Factory Whistle

Optimism.  From a 1959 magazine ad.

“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”

In 1959, the Logan Engineering Co. was making a variety of industrial metal lathes at their main plant at 4901 West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago's Jefferson park neighborhood.

Timeline:

1935:The company is founded in Chicago at 4541 Ravenswood Ave.  The firm initially made hoist controllers. 

late 1930s: The company moves to a new 14,000 square foot plant at 4901 West Lawrence.

1940:  The company begins to manufacture small lathes for Montgomery Ward.

1941: The company begins manufacturing lathes under its own name.

1949:  The plant at 4901 West Lawrence more than quadruples to 62,000 square feet.

1969: The company is sold to Houdaille Industries.

1970: The Chicago plant is closed and manufacturing is moved to Tennessee by the new parent company.

1979:  A group of senior Houdaille managers, assisted by KKR, take the company private in a leveraged buyout (LBO).

1982:  The economic recession and increased Japanese competition begins to significantly affect Houdaille's profits, especially in the machine tool area.

1985:  Unable to continue to service the debt incurred in the LBO, Houdaille sells off or closes its entire machine tool division.  Some parts such as Strippit-DiAcro in Buffalo are sold.  Other parts, such as Burgmaster, were completely shut down.

Logan seems to have been integrated by Houdaille into the Powermatic division before the big divestiture happened.  Some later Logan lathes do have a badge reading "Logan lathes by Powermatic; A Division of Houdaille Industries". 

1986:  The Powermatic division of Houdaille is sold to DeVlieg Bullard. 

1999:  The Powermatic line is sold to by DeVlieg Bullard to Jet Machinery.

2002:  Jet / Powermatic becomes a part of Switzerland-based Walter Meier Holdings.

Now: At some point at or after the sale of the Powermatic division by Houdaille, the Logan line was discontinued.  The precise point at which this happened in unclear.

Verdict:  Logan Lathes no longer exists, shut down after a roughly 50 year lifespan.  The exact reason is difficult to pinpoint, but the end was set in motion by a financial maneuver known as a Leveraged Buyout by a parent company's executives as advised/guided by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). 

In 1959, the Eclipse Counterbore Company was making end mills and other cutting devices at their plants in Michigan.  These are machinist's cutting tools that are basic to the milling process.

Little information is available about the origins of Eclipse Counterbore.  The earliest reference I could find was from 1917.  A book called "Perry's Guide of Detroit and Suburbs" listed them at 24 John R Street.  Judging by pictures of the neighborhood in downtown Detroit, this was most likely a small workshop.

1918: The annual report from the Michigan Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics states that Eclipse Counterbore had 18 employees on June 25 and 34 employees on October 18.

1922: By this date, the company had expanded and had a factory at 7410 St. Aubin Street, Hamtramck, according to an ad in the American Machine Tool and Record magazine.  That volume referred to the company as the Eclipse Interchangeable Counterbore Company.

Throughout the 1930s, the company was awarded patents for new cutting tool designs and faced litigation with companies such as the Gairing Tool Co. over competing designs. (Circuit Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit)

1943: The company was significantly involved in war production throughout WWII.  In 1943, the left wing Mechanics Educational Society of America, a militant independent union, called a strike at the Hamtramck plant due to their exclusion from the War Labor Board. ("Called To Explain No-Strike Defiance", NY Times, 2/14/1943)

At some point, a factory was also built at 1600 Bonner Avenue in Ferndale, MI.

1962: Illinois Tool Works, Inc. acquires the company (Chicago Tribune, 5/9/1962)

1987: Illinois Tool Works spins off the Detroit-based Eclipse Counterbore Division and the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Drill and End Mill Division into a new company: Eclipse Industrial Products, Inc. of St. Louis. (Reuters, 3/20/1987)

1991: Eclipse Industrial Products is purchased by the Harbour Group of St. Louis, a holding company that purchases and restructures/resells/divests/downsizes manufacturing companies. 

1992: The Pine Bluff plant and its machinery had been sold to YG-1 Co. Ltd. of Korea, the same company that absorbed the remnants of Winter Brothers taps (see below). (Arkansas Business magazine, 4/27/1992) 

Both the 7410 St. Aubin Street, Hamtramck and the 1600 Bonner Avenue, Ferndale plants have been razed.  Their earlier building at 24 John R Street at the corner of Woodward Ave. in downtown Detroit still seems to be standing.

In 1959, Armstrong Bros. Tool Company was making machinist's set-up and hold-down tools at a plant at 5208 W. Armstrong Ave. in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of northwest Chicago.  These machinist clamps were a small part of the broad range of tools made by Armstrong.

Timeline:

1890: Armstrong Bros. Tool Co. was founded by four brothers, first generation sons of a Scottish immigrant.  At first the company focused on bicycle tools and parts.

1895: The company introduces lathe tool holders.

1900: The company drops the bicycle tool line and focuses 100% on manufacturing tool holders.  They move into a plant at 617 Austin Ave., Chicago.

1905: A new 100,000 sq. ft. plant is built at 317 North Francisco Ave. in Chicago's East Garfield Park neighborhood.

