From 1921 to the mid-1920s this firm made a "portable universal woodworking machine", which was akin to a handheld circular saw powered by a cart-mounted electric motor via a jointed shaft.

Although Billingsley's flex-shaft circular saw was an evolutionary dead end, Billingsley innovated both the telescoping blade guard and the hinged foot-plate for adjusting depth of cut. In the late 1920s Billingsley sued Mechanical Supplies Co. of Cincinnati for patent infringement. The Federal Southern District Court of Ohio upheld Billingsley's infringement claim. By 1935 the United States Electrical Tool Co. of Cincinnati had licensed Billingsley's circular-saw patent and was manufacturing circular saws with telescoping blade guard and hinged foot, but otherwise of conventional geared-motor design.

Information Sources

• An Ohio State report listing new incorporations for June 1921 includes "The P. L. Billingsley Co., Cincinnati. $15,000.00. Hugh Whittaker, Elsie Heile, Anna Reis, Helen Maier, John B. Hollister.
• Advertisement in the December 1921 issue of Western Machinery World for the "Flexway carpentering machine".
• The May 1922 edition of The National Builder Buyer's Guide lists "P. L. Billingsley Co. / 427 Elm St., Cincinnati, Ohio" as a maker of a mortiser and a mechanical carpenter.
• Article in the 1922-06-22 issue of The Iron Age on an exhibition held by local tool dealer E. A. Kinsley Co.; among the 66 exhibitors was "P. L Billingsley Co., Cincinnati, portable universal woodworking, machine with accessories."
• US Trademark registration 146,837, which trademarked the "Flexway" logo, indicates that that logo "has been continuously used in the business of said corporation since Aug. 1, 1921." The application was made on behalf of P. L. Billingsley Company by its president, Hugh Whittaker.