s

Architect

Leo F. Caproni (1941 addition)

Builder

Fusco & Amatruda, New Haven (1941 addition)

Building Type

n/a

Architectural Description

A 2-story brick office building (60' x 30') and 2-story brick-pier machine shop (80' x 60') remain from the [1905] rebuilding. Two 1912 1-story machine shops also stand (138' x 50' and 50' x 43'); both are of brick-pier construction and have sawtoothed roofs. A heat-treating plant (1-story, 75' x 50') was added in 1916; it has a low-pitched roof with a monitor along its ridge, the typical roof configuration for thermal-process buildings of the time. The present complex of structures, still occupied by Geometric Tool Co., has several additions from the 1940s and 1950s. (Roth) Leo F. Caproni designed and was awarded contract in 1941 for construction of addition, although the relevant block has not been clearly identified.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Structural Concrete

Roof Form

• Monitor
• Sawtooth

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

n/a

Condition

n/a

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

Corner of Valley and Blake Streets.

Located in Westville Village National Historic District (2002).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=217dd5ca-86ab-4b18-a363-6ba0cfa49310

Adjacent To

n/a

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 371/1165/200 / Link →

Acreage

4.02

Use (Present)

• Commercial
• Mixed-Use

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).
2. Dunne, Mary. 2002. Westville Village Historic District National Register Nomination No. 02001727. National Park Service.
3. Caproni, Leo F., ‘Industrial Buildings’ (1942 booklet)
4. Information, historic photographs and sources for Leo Caproni courtesy Gregg Bateman (2018).
5. Hook, James W., "The Geometric Tool Co., New Haven, Connecticut, Background and History, 1776-1893, 1893-1943."