Boston company gives runners new legs

Greig Martino, of United Prosthetics, shows a decades-old tin leg that was being serviced for a client, at the family-owned company in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Oct. 15, 2013.

The company has been fabricating artificial legs for eight of the Boston Marathon bombing survivors who lost one or both limbs.

Read more:Family-run prosthetic business helps Boston marathon victims

Paul Martino, president of United Prosthetics, talks with Boston Marathon bombing survivor Mery Daniel, left, while helping her try on her newly-built leg at the family-owned company in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, June 26, 2013.

The company, founded by Martino's Italian immigrant grandfather, was started in Boston in 1914.

Philip Martino, center, the founder of United Limb and Brace company, with employees, who also were amputees, at the Boston-based company.

Martino, an Italian immigrant and former shoe maker, founded the company about 100 years ago.

Artificial legs, which have been serviced for clients, rest on a shelf at the family-owned United Prosthetics company in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Oct. 15, 2013.

"We're the voice of reality. First, it sucks to be an amputee," said Martino, a 62-year-old National Guard veteran. "Whoever designed us, whatever you believe, made the perfect machine. We're chasing it."

Gary Martino, of United Prosthetics, trims away excess material while making a thigh socket for an artificial leg, Oct. 15, 2013.

Greig Martino, of United Prosthetics, talks with his sister Mary, while taking a phone call at the family-owned company in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Oct. 15, 2013.