This firm was established in August 1901 as Wais-King Tool Co., by Charles Christian Wais and Rufus King, Jr. Mr. Wais had formerly been the president of Wais & Roos Punch & Shear Co. The Wais-King company had two product lines: punches and shears, and vertical lathes and turning mills. In January 1903, Mr. Wais sold his interest to Mr. King, who re-organized the business as King Machine Tool Co.

It appears that with Wais' departure, the company dropped the punch and shear business; Mr. Wais set to establishing a new business, C. C. Wais Machine Co., and Mr. King focused his newly renamed company on making vertical turret lathes.

The King Machine Tool Company continued on for some decdes, in a low-key way. Rufus King seems to have been a rather hands-off manager, and Edward A. Muller, who had started as secretary of the company, became the general manager. By 1943 King was retired or deceased and Muller was in control of the company. by 1947 the company had acquired a lathe line from Sebastian Lathe Co.

On January 3, 1948, King Machine Tool Co. was acquired by American Steel Foundries, becoming American Steel Foundries, King Machine Tool Division. The division suffered a series of corporate takeovers, which are a subject of further research.

In 2014, Bourn & Koch acquired King Machine Tool. They can supply replacement parts and support on all makes and models of King vertical turret lathes.

Serial Number Information

A 1953 U.S. Government publication provides information on machine-tool pricing, and also includes some serial number data. For the "American Steel Foundries, King Machine Tool Division, Paddock & Tenn. Aves., Cincinnati 29, Ohio", it gives a few data points on the serial numbers of the vertical boring an turning machines:

Information Sources

• The 1901-10-24 Iron Trade Review mentions that Lane & Bodley had provided a "throttling engine for the new plant of the Wais-King Tool Co., Cincinnati."
• 1902 The Iron Age Directory lists "Wais-King Tool Co., Cincinnati, O." as a maker of Boring Machines, Boiler Shell; Mills, Boring and Turning; Punches, Hand and Power; Punches, Multiple; Punching Machines, I-Beam; Shears, Beam and Channel; Shears, Metal; Special Machinery; Straightening Machinery, Plate; and Straightening Rolls.
• 1902 Annual Report of the Department of Inspection of Workshops lists, under Cincinnati / Winton Place, Wais-King Tool Co., engaged in the business of "Machinery", employing 20 adult males, 1 adult female, and 3 boys. The working day was 9½ hours.
• 1902-01-18 Metal Worker.

  The new shops which the Wais-King Tool Company are erecting at Clifton avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, adjoining the Baltimore & Ohio and Big Four railroads, are approaching completion. The company expect to be ready to fill orders by next week. The plant is located on 3% acres of ground, upon which has been erected a main building, two stories high and 160 x 80 feet; also a boiler house and engine room, all of brick. The plant will be used for the construction and erection of the company's product, including Boring Machines, Mills, Punches, Shears, &c. At the start the company will employ about 100 hands. C. Wais, who for many years was at the head of the Wais & Roos Punch & Shear Company, will be the active manager of the mechanical department of the business, while Rufus King, Jr., will assume the responsibilities of the office management.

• The September 1902 Machinery.

  The Wais-King Tool Co., 39 East Third St., was incorporated in 1901 and employs about 30 men, producing seven sizes of punches and shears and fours sizes of vertical boring and turning mills.

• 1902-11-06 American Machinist, in an article on machine tool manufacture in Cincinnati.

  Between ... 1901 and the present year has seen the organization of the Wais-King Tool Company...

• 1905-05-11 Iron Age.

  Chris. Wais, formerly with the Wais-King Tool Company, has located at the southeast corner of Pearl and Plum streets, where he will manufacture a special boiler makers' drill with oval chuck attachment. He has installed his equipment and will begin operation this week.

• Williams' Cincinnati Business Directory for 1909 lists "King Machine Tool Co. (The). Rufus King pres and treas. G T Miller vice pres. E A Muller secy. Clifton Av and B&Ory. Winton Place.
• A 1913 issue of American Machine and Tool Record mentions "King Machine Tool Co.'s Up. B. & T. Mill—42-inch swing, Dble H., R. T."
• The 1913-01-02 Iron Age.

