There were a number of companies that made this type of machinery. Some specialize in amateur or hobby grade machines, some mostly in commercial and some made both.
Commercial grade machines were generally offered with line shaft power as an option especially with lathes and table saws. Companies like W F & John Barnes branched out into making industrial grade drill presses. By taking this approach, some survived after electrical power became generally available in the 1920’s.
As in today’s world, some companies made machines for sale to other companies that they then resold and some even went to far a “badging” machines with the logos. Crescent initially badged and sold their early foot powered bandsaws through the Silver Manufacturing Company as a way to get their business going.
In looking up machines, also keep in mind that some of the early machines especially were evolving and as such images, pictures and catalog cuts shown here may not always match what actually was made. Back then, creating ads and images was the work of a skilled artist, cost money and were not just tossed and a new image created when a design was changed.
Information on some makers or jobbers is very limited even with today’s searching techniques. If you have some pictures or related material, please let us know.
More will be added as time permits and information becomes available.
PLEASE NOTE – THIS PAGE BEING CHANGED 12-3-18