Leepo Machine Products Co. was in business by 1946, having been started after the war to manufacture small home-shop woodworking machines, including bench saws, scrollsaws and belt sanders. The company name, sometimes rendered "LeePo", is perhaps a mashup of the surnames of Michael Podolsky and an as-yet-unidentified second co-founder.
During the war, innumerable small companies made wartime items such as aluminum aircraft parts. When the war ended these companies were faced with finding new work, and just about every one of them saw opportunity in the combination of cheap aluminum and a tremendous number or former soldiers returning home and buying a house. Many of the companies saw a new market for inexpensive home-shop woodworking machines and Leepo was one of them. As a result, the market for home-shop machines was over-saturated, and most of these new small makers struggled to find distribution channels, which already had relationships with pre-war makers such as Delta, Boice-Crane and Walker-Turner.
It appears that Leepo did better than most but their line of home-shop machinery was ultimately a failure. It survived for about five years, finding some distribution in Canada, including at The Bay department stores, but never breaking into the much larger American market. Surviving machines are scarce.
Meanwhile, though, Leepo added other product lines not of interest to this Vintage Machinery website, such as lawnmowers and camping trailers. The company continued on for at least a couple of decades after they stopped making woodworking machinery.
Information Sources
- 1946 Machinery Lloyd. "Leepo Machine Products, 73 Dieppe Street, Riverside, Ont., announce construction of a new machine shop at Lauson Road. Riverside. Cost: $14,000."
- 1963 Greater Windsor Directory of Manufacturers (PDF) lists "Leepo Machine Produccts Limited / M. Podolsky, President / E (having 25 to 99 employees) / 69 Lauzon Rd. / Bench saws; jig saws; band saws; drill presses; jointers; planers; power lawn mowers & utility trailers".
- 1966 issue of Hardware Age.
Buys Canadian Firm—Gilson Brothers Co., Plymouth, Wis., has purchased LeePo Machine Products, Ltd., Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Under the purchase agreement, LeePo management will be retained. LeePo manufactures riding power lawn mowers, rotary tillers, power tools and camper trailers.
- 1959 Hardware, Tool and Cutlery Manufacturers, from the Government of Canada's Bureau of Statistics, lists "Leepo machine Products Ltd. / 69 Lauzon Rd., Riverside". Riverside is a Windsor suburb.
- A archive at Wayne State University has records related to Ontario Labour Relations Board proceedings spanning 1945 to 1968. Included in the records are union certification proceedings from 1955, for Leepo Machine Products.
- 1975 Who Owns Whom lists "Gilson Brothers Co. (Canada) Ltd., 3325 Orlando Dr., Missaussauga/Ont. / (controlled by McGraw Edison Co., U.S.A.0 / Leepo Machine Products Ltd. (d) / Folee Power Products Ltd. (d)".
- 1979 International Canada.
The approval of three proposals for the acquisition of businesses in Canada was announced on 12 December by Gilson Brothers of Houston, Texas, controlled by Paragon Industries Corp. of the United States, in turn a subsidiary of Wedge International Holdings RV of The Netherlands, to acquire control of Gilson Brothers Company (Canada) Ltd. of Mississauga, Ont., which is controlled by Gilson Brothers of the United States and is engaged in the manufacture, importation, sale, and marketing of gas-powered outdoor equipment such as lawnmowers, rototillers, and snowthrowers..."