  F. G. Kretchmer, president of F. G. Kretchmer & Co., machinery importers, with offices in Frankfort-on-theMain, Vienna and Budapest, was guest of honor at a box party given by Rufus King, president King Machine Tool Company at the Grand Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio, on the evening of December 18. Others present were E. A. Muller, general manager King Machine Tool Company; J. W. Carrel, general manager Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Company; A. H. Teuchter. president Cincinnati Bickford Machine Tool Company; Edmund Miller, capitalist, and A. E. Robinson, general superintendent American Tool Works Company.

• The 1922 book, Quarter-century Record, Class of 1894 Yale College.

  Rufus King
  Residence, 2401 Ingleside Place, Cincinnati, Ohio.
  Business, care The King Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati.

  KING has the longest pedigree of any member of '94, tracing his ancestry back to the time of the Norman Conquest, his blood being a mixture of English, Scotch, Dutch, and French. His father, also Rufus King, was born in Cincinnati, Febuary 19, 1846, a relative of Rufus King, Minister to Great Britain, Charles King, President of Columbia College, General Rufus King, Minister to Rome, and Governor Worthington of Ohio. Mr. King was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1867, and became an iron broker and lawyer. At the time of his death on May 3, 1878, he was paymaster of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. He was married February 9, 1871, to Miss Louise Este Miller, who was born in Cincinnati, June 8, 1849, of French, English, and Dutch stock. Mrs. King died in Cincinnati, August 6, 1905.

  Their only child, Rufus, was born in Cincinnati, January 31. 1872, and was prepared for Yale at Mt. Auburn Preparatory School. Upon graduation he attended the Cincinnati Law School, graduating in June, 1898, and practicing until August, 1901. He then became secretary and treasurer of a machine tool company, securing control in January, 1903, when he reorganized it under the name of The King Machine Tool Company, he now being the president and treasurer.

On September 6, 1917, he was married, at Philadelphia, to Mrs. Jane Lockwood (Skinner) Downing, born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, a daughter of Robert Thomson and Mary (Lockwood) Skinner, and widow of Walter Edmund Downing of New York City.

King was present at Triennial, and describes his aim in life as follows: "My particular desire is to get away from work—it has been the keynote of my career—but as yet I have not accomplished my base purpose. It is one of the great misfortunes of business that it takes so much of one's time, and, while I get others to do as much of my work as possible, it is still necessary for me to show up at the office occasionally. I have side-stepped all offers of membership on committees, directorships, and similar honors, and some day shall be able to remain late abed each morning. At present I can extract from early rising only the doubtful enjoyment of the Irish laborer who grins at the rattling alarm clock and chuckles: 'I fooled ye that toime—I wasn't asleep at all.'"

• 1940 catalog, Vertical Boring and Turning Machines, from King Machine Tool Company.
• A 1941 publicatio of the United States Office of Production Management, Prices of new machine tools as of March 1, 1941.

  THE KING MACHINE TOOL CO., WINTON PLACE STATION, CINCINNATI 30" King new type heavy duty vertical boring and turning mill with swivel turret only on rail, right hand side head with 4-position tool holder, plain table, and arranged for ...

• The 1943 book, Cincinnati, a Guide to the Queen City and Its Neighbors.

  KING MACHINE TOOL COMPANY--—PLANT NO. 2. NW. corner of Tennessee Ave. and Paddock Rd., was opened in 1941 to care for the overflow of war orders from the main plant on Clifton Avenue. This large, irregular one-story building of red brick and buff tile was constructed to meet the requirements of heavy machinery: the over-all contour confirms with the floor-space arrangement of the interior. Heat-resisting coolite glass, used in all the windows, gives the factory its peculiar blue-green cast. The company specializes in vertical boring machines and turning mills. Its president, Edward A. Muller, closely identified with the local machine-tool industry for more than half a century, is district ordnance chief of the United States Army.

