the nut cracker and picks; the .22 caliber rimfire rifle (3 models, including a bicycle rifle); various air rifles and pistols; ammunition for airguns, including lead air rifle shot (commonly known as "BBs"), felted slugs; the Kaleidoscope; and garment hangers ("coat hangers"). In addition to the items he invented and manufactured, Quackenbush also had to invent the machinery needed to produce the items, which included many innovative manufacturing techniques and methods. Death of founder and the company since H.M. Quackenbush died in 1933, at age 86. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Herkimer, NY. The following year, his company was incorporated in New York by surviving family members as H. M. Quackenbush, Inc. Operations continued in the following decades under the direction of various Quackenbush family members. During World War II, the company contributed significantly to wartime production, and manufactured a number of military supplies -- including bullet cores, shell casings and other screw machine products used in the war effort. Since then, most of the company's once prospering, large factories and facilities in Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley have been closed. But in 1979, H. M. Quackenbush Inc. acquired the assets of Utica Plating Co. Marketing, and transferred distribution of nutcrackers and related products to the M. E. Heuck Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving metal finishing as their primary remaining line of business. The downsized operation was reconstituted as HMQ Metal Finishing Group, LLC, in 1998, with Frederick H. Hager, the great-great grandson of the founder, as chairman and CEO. HMQ Group had three operating units, in addition to their corporate offices in Herkimer. These included the H.M. Quackenbush plant in Herkimer, HMQ Chemtech LLC in Oriskany, NY, and HMQ National Plating LLC in Syracuse, NY. In 2005, the company ceased operations and closed, and its assets were purchased by another plating industry company, Whyco Finishing Technologies, based in Thomaston, CT. In July 2021, the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) approved a quit claim resolution turning over the former H.M. Quackenbush property on North Prospect Street in Herkimer, New York, to the Herkimer 9 initiative. References External links Whyco Finishing Technologies website 1847 births 1933 deaths American businesspeople in metals American inventors