page_title: Worthington Corporation
section_title: International Steam Pump Company (1899–1916)
hierarchical_section_title: Worthington Corporation / International Steam Pump Company (1899–1916)
context_page_description: The Worthington Corporation was a diversified American manufacturer that had its roots in Worthington and Baker, a steam pump manufacturer founded in 1845. In 1967 it merged with Studebaker and Wagner Electric to form Studebaker-Worthington. This company was in turn acquired by McGraw-Edison in 1979.
context_section_description: Benjamin Guggenheim was a member of a family that had made a fortune in the smelting business in the United States, largely through his efforts, and that controlled the American Smelting and Refining Company.
  Guggenheim founded the International Steam Pump Company (ISPC).
  The ISPC was organized by the Seward legal firm in 1899. Lehman Brothers were the bankers.
  The ISPC merged Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Works, Ltd. (BKSPW), Worthington Pump Works and other companies that together made up a large part of total American capacity for making steam pumps.
  The company's products were diverse, including the elevators for the Eiffel Tower.
  Worthington Pump Works was the largest of the merged firms.
  Charles Campbell Worthington was president of the company until he retired in 1900.
  Guggenheim became president of the ISPC.
  The ISPC soon ran into financial difficulties, and Guggenheim invested increasing amounts of capital to keep it afloat.
  BKSPW had been registered in England in 1890 with a capital of £300,000 to purchase in full the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company and the Knowles Steam Pump Works, with three plants in the United States.
  In its 1901 Annual Report the ISPC reported holding £200,000 of ordinary shares in BKSPW. The George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, an ISPC subsidiary, had liabilities that included $1 million of mortgage bonds and $500,000 of preferred stock of BKSPW. The ISPC 1904 Annual Report  noted that BKSPW had been dissolved in 1903, replaced by a company with the same name based in New Jersey.
  An October 1908 description of the Blake-Knowles Steam Pump Works in Cambridge, Massachusetts, part of the International Steam Pump Company, said it was the second largest of its kind in the United States, employing more than 1,700 men.
  In 1903 Guggenheim founded a factory in Milwaukee to manufacture mining machinery. In 1906 it was merged into the ISPC.
  By 1909 the ISPC as a whole was employing 10,000 men.
  In May 1910 Benjamin Guggenheim reported strong results with net earnings of about $2 million and profits of about $700,000. The company had purchased the JeanesvilIe Iron Works Company and had obtained a controlling interest in the Denver Rock Drill and Machinery Company, adding at least 30% to capacity.
  The Holly Manufacturing Company (1859–1912) was acquired in 1912.
  Guggenheim was a passenger on RMS Titanic and died on 15 April 1912 when the ship sank.
  The International Steam Pump Company went into receivership in 1914. A plan of reorganization was issued on 5 August 1915 and under this plan the firm was reorganized in 1916 as the Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation.
caption: Benjamin Guggenheim
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