• 1947 catalog, Sebastian Geared Head Lathes: Type "R"-12" 14" 16" 18" 20", from King Machine Tool Company.
• 1950 and 1952 ASME Mechanical Catalog and Directory list "American Steel Foundries, King Machine Tool Div. 1154 Tennessee Ave., Cincinnati 29, Ohio."
• 1951 catalog, King Vertical Boring and Turning Machines: Catalog K-2, from American Steel Foundries, King Machine Tool Division.
• A 1952 edition of Production has the following snippet.

  Looks to 2nd Half-Century—King Machine Tool of Cincinnati, manufacturers of Vertical Boring and Turning Machines, is celebrating its Golden Anniversary this year. Founded by Rufus King in 1901, the business was originally in...

• The 1952 book, Sand in Their Shoes: The Story of American Steel Foundries, by Franklin M. Reck, has the following snippet.

  On January 3, 1948, American Steel Foundries took a step that not only would provide new and more spacious quarters for the Elmes Works, but would further diversity the products of the company. On that day the corporation concluded the purchase of the business of the King Machine Tool Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. King is one of the leaders in the production of heavy duty vertical boring mills. It offers a greater range in size of general-purpose mills than any other manufacturer, its mills running from a 30-inch to a 144-inch "swing." This means that King mills can perform machining operations on metal pieces ranging from less than two and one-half feet to twelve feet in diameter. King boring mills come under the head of massive machinery. They weigh up to seventy-five tons, and it takes three freight cars to transport one of the larger machines. The King company began its life in 1901 under the leadership of Rufus King. For several years the company struggled to produce a satisfactory line of machinery, but not until E. A. Muller joined the company in 1904 was a serviceable product achieved. Muller was a brilliant designer of the old school, a man trained in...

• June 1965 Factory.

  Racking up flexible storage

  G. A. Gray Co., Cincinnati, O., installed a good flexible materials handling system in a cramped, leased warehouse and later was able to transfer it to the main plant despite two strikes against it. Clever use of Ridg-U-Rak adjustable storage systems (Bernard Gloekler Co., Pittsburgh) made it possible.

  The company bought the business and inventory of King Machine Tool Co., but not the facilities. So it had to vacate in 45 days and lease the only available warehouse, lacking sufficient floor space for efficiency, on a short term basis. Gray had planned to store medium-sized parts here, but had run into space problems with this plan.

  Gray needed high load capacities since parts weighed as much as a ton and a half. Furthermore, flexibility was a must because the speed of the move left no time for careful planning. Easy-to-erect Ridg-U-Rak storage met these requirements. Gray first thought of purchasing angle iron and weld-together racks. But these would have been practically useless when Gray eventually did move, and left no flexibility in planning for large-scale inventory movements.

  The Ridg-U-Raks were loaded as soon as erected. Available fork trucks were thus able to be used during this hectic period. As each rack section was loaded, another was erected nearby. Later, special trucks were leased to operate in narrow aisle. This set-up lasted one year. During this time all inventory was evaluated; obsolete items were discarded, as necessary to consolidate with the Gray inventory in the Gray plant.

  Prior to the transfer, Austin Co., Cleveland, surveyed the plant facilities and recommended building a double deck storage room in a high bay area. The existing Ridg-U-Raks were used for the lower area, supporting a mezzanine with shelving for small parts. And Ridg-U-Rak stairways provided access to the mezzanine area. This was much less expensive than building a free standing steel structure.

  A second mezzanine was later built in the receiving area, also on top of the adjustable storage system. The upper level is covered with steel grating and parts are handled with a five-ton crane.

• A post by JRIowa in an Practical Machinist discussion says that, "King was purchased by Gray, who was purchased by Warner & Swasey, who was purchased by Giddings & Lewis, who was purchased by Tysenkrup, who was purchased by MAG, who just go bought out by a French corporation, The Fives Group.
• Machine serial numbers from 1919 to 1947 may found here