Geiser Manufacturing Company was an early manufacturing company in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Geiser Manufacturing was incorporated in 1869 by Peter and Daniel Geiser. The company built grain separators, threshers, plows, and steam traction engines. The company's brand name was Peerless. The main building was 334 ft long and 3 stories in height, and had a 34 ft cupola. In January 1891 its total monthly payroll amounted to over 10,000 US dollars ($239500 in 2010 dollars) and employed 162 people.
In 1899 the company expanded outside Waynesboro and bought the Crowell industrial park in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and began producing its Geiser's first gasoline engines there. Up to this point, all its products had been steam-powered.
In March 1912, Geiser's Waynesboro plant was hit by a strike involving over a thousand employees after "a new superintendent had new ideas concerning the manner in which the place should be run." Other plants were not affected by the dispute.
In 1912 Geiser Manufacturing was purchased by the Emerson-Brantingham Company of Rockford, Illinois, which had gone so far in August 1912 as to issue over 22 million dollars ($490 million in 2010 dollars) in stock in order to raise the capital to purchase the company along with Reeves & Co of Columbus, Indiana and Gas Traction Company of Minneapolis. In 1936 Geiser became bankrupt and was forced to sell everything. On August 21, 1940, while removing equipment, a fire leveled the plant which was thought to have been started by a welders torch. It had been said the glow of the fire could be seen from almost forty miles away. Currently, only the main office building stands, and the main property is now occupied by a funeral home, parking lot, NAPA Auto Parts Store, Bowersox Memorial Stone's and church as well as a post office, .
Production figures steam tractors Geiser
Year Production figures Model Serial number 1889 290 1890 190 1891 330 1892 306 1893 310 1894 260 12 hp 4369 1895 310 6 hp 4726 1896 335 1897 335 1898 450 10 hp 5588 1899 540 1900 550 1901 610 1902 550 U 18 hp, 13 hp 8446, 8549 1903 710 16 hp, 12 hp 9172, 9359 1904 85010 hp 9511 1905 790 1906 920 12135 1907 1,02018 hp12907 1908 980 13588, 13742 1909 600 14164, 14170 1910 675 14460, 14710 1911 750 1912 850 16 hp 16479, 17065 1913 40 Peerless Z-3 40 hp, Z-1 25 hp, Peerless U-1 20 hp, Peerless U-U 22 hp 17164 1914 70015 hp17178, 17529, 17551 1915 540 8 hp 17741 1916 360 1917 120 1918 40 1919 160 1920 20 1921 150 1922 130 1923 10 1924 20 Sum 15,801 X = 14 hp U = 18 hp UU = 22 hp Z = 25 hp
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