Founded in 1866 in Rochester, Pennsylvania by two enterprising men, Edward Binns and Samuel Mason. They started a small factory for the manufacture of pocket knives. They were located on the Brighton Road (also known as Delaware Avenue).
Samuel Mason was a master cutler from Sheffield, England. He had come to the United States (as early as 1846) to work in a factory in Waterbury, Connecticut. He left and helped start the Northfield Knife Company in 1858. That company was taken over by local businessmen, and Mason left in 1865. He moved to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, where he and Binns started this firm in 1866.
The two men soon found they needed further capital to operate their business. They found investors in Pittsburgh, in Dr. Curtis Hussey, General Thomas Howe, and James W. Brown. A charter was obtained for the firm on October 13, 1866, and the name was changed at that time to the Pittsburgh Cutlery Company. Two different markings have been seen on the knives “Binns & Mason” and “Rochester Penna.”
A four-blade equal end pen knife, ivory handles, nickel silver bolsters & shield. Marked “Binns & Mason” on all four blades.
c 1866