Rome, New York’s Rome-Turney Radiator Co. was a reorganization of the Long-Turney Manufacturing Co. a partnership founded in 1905 by Ohio native George W. Turney and Illinois native Joseph B. Long. Turney, the firm’s general manager, represented the interests of the directors of the Rome Brass & Copper Co. - Long, the firm’s vice-president, was the founder of the Long Mfg. Co., a Chicago-based manufacturer of automobile radiators built using his patented crimp-based fin tubing.

Founded by Jonathan S. Haselton (b. 1847-d.1908), the Rome Brass & Copper Co. was a reorganization of the Rome Iron Works, a firm originally founded in 1863. Jonathan Sawyer Haselton was born at Lawrence, Massachusetts, December 5, 1847 to Nathaniel and Myra (Sawyer) Haselton. In his boyhood he removed with his parents to Rome where he attended the public schools. His first business venture was as a newsboy on the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad and in 1867 he became connected with the Rome Iron Works as office boy. As the railroad industry converted from iron to steel the Rome Iron Works began the manufacture of brass, and eventually copper, renaming itself the Rome Brass & Copper Co. in 1890. By that time Haselton had advanced through the various positions of clerk, bookkeeper, secretary-treasurer, ending up as the firm’s president.

Haselton and the firm’s directors invested in numerous local firms that used the region’s abundant copper reserves, which included the Rome Manufacturing Company, the Rome Metal Company, the Rome Tube Company, the Rome Electrical Company, and the Long-Turney Manufacturing Company.

The latter firm’s establishment on September 22, 1905 was announced to the trade in Automobile Topics as follows:

“Rome, N. Y. — The Long-Turney Manufacturing Company, with $50,000 capital, to manufacture automobile parts. Incorporators : Thomas H. Stryker, G. W. Turney and J. S. Hazelton, of Rome, and J. B. Long, of Chicago.”

And through a series of display ads (transcribed below) that appeared in the leading automotive and metal industry periodicals:

“Long's New Radiator Factory

“Owing to the great demand for our Spiral Tubing and Radiators, made of same, we find it necessary to increase our factory facilities. On Jan. 1st, we moved into our new factory, which gave us more than three times the floor space for manufacturing purposes. We now find that we are obliged to enlarge our factory again. Therefore, we have decided to open a new factory in Rome, New York, to take care of the Eastern and Export trade, which will be in operation Nov. 1st. Our new factory will be equipped with the most modern machinery and electric power for making Spiral Tubing, Radiators and Hoods. It will be known as the Long-Turney Mfg. Co., of Rome, New York, and will be managed by Geo. W. Turney, who has been connected with the Rome Brass and Copper Co., for the past 14 years. The Long-Turney Mfg. Co. is licensed to enjoy all the privileges of the Long Mfg. Co.'s patents and patents pending on Spiral
Tubing and Radiators.

“Long-Turney Manufacturing Co.”

The October 1905 issue of The Motor Way gave a few more details:

“TO MAKE RADIATORS IN ROME

“Incorporation papers were issued last week to the Long-Turney Manufacturing Company, of Rome, N. Y., with a paid up capital of $50,000. The new company is the successor of the Long Manufacturing Company, of Chicago, and will manufacture automobile radiators, spiral tubing and other metal specialties. Thomas H. Stryker, G. W. Turney and J. S. Haselton, of Rome, and J. B. Long, of Chicago, are named as incorporators. Dr. W. L. Kingsley will be president.”

Joseph B. Long (b.1871-d.1911), the Long in Long-Turney, was born during 1871 in Assumption, Christian County, Illinois to Charles (b.1824-d.1900) and Caroline (Rayburn b. 1827-d.1900) Long. The 1880 US Census lists his father’s occupation as farmer and includes 5 siblings; Amanda E.; Charles M., George W.; Joseph B.; and Luella H. Long.

