In December, 1895, the company was reorganized under 
the name of the Pittsburgh Shear Knife and Machine Co., 
under the management of Sam Heppenstall, who had pur- 
chased stock in the original company in 1889, and had act- 
ively entered its employ in 1893. It was in 1893, shortly 
after entering the company, that Mr. Heppenstall had a 
vision of a better shear knife than they were putting out—a 
shear knife with four cutting edges instead of one, as shear 
knives were then manufactured. Despite the protests that 
it could not be done, Mr. Heppenstall made a shear knife 
with four cutting edges, and today all shear knives are 
manufactured with four cutting edges. 
On January 5, 1904, the company was reorganized unger 
the name of the Heppenstall Forge and Knife Co., with Sam 
Heppenstall as president, and Charles William Heppenstall 
2s manoger, and began the manufacture of forgings and 
shear knives, in which work it is still engaged. 
The plant has grown from that small building in 1889, to 
one covering six city blocks, where one may follow the 
steps of making a steel forging or a shear knife, from the 
melting of the steel, through the forging, heat treating, and 
machining to the finished product. 
In 1911 an auxiliary plant was organized in Bridgeport, 
Conn., which was called the Heppenstall Forge Co., and in 
1919 another branch warehouse was opened in Detroit, 
Michigan, under the name of the Heppenstall Steel Co. 
The company also maintains sales offices in all the large 
ties. 
In 1920 Sam Heppenstall resigned from the active presi- 
dency to become chairman of the board, and his son, Charles 
William Heppenstoall, was elected president, with Samuel 
B. Heppenstall as vice-president. Today, the Heppenstall 
Forge & Knife Co. manufactures die blocks, hammer rams, 
piston rods, crankshafts, pinions, many other kinds of forg- 
ings and shear knives, and sends them to all corners of the 
globe. Today, also, the third generation of Heppenstall 
is working his way up through the plant, in the person of 
Robert B. Heppenstall, son of the president,