Fairbanks, Morse and Co. - Manufacturing Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock. Printed by American Bank Note Company. Fairbanks, Morse and Company was an American manufacturing firm that thrived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially focused on producing weighing scales, the company later expanded its product range to include pumps, engines, windmills, coffee grinders, radios, farm tractors, feed mills, locomotives, and various industrial supplies, until its acquisition by Penn Texas in 1958. The origins of Fairbanks Morse and Company trace back to 1823, when inventor Thaddeus Fairbanks established an ironworks in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to produce two of his patented inventions: a cast iron plow and a heating stove. 

In 1829, he ventured into the hemp dressing industry, creating the necessary machinery. Although this endeavor did not succeed in serving fiber factories, Thaddeus's invention of the platform scale became the foundation for a significant business. Patented in June 1832, this innovation led to the formation of E. & T. Fairbanks & Company, which, alongside his brother Erastus Fairbanks, sold thousands of scales across the United States and later expanded to markets in Europe, South America, and even Imperial China. Over the years, Fairbanks scales garnered 63 medals in international competitions, establishing the company as the leading manufacturer in the United States and a globally recognized name until the 1920s, when Henry Ford and the Ford Corporation took over that distinction.