Sippy Historic Machine Shop

The Sippy Historic Machine Shop was created in 2021 by building a replica of the Foriska Machine Shop in Meadville and relocating the complete line shaft and the belt driven equipment, along with all the shop contents, to the new Saegertown location, recreating the operational 1906 Machine Shop.

A visit to the Sippy Historic Machine Shop reveals the incredible history of our local machining industry. Being in the operational machine shop, just as it was 100 years ago, you can see the ingenuity and try to imagine the talent and perseverance required for these men to learn how to create and machine the countless products required to fuel a young industrializing nation.

A good example of our forefather’s ingenuity is the Talon “chain machine” which is on display. The history of Meadville, Talon and the Precision Machining industry are so intertwined that the story cannot be told without each other. The development of the Talon Zipper created the precision machining industry and lead to the industrial revolution. NASA hired Talon to create closures for their space suit, and John Glenn’s prototype space suit is also on display, along with a lot of Talon’s history.

The Sippy Historic Machine Shop was created in 2021 by Lon Sippy to preserve a historic belt driven machine shop. It is set up as a replica of the shop Fred Davenport founded in 1906. Frank Foriska owned and operated the shop from 1962 to 1995.

The Greater Meadville Tooling Center is an educational institution that explores and interprets the evolution of the tooling and machining industry from the early 1800’s to the present and on into the future, and a center to promote careers in the tooling and machining industry to talented area youth – our future.

The Center accomplishes this through the Sippy Historic Machine Shop, an exhibition and collection of historic artifacts that reflect the origins of the tooling and machining industry and its impact on the Greater Meadville area.