In 1903 Joseph B. Long established the Long Manufacturing Co. at 1430-34 Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois and during the next half decade was awarded 6 US Patents relating to the construction of radiators as follows:

US pat no. 844685 Radiator for Automobiles - Filed Feb 17, 1905 - Issued Feb 19, 1907 to Joseph B. Long

US pat no. 898237 - Radiator for Automobiles - Filed Oct 23, 1905 - Issued Sep 8, 1908 to Christopher Wright and Joseph B. Long assignors to Long Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Ill.

US pat no. 898238 Radiator for Automobiles - Filed May 11, 1907 - Issued Sep 8, 1908 to Frank Todd and Joseph B. Long assignors to Joseph B. Long of Chicago, Ill.

US pat no. 966721 - Radiator for Automobiles - Filed Dec 11, 1909 - Issued Aug 9, 1910 to Frank Todd assigned to Joseph B. Long of Chicago, Ill.

US pat no. 993318 - Radiator for Automobiles - Filed Dec 11, 1909 - Issued May 23, 1911 to Frank Todd assigned to Joseph B. Long of Chicago, Ill.

US Pat. No. 934,584 - Radiator for Automobiles — Frank Todd, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Joseph B. Long, Chicago, Ill. Filed August 30, 1907. Issued February 15, 1908.

Long’s partner, George W. Turney, was born in Marion, Marion County, Ohio on May 7, 1855 to Weaver Adams (b.1823–d.1890) and Catherine A. (Williams b.1830–d.1899) Turney. Weaver was one of the county’s pioneer jewelers remaining in business for more than a half century, until his death on May 6, 1890 when his son Merrill A. assumed control of the firm. Weaver and Catherine were married on Oct 17, 1846 and their union was blessed with 6 children; Joseph R; George W. (our subject); Henry M., Merrill A., Alice M. (nee Thompson); and Gertrude J. (nee Duff) Turney.

Interestingly Long and Turney were related through marriage. Joseph B. Long’s second wife, Kathryn (Turney) was the daughter of Cleveland, Ohio’s Edward Turney, a cousin of his partner.

Thanks to the great success of the Long Mfg. Co. Joseph B. Long’s widow, Kathryn Turney Long, is far better known today than her husband or his former business partner. When Joseph B. Long passed away unexpectedly on March 15, 1911 Kathryn inherited a large portfolio which included a large amount of Long Mfg. stock. She was a life-long fan of the arts, serving as president of the Chicago Drama League as well as a charter member of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Between seasons she stayed at her Lakeshore Drive apartment in Chicago, spending her winters in Palm Beach and her summers in Manhattan.

Mrs. Joseph B. Long, as she was popularly known, made national headlines in late September 1933 when she received a threatening note demanding a $10,000 payment ‘or else’. The September, 28, 1933 issue of the New York Times reported:

“WARNED OF DEATH IN A KIDNAP NOTE

“Mrs. J.B. Long, Chicago Social Leader, Quits Home There for Safety Here.

“(Special to the New York Times) CHICAGO, Setp 1927. – Attended to her compartment in a railroad train by a police guard, Mrs. Joseph B. Long, a social leader who received a threatening letter demanding payment of $10,000, Left Chicago for New York City this afternoon. She said that she had taken a three-year lease upon a New York apartment and would make her home there.

“Meanwhile, city detectives and Feral Agents were seeking the sender of the letter received at Mrs. Long’s residence Tuesday afternoon. The message contained a threat of kidnapping unless she paid. Death was threatened if she contacted the police.

“Mrs. Long is the window of a Chicago manufacturer, from whom she inherited a large fortune. When she received the letter, she told the police today, she became terrified, and hastened arrangements for her departure for New York. She left her apartment today under police protection for the first time since the threat was received.

“The letter was scrawled in pencil on two small pages of ruled note paper. The extortion demand and the threats were written in a childish manner. Penciled were ‘Black Hand’ and a crude skull and cross-bones; according to the police, an obvious attempt to conceal the writer’s identity. The envelope was businesslike and addressed in ink. Detectives asserted that the sender was someone familiar with Mrs. Long.”

She subsequently moved to Manhattan and following her death in 1942 bequeathed the bulk of her fortune to the Metropolitan Opera who used it to establish an opera training school (Kathryn Turney Long School) and scholarship fund.

