This company was active in the 1920s and 1930s. The began as a maker of inexpensive woodworking and metalworking machines, especially lathes. At the same time there was another Toledo manufacturer, Ar-Con Tool Co., which made the "Utilitool" combination woodworking machine. In 1930 the two companies merged and became the Sypher-Arcon Co.
Advertisement from January 1930 "Popular Mechanics"
Advertisement from November 1930 "Popular Mechanics". Note the change in company name.
Sypher's products were relatively lightweight and inexpensive, but had some nice design touches. They were best known for their lathes, but also a combination lathe and bandaw, plus scrollsaw and tablesaw accessories for their lathes. The combination machine and the accessories do not appear to be of the same quality as the lathes.
Sypher apparently made the 1930 "Peerless" lathe that was sold by Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Information Sources
- A ca. 1928 catalog from Loomis Electric & Mfg. Co., pages 37-38, shows Sypher's Model Number 1, 2, 3 and 10 bench lathes.
- We learned of this company through the information on Tony Griffith's Lathes.co.uk site. The Sypher section of that site contains information on the Sypher products, including both wood and metal lathes. That site's page on Sears wood lathes mentions that Sypher made their "Peerless" model shown in the 1930 Sears catalog.
- A patent search from 1920 onwards for patents granted or assigned to "Sypher" did not reveal any relevant patents; likewise, a search of patent references did not turn up anything.
- A patent search found a past eBay auction for a catalog of lathes and saws from Sypher-Arcon Co., described as being from the 1930s.