The Riehle Universal Testing Machine at the Smithsonian Institute was  manufactured in 1893 by Riehle Brothers of Philadelphia. Apparently this company was also known in the industry as Riehle Cold Bend Co. as they did tensile testing, or the bending of steel until breaking in order to test its strength. 

A recent visitors at Riehle.Net told us that Cornell U. had advised him that the company was headed by Frederick A Riehle in the late 1800's and that Frederick wrote a paper, "Fifty Years of a Businessman's Life"  in 1916. There also seems to be a paper on Riehle Bros. written in Philadelphia entitled,  "The Company " (1927).  Library Services at Cornell could not locate these papers, but located the following article excerpt  published in 1996:

Philadelphia and Today's Foundrymen:   Philadelphia, the American city with the strongest historical relation to Germany, was first settled to become the center of the textile industry, especially in the district of Germantown. Later it became a metropolis of the iron, steel, and metals industry. Here the world's first foundry technical association was established in 1891, and here Frederick A. Riehle of Riehle Bros. Testing Machine Co. was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the American Foundrymen's Association (AFA). [From, "The Bell Tolls:  Foundry Technology in the History of Culture." Gerhard Engels, Susanne Sanderson-Engels. 04/01/1996 Foundry Management & Technology. p46]

According to other information, which we have not been able to confirm, the company was founded in 1846. One source indicates that Frederick founded the company with his brother Henry Riehle  Whether or not this is the case it seems clear that they managed it through much of the second half of the century. Henry apparently was a Union soldier in the Civil War, after which he married Clara Watson, daughter of Johannes Watson of Philadelphia who owned or managed an iron chest and safe manufacturing company in Philadelphia and likely was a social acquaintance of the Riehles.  Henry and Clara apparently had at least one child, a son named Otto. 

Another snippet of information on the company came from a metallurgical engineer who found this page when searching for more information on the source of quote that he has seen proven true throughout his career.  See his comments at this link.

We would very much like to get more information about these founders and their ancestry.  In fact, we are anxious to connect with any of the old Pennsylvania Riehle families who are virtually unrepresented on Riehle.Net.  Please email us.