Mrs. Long, the former Kathryn Turney, was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Turney of Cleveland.

After a public education in the Marion schools, the Turney family’s sons went to work in their family’s jewelry business. In 1879 George and Harry Turney ventured west to Colorado where they established Turney Brothers Jewelry in Colorado Springs, El Paso County. The brothers’ jewelry shop can be seen in a circa 1880 7”x4” stereoview of downtown Colorado Springs’s business district.

O.L. Baskin’s History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado (pub. 1881) contains the following biographical entry for George W. Turney:

“Mr. Turney, one of the enterprising and worthy young merchants of Colorado Springs, was born in Marion, Ohio, May 7, 1855. He received a limited education in the public schools of his native city. His father being a jeweler, it was but natural, as well as wise, that he should follow in his footsteps, and at the age of ten began an apprenticeship at that trade in his father's store, where he remained until January, 1879. He then came to Colorado, located in Colorado Springs, and, in company with his brother Henry, succeeded R. Morris in the jewelry business, under the firm name of Turney Bros. That firm existed until February 1, 1881, when he purchased his brother's interest, and has since continued the business. Mr. Turney has a large and well stocked store, and through integrity and close attention to business, is building up a large and steadily increasing trade. Mr. Turney was married in Chicago, November 4, 1880, to Miss Flora P. Page, daughter of D. W. Page of the publishing house of Culver, Page, Hoyne & Co.”

In 1890 George sold his jewelry business and moved to Chicago to take a position as Western Sales representative for the Rome Manufacturing Co., a manufacturer of nickel plated and polished copper specialties located in Rome, New York. Shortly afterwards George and Flora divorced and in 1892 she married Oscar E. Cary.

An 1895 display advertisement in the Metal Worker for the Rome Mfg. Co. lists "GEO. W. TURNEY, Western Representative, Tremont House, Chicago."

While working in Chicago, Turney met his soon to be second wife and on February 22, 1905 married Elizabeth Deborah Blamer (b. 1877 to Thomas and Edna [Davis] Blamer) in his fiancés hometown of Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa.

A new position awaited Turney in Rome, New York, and at the end of their honeymoon they moved to there and shortly thereafter their union was blessed with the birth of 2 daughters; Catherine (b.1906) and Elizabeth (aka Betty) (b.1916).

The following ad appeared in the September 1907 issue of The Commercial Vehicle:

“Every truck builder in the country has at one time or another experienced difficulty in getting suitable component parts such as he would not be likely to construct in his own shop Several of the more progressive manufacturers of parts and accessories have been quick to see the opportunities for sales expansion in the design of special commercial vehicle parts In the radiator line the Long Turney Mfg. Co. of Rome NY has made a careful study of the water cooling problem for heavy vehicles fitted with internal combustion engines and has brought out special vertical tube truck coolers One of these is illustrated herewith They are designed in several different shapes In their construction attention is given entirely to efficiency and durability and fancy ornamentation is not considered They are plain and strong The tubing is of the spiral type the tube of brass and the fin a continuous copper spiral The water passages are ample and will not clog up and should the radiator be damaged by collision or otherwise it can be repaired by any good mechanic with a minimum of delay The radiator illustrated is built for trucks up to 4,000 pounds capacity.”

The firm's initial operations where in McMahon & Larkin's law offices, and following the failure of the Bingham Harness Co., Long-Turney moved into its factory which encompassed a handful of small sheds and buildings located between the south side of the Erie Canal and the north side of Canal Street, just east of South James St.

The Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal included the following announcement of the firm’s expansion in their September 1, 1908 issue:

“The Long-Turney Manufacturing Company, Rome, N.Y., on account of its rapidly increasing business in the manufacture of automobile radiators and supplies, will enlarge its plant by the erection of a two story addition, 50x150 feet. The ground floor will be concrete with concrete walls 25 feet high.”

Shortly after Haselton’s June 15, 1908 passing, Long-Turney’s directors ceased the firm’s partnership with Joseph B. Long and acquired the rights to manufacture a new flat helical wound tube fin developed in the Schenectady, New York laboratories of the General Electric Co.

