From June 1916 American Machinist

Neil & Smith Electric Tool Co. made handheld power tools and grinding machines. Neil & Smith went under in 1928. In early 1929 L. Lee Schauer, formerly of Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Co., formed Schauer Machine Co., acquired the assets of Neil & Smith, and resumed production. Under the Schauer banner the product line expanded to include tool post grinders and specialized grinders for automotive and industry use. They used the brands "Ideal" and "Electrox".

By 1942 the company was making small speed lathes. The company changed its name to Schauer Manufacturing Corp. by Dec. 1945. Their specialty, though, eventually became battery chargers. The company lasted into the early 1990s.

For many years Schauer speed lathes were still available from D. C. Morrison Co., but as of 2024 that seems to no longer be the case.

Information Sources

• 1929-02-07 Cincinnati Enquirer.

  TOOL BUSINESS SOLD. Purchaser Organized $100,000 Corporation To Operate Property.
  L. Lee Schauer, well known in the machine tool industry, has organized the Schauer Machine Company, a $100,000 corporation, of which he is President. The new company has purchased the assets of the Neil & Smith Electric Tool Company, an Ohio corporation organized 20 years ago. Mr. Schauer, is a son pf the late Sherman C. Schauer, one of the pioneers of the machine tool industry. For the past two years Mr. Schauer has been connected with the Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Company and previously for 18 years with the Cincinnati Bickford Tool Company. He was one of the first students to enter the mechanical engineering cooperative course in the University of Cincinnati.

• A 1929 edition of American Exporter had the following snippet.

  Export Manager of Schauer Machine Company B. G. Gili has been appointed export director of the Schauer Machine Company, successors to The Neil & Smith Electric Tool Company, makers of portable...

• A 1930 edition of Automotive Industries gives the company address as 905 Broadway in Cincinnati.
• The 1940 edition of the A.S.M.E. Mechanical Catalog and Directory gives the address as 2060 Reading Rd. in Cincinnati.
• A 1945 edition of Telephone Engineering and Management has the following snippet.

  A. J. Kohn, president of the Schauer Machine Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, has announced that the men and women of Schauer Machine, makers of Electrox Rectifiers, have won their third Army- Navy production ...

• The 1951 Federal Supply Code for Manufacturers lists "Schauer Mfg Corp, formerly Schauer Machine Co".