This name first appeared sometime between 1934 and 1940, when Portable Power Tool Corp. renamed itself after its own line of "Power King" machines intended for the home workshop. Sometime during that era the company established a relationship with Atlas Press Co., where Atlas Press made drill presses and lathes for Power King, and Power King made a wood shaper for Atlas Press. In 1947 Power King Tool Co. was acquired by Atlas Press Co., and became the Power King Tool Corp. Division of Atlas Press Co. Atlas Press dropped the Power King name sometime after 1950.

Power King Tool Co. also made machines for Sears, Roebuck's Craftsman brand; such machines are identified by the Sears model-number prefix of 534. They also made machines for Spiegel, Inc.'s department stores.

Information Sources

• Ads in many issues of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science between October 1940 and December 1950. The first appearance of the "Division of Atlas Press Co." was in January 1948. The December 1947 ads did not mention Atlas Press. After December 1950, the Atlas Press ads did not mention the "Power King" name
• Ad in the November 1941 issue of "Industrial Arts and Vocational Education".
• Ad in the November 1940 Popular Mechanics lists the address as 1108 E Market St, Warsaw, IN.
• Seen on eBay: advertising postcard from this company, dated March 28, 1946.
• Atlas Press ad in the December 1947 Popular Mechanics lists the Power King address as 1220 Cleveland St, Warsaw, Indiana.
• The information on the Craftsman connection came from OWWMer Brian Kachadurian. In his own words, these are the clues he used to deduce that Craftsman model-number prefix 534 corresponded to Power King:
  • The Sears service parts data base (that I used to poke into at the service center, 15 years ago) listed the Clausing Sevice Center for source codes 101, 108 and 534.
  • We know that 101 was Atlas and 108 was Covel (acquired by Atlas).
  • The early Dunlap shaper 534.09760 is the Power King 411 (later, the Atlas/Power King 411 with the adjustment handles changed from knobs to cranks)
• A search failed to turn up any patents granted to this firm, or to Portable Power Tool Corp.