On September 11, 1908 the firm was reorganized as the Rome-Turney Radiator Co. and shortly thereafter acquired the exclusive US rights to manufacture a third more efficient type of radiator, the square honeycomb (aka cellular) system developed by engineers at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft.

The Saturday, April 4, 1903 edition of the Motor-Car Journal contained a good description of the recently introduced ‘Mercedes Radiator’:

“The Mercedes radiator is well known to everyone who knows anything about automobiles, and has become the subject of controversy. It is, however, rapidly becoming a standard article of commerce, and no doubt in a short time no motor-car will be complete without a radiator made on the same principle or on similar lines. Everyone knows that the new products of the Cannstatt Daimler works are now by common consent christened after the Spanish christian name of M. Jellineck's daughter, Mercedes—Mercedes is the Spanish for Wednesday. The Mercedes radiator has, however, another name, and it is this other name which occupies my attention to-day. It is called the ‘nid d'abeilles.’ This has been erroneously translated into English as ‘bee-hive.’ I fear it is too late to stop the wrong translation from getting vulgarised. The French for ‘bee-hive’ is ‘ruche’ and the radiator resembles a ‘bee-hive’ just about as much as it resembles a rabbit-hutch. ‘Nid d'abeilles’ literally translated, means ‘bees' nest,’ and is only used in connection with wild bees — a wasps' nest is also called a ‘nid de gtiepes.’ If one takes a nest of wild bees or wasps, the nest consists, of course, of waxen cells in which honey, pollen, or larvae are lodged, and the radiator in question has somewhat the appearance of such a nest cut in two. The correct English translation of ‘nid d'abeilles’ in this connection is therefore ‘honeycomb,’ and instead of talking about ‘bee-hive radiators,’ which has no signification whatever, we should talk about ‘honeycomb radiators.”

The Mercedes-style radiator proved most popular with early automobile and airplane manufacturers while the General Electric-developed helically wound fin tube radiator found favor with industrial end-users who installed them on crawlers, tractors, trucks and large stationary engines.

The firm's reorganization was covere in the December 1908 issue of Metal Industry:

“The Long-Turney Manufacturing Company has been reorganized as the Rome Turney Radiator Company, Rome, N. Y. This company is allied with the Rome Brass & Copper Company. Extensive improvements are being made, including a new concrete and mill construction building 51 x 200 ft. in size, two stories high. The radiators and condensers made by this concern are extensively used by automobile manufacturers, and new uses are continually being found for them, particularly in connection with search lights, gasoline railway cars, etc. The company reports more than enough orders on hand to keep the factory busy for several months, hence the increase in manufacturing facilities noted above. A large part of the new building will be devoted to the manufacture of radiators for the new self-propelling gasoline-electric passenger cars which the General Electric Company has been developing during the past two or three years, and to making radiators for use in search lights which have been ordered by the U. S. Government.

“The Rome Metal Company has about three hundred men at work and its volume of business is said to be increasing steadily.

“The presidency of the Rome Brass & Copper Company, Rome, N. Y., made vacant by the death of Jonathan Haselton last June still remains unfilled. It is reported that a new president will be elected early in 1909, and that Barton Haselton, at present secretary and treasurer, will retain his present office, which carries with it the executive responsibility and active management of the company.

“The total ground space covered by the plants of the Rome Brass & Copper Company and its allied companies amounts to 277 acres. In these plants a total of 2,500 people are employed, the annual pay-roll amounting to about $1,000,000. This big industrial family includes, besides the parent company, the Rome Tube Company, Rome Metal Company, Rome Novelty Company, Rome Tack & Nail Company, Rome Manufacturing Company, and the Rome-Turney Radiator Company.”

Letters in the Rome-Turney archives reveal that William Crapo Durant, the owner of Buick’s recently organized holding company, General Motors Corp., tried to get Rome-Turney to join GM during 1908-1909, but Rome-Turney’s directors were hesitant to become part of the automaker’s empire and chose to remain independent.

Joseph B. Long’s Chicago operations were unaffected by the loss of their Eastern relative, and in 1910 he relocated his expanding operations to a plant located in Detroit, Michigan (later joined by plants located in Freemont, Ohio and Windsor, Ontario, Canada). Joseph B. Long died testate March 15, 1911.

