The Empire Type Foundry of Delevan, New York was established in 1893 remaining active until it's demise in 1970. According to Annenberg*, this foundry was not a part of, or affiliated with, The older Empire State Foundry, which apparently closed at least a year prior to the opening of The Empire Type Foundry.
This unusual and ornate building was the proud home to the foundry, offices, warehouse, and the entire operation during the life of the company. The building is still standing in Delevan with it's distinct facade largely unchanged. It has come full circle since 1970, having been returned to the original use as a boarding house in the form of an apartment complex.
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Even though the casters used by Empire were Monotype machines, the type produced was well formed and of a high quality. It is not known that any other foundry casting equipment were used by Empire TF. For that reason alone, this foundry is often derisevely refered to as a "monotype foundry" and the type produced adjudged as inferior in hardness and quality.
My limited experience with existing type from Empire TF is that it was of the highest quality in form and more than satisfactory in hardness. The promotional letter at the left clearly points out that Empire used 25% antimony in it's type metals. The Monotype Corporation recommended metals with but 19% of Antimony.
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At the time of this photo Wilbur and Claude Persons were the proud proprietors of Empire. Wilbur was the Senior Member and used this unusual and unique "house car" to get around the territory making good will calls on printers.
In addition to the obvious cowcatcher, if you look closely you can see windsheild wipers, and two turn signal systems. There are turn signal lights on the front corners of the cab and just above Wilbur's right eyebrow is the mechanical turn signal flag. By pulling a chain or string inside the cab the flag on the outside would raise to indicate the anticipated turn or stop.
One can only speculate at the need for a cowcatcher, as the area serviced by their mobile supply truck is reported to be a radius of but 150 miles in upstate New York. It's not as if he were travelling through the roadless Montana or Wyoming wildernesses of the 1920's. Still, this part of New York must have been some wild and wooley territory in those days. The cowcatcher surely gives new meaning to the old sales mantra. . . ."ya gotta know the territory!"
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It seems obvious that Wilbur had a penchant for unique vehicles and we can only speculate that as the Senior Member he surely laid claim to the best vehicle the company could provide--check the cowcathermobile out again. So, this must be the vehicle of Junior Member, Claude Persons. It is not generally know if this is indeed Claude, nor even if he was brother or son to Wilbur, but it is fun to imagine that this is Claude emulating his big brother with a smaller edition of Wilbur's house car.
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