1909: Armstrong introduces drop forged wrenches, adding hand tools to their product line.

1948: The company moves to their West Armstrong Ave. location.

1974: Armstrong begins production at a new plant in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

1994: Danaher Corporation acquires Armstrong, keeping it as a distinct brand and operating unit.  At some point, Armostrong moves completely out of the West Armstrong Ave. plant, it is demolished, and residences are built on the old site.

Now: Armstrong Tools remains a part of the Danaher Tool Group, along with operating units and brands such as GearWrench and Allen.  All Armstrong Tools seem to be made in the USA at the Fayetteville, AR plant.

Armstrong Tools existed as an independent company for 104 years before being purchased by a conglomerate.  They still produce the exact same types of U.S.-made machinist clamps as they did in 1959, as well as a wide range of extremely high quality hand tools.

In 1959, The Bunting Brass and Bronze Corporation was making cast bronze bearings at their plant in the 700 block of Spencer Street, Toledo, Ohio.  The bearings were used as new or replacement units for electrical motors in machine tools.

Timeline:

1907: Bunting Brass and Bronze was founded in Alliance, Ohio by William Bunting

1909: The company moves to Spencer Street in Toledo

1968: National Lead Company (later known as NL Industries) purchases Bunting Brass and Bronze from the Bunting family as part of the rise of conglomerate corporations in the 1960s.  Bunting retains its identity under National Lead.

1980: NL Industries closes the Spencer Street plant in Toledo 2 weeks before Christmas.  100 Bunting employees lose their jobs.  Employment at the plant had declined from a high of 1,000 during WWII.  At least one other plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan remained open. (Toledo Blade, December 11, 1980)

1981: Eagle-Picher buys the Bunting division from NL Industries. 

1989: Four EaglePicher employees purchase the Bunting division, renaming it Bunting Bearings Corp.

1990: The company headquarters is moved to Holland, Ohio.

2004: Bunting Bearings is purchased by Bunting Acquisition, LLC and renamed Bunting Bearings, LLC

Now: Bunting manufactures a wide line of bronze bearings, bars, washers and other industrial products in Holland, OH; Delta, OH; Portage, MI, and Mansfield, OH.

Bunting Bearings is in its 4th incarnation, but 105 years after its founding still manufactures all metal products in the U.S. using U.S. engineering and manufacturing skill.

In 1959, Sanford Manufacturing Corp. was manufacturing industrial grinders at 1026 Commerce Ave., Union, NJ.  They specialized in smaller well-built grinders.

Timeline:

1941: Sanford Manufacturing is formed in Union, NJ

Now: The company is defunct.

A VERY limited amount of information is available on the company, but is seems to have disappeared sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s. 

It is no longer active on the New Jersey Secretary of State website, although the site still does show that the company first registered a trademark in 1946.

The company seems to have had the following addresses:

1026 Commerce Ave., Union, NJ (the 1958 MacRae's Blue Book lists them at 1002 Commerce Ave.) 300 Cox Street, Roselle, NJ 241 East Highland Parkway, Roselle, NJ

Google Street View confirms that the company is not still located at any of these addresses.  Their old phone number in Roselle (908-245-0505) now belongs to a take out food company.

Some manuals and schematics are available at: http://www.d-and-d.com/misc/MANUALS/Sanford/

In 1959, ALMCO manufactured vibratory finishing machines used to deburr and finish small metal parts.  One example was the Vibrasheen model, made at 410 East Main Street, Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Timeline:

1946: The Albert Lea Machine Company incorporates as ALMCO

1947: The company is acquired by the Queen Stove Works

1957: Queen Stove Works, including the ALMCO division, is purchased by King-Seely Thermos Company

1958: McRae's Blue Book shows the main company location as 902-910 Marshall Ave. in Albert Lea.

1968: King-Seely is purchased by Household Finance Corp. of Chicago, although the ALMCO name continues on.

1986: An employee group buys the ALMCO division as ALMCO, Inc.

2004: ALMCO is purchased by Innovance of Albert, Lea, MN, and continues to operate under the ALMCO identity.

Now: ALMCO continues to manufacture vibratory finishing equipment, as well as other manufacturing machinery, in a 55,000 sq.ft. manufacturing facility in Albert Lea.

ALMCO is still in business after 65 years, manufacturing equipment in 1959 in their Minnesota factory.

In 1959, J&S Tool made the Clampcut line of milling machine arbors, adapters and live bearing supports.  According to the ad, they were located at 871 Dorsa Avenue, Livingston, NJ.  However, the 1958 MacRae's Blue Book has them at 644 W. Mt. Pleasant Ave. in Livingston.

Timeline:

1941: Company is founded.

Now: At some point the company moved west to Newton, New Jersey.  They're still making live centers, dead centers, wheel dressers, and workholding devices in their U.S. plant.

J&S Tool Co., Inc. is still in business after 71 years, still manufacturing machine tools in the U.S.

