Robbins & Lawrence have always been somewhat of a mystery to most people. But they were not just gun-makers or tool-makers but also produced not only railroad cars but also the different railroad track rail gauges used throughout New England, and virtually everything else needed by that industry. Indeed, had they not been so diversified in manufacturing to have stayed away from the railroad industry, they probably would never have gone into receivership. The only profits they made was from producing guns. Samuel E. Robbins was a salesman, and he had earlier teamed up with Benjamin Flagg who had been the superintendent of the Asa Waters Armory. Benjamin Flagg, of course, invented the milling machine, and in 1835 the firm Robbins & Flagg of Millbury built a machine for milling of the curved surfaces of lock plates for Springfield Armory. It was this machinery which facilitated manufacture of lock plates and other musket furniture on the interchangeable plan for the Model 1835/40 flintlock musket. Indeed, the first engine built to power the milling machinery at Springfield Armory was built by Otis Tufts of Boston under contract in 1843 in preparation for manufacturing the new M1842 percussion musket enabled by Flagg’s machinery.
In 1841, following the death of Waters’ armory founder, Asa H. Waters Jr. (1769-1841), his son, Asa H. Waters III (1808-1887) entered into partnership with Benjamin Flagg (1807-1864), under the firm name Flagg & Waters, until Thomas J. Harrington joined the partnership when the firm changed its name to “A. H. Waters & Co.” That firm operated for 25 years until the partnership was dissolved in 1867, when Flagg's son (George H. Flagg) joined the firm, took the old cotton mill property of the old firm and continued the business of cotton manufacturing, their mills being known as the Millbury Cotton Mills. Although Benjamin Flagg had entered into partnership with William Glaze and James Boatwright in establishing Palmetto Armory, the Waters machinery evidently remained in Millbury.
The history of the Robbins & Lawrence Company begins about 1838, when Richard Smith Lawrence came to Windsor from the neighborhood of Watertown, N. Y. N. Kendall & Company, was regularly making guns at the Windsor prison. Robbins would later join Richard Smith Lawrence in 1844 in establishing the firm of Robbins, Kendall, and Lawrence (formerly Kendall & Company) which in 1850 was reorganized into Robbins & Lawrence. As you may be aware, Robbins & Lawrence also started the Sharps’ Rifle Manufacturing Company in 1851, and are credited as the first firm to initiate the manufacture of firearms on the interchangeable plan. Ever wonder where they got the idea for this method? In the winter of 1844 was when Robbins came to them and told them that the Government was in the market for 10,000 rifles. The matter was talked over, a partnership formed, and a bid sent to Washington. They bought land, built a shop, and bought or made the necessary machinery. It was in the performance of this and the subsequent contract that many of the early machine tools were developed. In 1848 Kendall sold out his interest in Robbins, Kendall & Lawrence, and in 1850 Robbins & Lawrence Co. was formed as a reorganization of Robbins, Kendall & Lawrence.
The firm failed in 1856 and the plant and equipment were bought in 1859 by Ebenezer G. Lamson, who then organized Lamson, Goodnow & Yale retaining Samuel E. Robbins as superintendent. This firm later became E. G. Lamson & Co., Windsor Mfg. Co. (1865), then was reorganized as Jones, Lamson & Co (1869) and finally Jones & Lamson Machine Company in 1879. In 1889 the present Jones & Lamson Machine Company moved to Springfield, Vt., where it now is. A number of the old mechanics and foremen, who had homes in Windsor at the time the company moved to Springfield, took over the old shops and organized the present Windsor Machine Company which now manufactures the Gridley Automatic Lathes.