The May 1, 1915 issue of Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record included a brief description of Long Mfg.’s Detroit operations:

“Radiator Design for Motor Trucks

“When account is taken of the high standing of the personality of the Company, the thorough organization of its sales, office and production departments, completeness of equipment and capacity of plant, perfection of product, and the high appreciation of all things as expressed in continuous enlargement of field and increase of output, there is but one word which epitomizes the elements that have entered into the upbuilding of the Long Manufacturing Company of Detroit, makers of automobile radiators, and that one word is ‘Character.’ It indelibly stamps itself upon every radiator of the enormous number put out by this concern.

“Back in 1903 an Illinois corporation, under the guidance of J. B. Long, was producing radiators. The company at that time savored much of a one-man concern, and Mr. Long foreseeing that Detroit was destined forever to be the automobile center, decided to establish his plant here, which he did in 1910, moving into a plant now housing a portion of the big Cadillac outfit, containing 32,000 feet of floor space. He continued doing business here until 1912 under a license granted by the State of Michigan. In July of that year the Company was organized as a Michigan corporation and steps were immediately taken to build the present pretentious plant at East Grand Boulevard, and upon its completion in November, business was continued there, the total floor space having been more than doubled.

“It seems to have always been a most important factor in the progress of this concern to anticipate not only the requirements of individual car producers, but the volume of business which might be expected as well, for the plant was equipped with complete thoroughness upon both a quality and quantity basis. Although growing rapidly, the capacity as providently arranged has not been reached.

“In speaking of the sales methods of the firm. Mr. Dryden, secretary-treasurer and manager of the Company, says:

“’We keep in closest possible touch with the engineers of the automobile concerns, and by so doing our engineering department has been able to anticipate and prepare for every new thing that has come out in car production. Our past experience in this line of special work has given manufacturers entire confidence in our capability and we are often able to make suggestions and co-operate in methods retarded as advanced, in the construction, not only of pleasure cars but of trucks and tractors as well.’

“There are 24 up-to-the-minute departments that, by arrangement and equipment, work in such perfect conjunction with one another that production units, become a harmonious whole. In discussing their perfected system of cooling, Mr. Dryden further said:

“’We claim and can demonstrate decided advantage on account of our three special patented types of circulating tube construction, in addition to which we also use the well-known tube and plate construction, and with our arrangement of tube centers we have made it more efficient as a cooler, and built it better from a constructive standpoint than has to our knowledge been produced previously. Our own patents and the use of the tube and plate type give us a flexibility of resource in radiator manufacture that enables us to meet the requirements of any manufacturer as to service in cooling or design.’

“The Long Manufacturing Company is a large employer of highly trained labor. In the plant there is employed the most rigid primary and final inspection and no finished product leaves the factory without subjection to thorough tests.”

By this time Long Mfg. depended on seamless tubing supplied by steel mills operated by third parties. The onset of the First World War caused supply delays and Long’s directors decided to open their own Detroit tube redrawing mill. A 6,600 sq. ft. mill was constructed and the firm entered business in November, 1916 as the Wolverine Tube Company. Its business grew so successful that Long sold off Wolverine for a tidy profit and in November of 1919 it new owner relocated the tube mill to larger quarters.

Coincidentally both Wolverine and Rome-Turney (now Rofin) survive today, manufacturing the same products - specialized tubing and heat exchangers.

Long Manufacturing’s radiator plant was located at 2746-2768 East Grand Blvd., Detroit (sometimes listed as 2776-78 East Grand Blvd.) and in 1923 established a clutch manufacturing subsidiary at 12435 Dequindre St., Hamtramck. During 1929 the firm was purchased by Borg-Warner and after the Second World War its US operations consolidated at 12501 Dequindre St., Hamtramck. Long eventually expanded its operations to 11 plants located in Canada, Mexico and the United States and relocated its headquarters to Oakville, Ontario, Canada selling its Hamtramck factory to the Chrysler Corp. who continues to use it as a warranty test center and warehouse.