In 1959, the Wade Tool Co. was a well-known maker of very high-quality small production lathes.  With a plant at 51 River Street, Waltham, Massachusetts, they were best known for the Wade 8A, a highly precise small toolmaker's lathe made from 1919 to 1959.  The Model 94, shown above, was a larger lathe geared toward the factory production environment.

Timeline:

1872: The American Watch Tool Company is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.

1918: At some point, the company was acquired by the Metz Company, which liquidated the firm in 1917.  The lathe-making operation was purchased by Walter H. Wade, who incorporated it under the name of Wade Machine Company of Boston.  For the next 43 years, the company made toolmaker and production lathes in Waltham, Massachusetts.

1961: Covel Manufacturing of Benton Harbor, Michigan buys the company.  Covel continued production of the Model 94 and Model 98 lathes.

1970: Atlas-Clausing purchases Covel Manufacturing and divests the precision lathe line.  Production returns to Waltham.

1985: The company is sold again and moves to 120 Eastern Avenue, Chelsea, Massachusetts.

2010: The company is sold at auction. 

Now: The current status of the company is unclear.

The original location at 51 River Street in Waltham has been demolished and is now a Dunkin' Donuts.

Wade Tool Company: After going through at least 6 incarnations / owners over the past 140 years, the company's current status is unclear.

In 1959, the Winter Brothers division of the National Twist Drill & Tool Co. was making small taps at a massive plant at 6841 North Rochester Road in Rochester, Michigan.  These taps cut threads on the inside of holes which had been drilled in metal, and are an important part of the machine tool industry.

Timeline:

1900: Murray and John Winter founded the Winter Brothers Tap and Die Company in Wrentham, Massachusetts after learning about the industry while working at the S.W. Card tap company in Mansfield, Mass.

1929: The brothers sell the company to National Twist Drill of Rochester, Michigan

1942: National Twist Drill moves the manufacturing operation to Michigan from Massachusetts.  Winter Brothers is managed as a subsidiary of National.  At some point, production is shifted to South Carolina.

1985: National Twist Drill is purchased by Regal Beloit Corp. of Beloit, Wisconsin.  Regal Beloit was founded as the Beloit Tool Company in 1955.  National Twist Drill becomes a part of the Regal Cutting Tools division.

2006: Regal Beloit sells the Regal Cutting Tools Division to YG-1 Co., Ltd. of Incheon City, Korea. 

Now: Regal Cutting Tools is a division of YG-1 Co. Ltd.  The division is based in Roscoe, Illinois, and has manufacturing plants in Roscoe and in Loris, South Carolina.  It appears that the descendants of the Winter Brothers / National Twist Drill taps are still made in the U.S.  However, the YG-1 corporate site states that it also has manufacturing locations in Ireland, South Korea, and China.

The massive National Twist Drill plant in Rochester, MI is still standing, and is home to a warehouse, a U-Haul outlet, and other businesses.

Winter Brothers: founded by two Massachusetts brothers in 1900, sold 3 times, and currently part of a Korean company.

In 1959, Minster Machine Company made metal stamping presses in Minster, Ohio.  Their machines ranged from the relatively small press above to giants that stood 20 feet tall.

Timeline:

1896: Two German-Americans, Anton Herkenhoff and Joseph Dues, start a machine shop in rural Minster, Ohio.

1916: Minster Machine begins manufacturing heavy-duty drill presses.

1926: Minster Machine makes its first mechanical power press.

1940s: During WWII, Minster manufactured metal stamping presses for U.S. aviation, ships, and arsenals.

1950s and 1960s: Minster continues to grow through the post-war industrial boom.

March 2012: Minster Machine is purchased by Japanese-based Nidec Shimpo Corporation for an undisclosed amount.

Now: Minster Machine, until 2012 still owned and run by family members of a founder, continues to manufacture heavy-duty metal stamping presses in two U.S. factories located in Minster, OH and Beaufort, SC.

Minster Machine: a 116 year old machine tool company founded in Ohio and still making quality presses with U.S engineering and manufacturing skill. Although purchased by a Japanese company, there do not seem to be any immediate plans to move or disrupt its U.S. operations.

In 1959, Wiedemann Machine Company of King of Prussia, PA employed nearly 300 people, making high-quality turret punch presses. Timeline: 1916 - founded in Philadelphia by 2 German immigrant brothers; the company eventually focuses on manufacturing turret punch presses, plays a major role in WWII aviation manufacturing, expands, and innovates throughout the middle of the century.

1964 - purchased from the Wiedemann family by Warner & Swasey, a Cleveland machine tool company

1970 - Warner & Swasey launches a joint venture with Murata Machinery, a Japanese company, to further develop the legacy Wiedemann line

1989 - Warner & Swasey sells the entire Wiedemann division to Murata.  The Wiedemann identity is phased out, but later resurrected as a name badge to be placed on the Japanese machines. Now - All manufacturing has been shifted to Japan.  An engineering facility for machines exported to the U.S. is located in North Carolina. Wiedemann Machine: founded by German immigrants in Pennsylvania, developed with American engineering talent, sold to a Cleveland machine tool company, re-sold to and absorbed by a Japanese company. The King of Prussia location at 211 S. Gulph Road is now an office park.