Although known as a vise manufacturer, G. M. Yost Manufacturing Co., also called G. M. Yost Co., was an established manufacturer of nut-facing machines in Waynesboro, PA in 1906. The firm's change of product lines began in early 1907 with the purchase of what was called the Snediker vise plant in Yonkers, NY, from Peter A. Frasse & Co. The factory had manufactured for Snediker and Stephens Patent Vise Co., and Frasse had taken it over in late 1906. Yost moved the plant's machinery to Mechanicsburg, PA, to begin operations there. Yost apparently also bought rights to the Snediker and Stephens vise patents. The firm built a new plant in Meadville in 1908. In 1910, Yost bought Meadville Vise Co. and Williamson Vise Co., a 7-year old firm in Bradford, PA. Yost initially produced machinists' bench vises and leg vises, but by 1910 were making the Yost Universal woodworkers' vise. Their brand names in 1913 included Stephens and Williamson. By 1930, the company name was Yost Manufacturing Co.

It's possible that the Yonkers plant had belonged to National Vise and Tool Works, which had been making Stephens and Snediker vises in 1901 in Camden, NJ. This is still being researched.

Gilmore M. Yost had previously been manager of vise manufacturer Emmert Manufacturing Co. By 1916, Yost had begun an unexplained association with a competitor, Columbian Hardware Co.

Information Sources

• American Machinist, Vol. 29, Oct. 25, 1906, Pg. 522.
• Public Opinion (Chambersburg, PA), Jan. 21, 1907, Pg. 1.
• The Iron Age, Vol. 79, No. 13, Mar. 28, 1907, Pg. 1013.
• The Evening Republican (Meadville, PA), Mar. 10, 1908, Pg. 1.
• Chilton Automobile Directory, 1913, Pg. 390.
• Industrial Arts Magazine, Vol. V, No. 10, Oct. 1916, Pg. XXI.
• 1950 The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.

  McArthur, Fred Mellon, manufacturer, was born at Conneaut Lake, Pa., Aug. 11, 1882, son of Fred Mellon and Bertie S. (Gehr) Mellon McArthur. His father, a merchant, died at an early age and the son was adopted by his mother's second husband, Emmet W. McArthur. After an early education in public schools of Cranford County, Pa., Fred M. McArthur attended high school and school and Allegheny College, being graduated A.B. at the latter in 1905. For three years following graduation at college he worked in oil fields in Indiana and Illinois and then became a salesman for the Yost Manufacturing Co., Meadville, Pa. After seven years (1916) in this capacity he became president, secretary, and general manager, continuing in these positions until his death. The Yost Manufacturing Co. was organized in 1907 at Mechanicsburg, Pa., and moved in the following year to Meadville. Engaged in the manufacture of vises and gas soldering furnaces, the firm purchased and merged the business of the Williamson Manufacturing Co., Bradford, Pa., in 1910. McArthur was also a director of the Merchants Bank...

• Archived article by Todd Werts (ToolArchives.com) G. M. Yost Co.