In 1996 Long Mfg. was sold to auto parts giant Eichlin & Eichlin which two years later (1998) was acquired by the Dana Corp. Today Dana’s Long Mfg. Division is North America’s largest manufacturer of oil coolers and heat exchangers for the automotive industry.

Success did not escape Long’s former operations in Rome, New York which received numerous large orders from Buick, General Electric and the U.S. Government. During their heyday, Rome-Turney supplied all of the radiators used by Buffalo, New York’s Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. and all the radiators used on planes manufactured by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corp. of Hammondsport, NY. During the First World War Rome-Turney was selected by the US Military to supply radiators for the Allies’ Liberty Truck program.

During the 1920s they manufactured the massive radiators used to cool the Maybach V-12 engines that powered the U.S. Navy's rigid airships: U.S.S. Shenandoah, U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Macon. The massive eight-engined airships/flying aircraft carriers were constructed by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp., a joint venture between the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Corp. Coincidentally each ship carried biplanes (F9C-2 Curtiss Sparrowhawk) that were also equipped with Rome-Turney radiators.

Other large customers included General Electric Company, Hurlburt Motor Truck Company, Sanford Motor Truck Company, Olds Motor Works, Caterpillar Tractors, C.L. Best Tractor Company, Lozier Motor Company, Linn Tractor Co., Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Corporation, Frigidaire Corporation and the Ford Motor Company.

George W. Turney received 3 US Patents related to radiator construction as follows:

US pat no. 1217537 – Method of Making Radiator Tubes - Filed Dec 6, 1915 - Issued Feb 27, 1917 George W. Turney , assigned to Rome-Turney Radiator Co., Rome, N.Y.

US pat no. 1225895 - Radiator for Automobiles - Filed Mar 21, 1916 - Issued May 15, 1917 George W. Turney , assigned to Rome-Turney Radiator Co., Rome, N.Y.

US pat no. 1395618 Radiator-Tube and Method Of Producing Same - Filed Dec. 18, 1919 - Issued Nov. 1, 1921 George W. Turney , assigned to Rome-Turney Radiator Co., Rome, N.Y.

The January 1, 1917 issue of the Horseless Age included a small Rome-Turney item:

“Rome-Turney Radiators

“The Rome-Turney Radiator Company, Rome, N.Y., manufactures radiators of tubular type with helically flanged seamless tubing. These radiators are especially suited for commercial vehicles on account of their sturdy construction and the company guarantees them for the life of the engine to which they are originally fitted. This guarantee is unconditional except for injuries caused by accident or freezing.”

The text from a display advertisement included in the same issue follows:

“The Rome-Turney Radiator Co. Guarantee on Seamless Helical Tube Cooling Sections has no string attached. When you install a Helical Tube Radiator on your truck. you have the certainty that the radiator will make good or we will. We probably won't have to-Rome-Turney Radiators have a habit of making good themselves. But if the cooling section develops leaks. we will repair it free. Helical Tube Cooling Sections are guaranteed for the LIFE OF THE MOTOR!

“ROME-TURNEY RADIATOR CO. ROME, NEW YORK.“

The incredible popularity of the Model T Ford resulted in a burgeoning aftermarket parts business, and Rome-Turney took out advertisements hawking the firms’ Ford replacement radiators. The following ad appeared in a 1917 issue of Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal:

“Rome-Turney Ford Radiator

“Rome-Turney Radiator Co., Rome NY

“The Rome-Turney Radiator is characterized by its genuine square tube honeycomb Mercedes construction and the use of thin special alloy brass made by a patented process. It is stated that its long life and freedom from internal leaks is testified to by the fact that in manufacture it takes the press operations and leaves the metal tree from strain. The solder used is made of new Straits tin and new lead and is subjected to a careful analysis. Other features are: Direct vertical water flow; heavy gage brass top and bottom tanks; heavy iron side brackets; seamless brass inlet connection; seamless brass overflow tube; malleable iron outlet connection; tinned and riveted; black enameled shell; nickeled filler column; large amount of radiating surface, and high grade materials and workmanship.”

