This maker of motors and bench grinders dates back to at least 1910. They were earlier known as Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., then the Delco-Light Co., then Delco Products Corp., and for many years was Delco Products, Division of General Motors Corp. At some point they became part of Lincoln Electric Co., whose motor division is now owned by Leeson Electric Corp.
Delco bought Sunlight Electrical Manufacturing Co. in 1933. Delco manufactured products for Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s Craftsman line; their products have a model-number prefix of 397.
While a division of General Motors Corp., Delco products were sold by United Motors Service, an umbrella marketing and warehousing division of General Motors.
Information Sources
- An owwm.org forum posting confirmed for us that Delco did, in fact, make bench grinders.
- Dates primarily come from patent records. Information on mergers and acquisitions came from a web search.