Caleb B. Rogers was born in Lebanon, CT, on June 25, 1806. He became an inventor and businessman and held several patents for woodworking tools and machinery. Through mergers and acquisitions, the C. B. Rogers Company grew into the world’s largest woodworking company.
He got his start in the woodworking machinery business working for the J.A. Fay & Co. The company’s early history is somewhat confusing, because it appears Rogers worked for both Fay and his own company for a time. Some advertisements indicate that the C. B. Rogers firm was founded in 1841, which corresponds with the date Rogers constructed a factory in Keene, NH, but the machinery made there at that time was apparently all under contract for J. A. Fay & Co., of which Rogers was listed as a director.
In 1848, Rogers, again partnering with Fay, built a second factory in Norwich, CT, where he supervised the entire plant. A few years later, they built a third factory in Worcester, MA, again to manufacture Fay machinery, apparently under Rogers’ supervision. In 1854, after J. A. Fay’s death, Rogers took over all of Fay’s business interests, consolidated the business in Norwich, and renamed the company C. B. Rogers & Co.
The company produced a wide variety of woodworking tools, such as the planer shown on the left.
Mr. Rogers was awarded at least seven patents while in Norwich. All his patents related to woodworking and woodworking machines. Caleb B. Rogers’ US Patent No. 26,787 of January 10, 1860, shown here, is for a machine that cuts spiral moldings.
In 1897, C. B. Rogers & Co. merged with ten other companies to form American Wood Working Machine Co., the world’s largest woodworking company.
Mr. Rogers’ first wife was Harriet S. Webb, and she bore them five children: Harriet M., George W., Harriet E., 1Lt Edward P., and Bradford Haile. Harriet Maria lived for 19 months. He later married Iduella T.R. Gardner and later married Eleanor H. Krebbs.
Rogers drowned on November 22, 1871, at the age of 65 as a result of the steamboat “City of New London” disaster.
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