During the build-up to the First World War Rome-Turney employed as many as 400 men, but business fell off when many US Government contracts were canceled following the signing of the Armistice in late 1918.

By 1921 the firm was operating at a loss, although they did their best to keep their customers oblivious to the situation as evidenced by the following ‘business as usual’ announcement from the March 1921 issue of Metal Industry:

“The directors of the Rome-Turney Radiator Company elected the following officers for the ensuing year: Dr. W.L. Kingsley, president; Barton Haselton, vice president; treasurer and general manager George W. Turney.”

The end of World War I caused a surplus of used ex-military trucks and airplanes, and numerous small manufacturers were forced out of business, a trend which presented large losses for Rome-Turney Radiator, prompting a mid-1921 takeover of the firm by the related Rome Hollow Wire & Tube Co., a subsidiary of the Rome Brass & Copper Co. (formerly known as the Rome Tube Co.), the September 1921 issue of Metal Industry reporting:

“At a joint meeting of the directors of the Rome Hollow Wire & Tube Company and the Rome-Turney Radiator Company, held on Thursday afternoon, August 25, a deal was consummated whereby the Rome Hollow Wire & Tube Company purchased the entire plant and business of the Rome-Turney Radiator Company, the directors of the latter company immediately resigning and the directors of the former company taking charge. The new directors of the radiator company are F. J. De Bisschop, Barton Haselton, Hon. John D. McMahon, James A. Spargo and F. M. Shelley. The retiring officers of the Rome-Turney Radiator Company are Dr. W. L. Kingsley, president; Barton Haselton, vice-president; George W. Turney, treasurer; William L. Lynch, secretary, and Harry W. Gerwig, assistant secretary.

“In an interview George W. Turney said that he is going to California for his first vacation. He has been in active service 54 years without relaxation or vacation. For many years day and night he has devoted time and thought to the manufacture of radiators, in the manufacture of which he has succeeded. He is still a very active man and although he appears as a man of about 50 years he is really 67 years old. He will be accompanied to California by Mrs. Turney and their two daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth. Mr. Turney is a stockholder in the Rome Brass & Copper and Rome Manufacturing Companies. He has no definite plans for the future, beyond taking a long vacation in California.”

The Personal Notes column of the June, 1922 issue of the SAE Journal included the following:

“G.W. Turney has severed his connection with the Rome-Turney Radiator Co., Rome, NY, where he was treasurer and general manager. He has not announced his plans for the future.”

Little is known of Turney’s activities after leaving the firm bearing his name and he passed away on September 21, 1931 at the age of 77.

(In 1929 Rome Brass & Copper Co. joined a number of related businesses to establish the Revere Copper and Brass Corp.  During the 1930s Rome used one-tenth of the copper ore mined in the United States, earning its nickname of ‘The Copper City’.)

The reorganized firm fared little better than its predecessor and by the start of 1922, the firm’s former secretary, William L. Lynch, offered to take over the still struggling firm.

William L. Lynch was born in Rome, Oneida County, New York on October 24, 1884 to John C. (b. 1850) and Margaret (b. 1854) Lynch. The senior Lynch was well-connected in Rome’s business circles and for many years helped handle the business affairs of Dr. W.J.P. Kingsley, one of Rome’s leading citizens. A short biography of Dr. Kinglsey from Frederick Simon Hills’ ‘New York State Men’ follows:

“WILLEY J. P. KINGSLEY

“Physician and surgeon, was born at Frankfort, Herkimer County, N. Y., July 9, 1824, son of Obadiah and Lovina (Tucker) Kingsley. He was graduated from Whitestown Seminary, studied medicine with Drs. Coventry and Thomas at Utica, at the Geneva Medical College and the New York Medical College, being graduated from the latter in 1855. Since 1856 he has carried on the practice of his profession at Rome. For many years Dr. Kingsley has limited his practice to the treatment of cancer, chronic diseases and surgical cases, and has treated over forty thousand cases of cancer. He was elected Mayor of Rome in March. 1895. Dr. Kingsley was one of the incorporators of the Central New York Institution for Deaf Mutes in 1875, and served as its vice-president until 1895, when he was elected president. He has been president of the Farmers' National Bank of Rome since its organization in 1875, is a former president of the Rome Iron Works, and is vice-president of the Rome Brass and Copper Company. He married Georgeanna M. Vogell, December 4. 1860. In 1901 Dr. and Mrs. Kingsley erected a memorial chapel at Rome and equipped the new gymnasium at Yale in memory of their deceased son, Dr. George L. Kingsley. Dr. W. L. Kingsley, another son, is associated with his father in practice. Address 137 North James Street, Rome.”

