Abstract

The rise of a specific rival to the Vaughn Machine Co. is considered along with major changes in management at the internationally important leather trade engineer, based in Peabody, Massachusetts (MA), United States. By emphasising the essential role of George C. Vaughn in tanning machinery development, it establishes why a new contender – the Vaughn-Rood Machine Co., became a major challenger. It also reflects on the interesting account of how wrangles in the US Courts resulted in the transfer of patents and machinery designs, from the Vaughn Machine Co., to the Turner Tanning Machinery Co. Survival of the old established Vaughn business demanded a change from leather trade machinery into the expanding automotive sector. For a time this seemed to fill the void for the engineering concern. Demise however, soon followed. Subsequent to the brief history of the Vaughn- Rood Machine Co., the paper concludes with the agreed takeover of this business, also by the Turner Tanning Machinery Co., and some of the later enterprises pursued by George C. Vaughn.