Looking Back

By James Rada, Jr.

Famous Inventor Dies in Waynesboro

Peter Geiser could have been the patron saint of farmers in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He made farmers’ lives easier and brought prosperity to Waynesboro. When Geiser died in 1901, both mourned his passing.

“In the home from which he often looked over the town he had done much to build up by the invention of the grain separator and the prosperity of which had been the ruling passion of his life, Peter Geiser died suddenly last evening,” The (Chambersburg) Public Opinion announced on its front page on March 20, 1901.

Geiser had been born in Washington County, Maryland, near Smithsburg, 75 years earlier. His mother’s maiden name was Singer from the family that invented the sewing machine, so it is probably safe to say that inventing was in Geiser’s blood.

He showed that inclination from a young age, as he took to whittling and woodcarving. This led to him creating his own workshop, where he could build contraptions and figure other ones out. In that workshop, between 1848 and 1850, Geiser developed what would become his life’s work. He patented his first grain thresher, separator, cleaner, and conveyor in October 1852.

Geiser entered his thresher in a competition at the Hagerstown Fair in 1854 and took first prize against other threshers. He then took his invention to competitions in Ohio and Indiana, where his thresher and separator also won the top prizes.

“There is no question that Peter Geiser was one of the great inventors of the age, and should rank along with Cyrus McCormick, John Deere and a host of others,” wrote W. J. Eshleman in Steam Traction.

In 1860, Geiser moved his new manufacturing company to Waynesboro. When he opened his business, Geiser ran this advertisement in the newspaper:

“The undersigned having removed his foundry and machine shop to Waynesboro where he is better prepared to carry on his business in all its various branches than formerly would call the attention of persons in want of anything in his line as he is fully prepared to make to order and on short notice, steam engines, grist and sawmills, gearing, shafting and pulleys, iron bridges, cast iron water wheels, iron kettles, stoves, and plow castings, also cast and wrought iron kettles, stoves, and plow castings, also cast and wrought iron for steam or water, and brass castings of every description; in a word he is prepared to do everything usually done in a foundry and a machine shop. Having supplied himself with the latest improved machinery, such as lathes, boring, planing and drilling machines, persons can rely upon having their work done in the most satisfactory manner. He is also prepared to manufacture to order machinery for wood, such as tongueing and grooving machines for flooring, surface, tenant, moulding machines, etc. He also manufactures ‘GEISER’S PATENT SELF-REGULATING GRAIN SEPARATORS’ with latest improvements. Also the triple-geared horsepower arranged for running on wheels. All persons in want of these machines will give in their orders at an early date to have them secured.”

By the end of the year, 150 Geiser threshers had been built in eight locations. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Geiser Manufacturing hit hard times, which it barely survived.

Following the war, the company began a period of expansion. New shops were built on Broad Street in Waynesboro in 1866, and the company went public in 1869. The stock offering raised $134,600, and new buildings were constructed. In its first year as a public company, Geiser Manufacturing employed 175 men and sold 400 machines. This is 100 more than had been sold during all the years of the Civil War combined.

Tragedy struck in 1882 when a fire destroyed the company’s buildings in Waynesboro. However, the company rebuilt and began expanding again. This time, the expansion came mainly through the purchase of other manufacturing companies.

In March 1901, Geiser’s son-in-law found his father-in-law on the couch “in the throes of death,” according to The Public Opinion. The son-in-law tried to help, but Geiser died before a doctor arrived.

“He was a genius of rare ability and magnificent faith in the utility and ultimate success of the separator. No sacrifice was too great for him to make and no obstacle too big for him to overcome. He was a good citizen and esteemed by all who knew him…. His genius has brought much of its population to Waynesboro and contributed vastly to its wealth,” the Blue Ridge Zephyr wrote of Geiser after his death.

He was survived by his wife of forty-six years, Mary, and ten of their eleven children. Geiser was buried on March 20 in Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesboro.

Geiser Manufacturing continued after Geiser’s death, though it sold to Emerson-Brantingham Co. of Rockford, Illinois, in 1912. A group of Waynesboro investors purchased the company from Emerson-Brantingham Co. in 1925.

The Great Depression did the company in. Geiser Manufacturing went into bankruptcy in 1939. M. N. Landay Co. of Pittsburgh purchased the assets in 1940. The new owners were removing the old equipment when another fire struck, destroying the company. “The glow of the fire could be seen for over forty miles,” according to Steam Traction.