After graduation from the Rome Free Academy in 1903 William L. Lynch had planned on attending Medical School at Syracuse University, however his father was short on funds after putting another son through the American University at Rome, Italy, so he took a job at Rome’s Farmer's Bank where he hone his bookkeeping skills and in 1905 his father helped get him a job at Long-Turney Mfg., whose main financiers included Dr. Kingsley. From his initial position as bookkeeper, Lynch rose through the ranks, working in sales, and eventually to secretary and treasurer of its successor, Rome-Turney Radiator.

He held a substantial block of Rome-Turney stock when he left the firm in 1921 so it was in his best interest to return it to profitability. Shortly thereafter he accomplished his goal, and by the late 1920s held a controlling interest in the firm, remaining its president until his retirement in 1965.

By the mid-Twenties most large automobile companies were producing radiators in-house to cut costs so Rome-Turney was forced to seek out additional markets for its helical fin tubing. Coincidentally their largest customer would turn out to be General-Electric who had recently embarked upon the manufacture of industrial heat-exchange units that required copious amounts of the Rome manufacturer’s fin tubing.

The mid-thirties failure of Buffalo’s Pierce-Arrow coincided with the cessation of automotive radiator production in Rome, and for the next 25 years no automobile radiators are known to have been constructed by the firm. However limited radiator production returned in the mid-1950s when automotive restorers contacted the firm hoping to either rebuild or obtain original replacements for their decades-old Rome-Turney radiators. As the firm retained some of the tooling needed to recreate them, they got back in the radiator business on a limited basis, advertising the firm’s radiators in the nation’s old-car publications such as Antique Automobile during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In 1965, Lynch’s son, William Lynch Jr. took over, with the senior Lynch serving as consultant until his death in 1973. William Lynch Jr. was born on January 16, 1932 and like his father attended the Rome Free Academy after which he attended and graduated from New Milford, Connecticut’s Canterbury School. He studied engineering at Notre Dame and received his MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School. He was only 33 when he assumed control of the family’s business in 1965. In 2004 William L. Lynch jr. retired and sold a controlling interest in the firm to his step-son, Ryan E. Peach, who reorganized it as Rofin LLC. http://rofinllc.com/

His mother, the former Ann Carol (Tarbania) Peach, had married William L. Lynch, Jr., on May 13, 1983, and inherited a controlling interest in the firm upon his passing on Wednesday, May 23, 2007.

Robert E. Peach - Ryan’s father, and Ann’s first husband – was the former president (1954-1968) chairman and chief executive officer (1968-1970) of Utica-based Mohawk. Airlines, Inc. They were married on June 6, 1970 on Manhattan Island, a Thousand Island Landmark owned by Peach, shortly after his retirement.

(On April 20, 1971 Robert E. Peach was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, at his home in Clinton, New York. At the time his wife Ann was 6 months pregnant with Ryan, who was born on August 18, 1971.)

Ryan was 11 years old when his mother married William L. Lynch Jr., who raised him as his own. He eventually went to work at Rome-Turney and upon his step-father’s retirement , he was the logical choice to head the firm, Ryan becoming president and his mother, Ann Tarbania Peach Lynch, executive vice-president.

Peach relocated the firm’s 11-employee manufacturing division to a plant in Clarks Mills, NY and relocated the firm’s corporate offices from 109 Canal St., to 106 W. Liberty St., Rome, NY.

Today Rofin manufactures helical fined tubing and custom heat exchangers. Most work is fabrication of various types of coolers — hydrogen, air coolers, oil coolers, air compressor intercoolers and aftercoolers.

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