American Machine and Foundry or AMF was founded in 1900 and was once one of the largest recreational equipment companies in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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The company was founded by Rufus L. Patterson, inventor of the first automated cigarette manufacturing machine. Originally incorporated in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 but operating in Brooklyn, the company began by manufacturing cigarette, baking, and stitching machines.