The partnership of Williams & Orton was established in 1886 to manufacture steam engines, gas engines, pumping machinery and woodworking machinery. The partners were John H. Williams and Collins K. Orton. The last mention of Williams & Orton we can find is in 1900. In '01 we see the name C. K. Orton Machine Works and then C. K. Orton Machine Co., at the same address as Williams & Orton. In 1903 we first see the name Orton Machine Co.. In 1906 the business was formally reorganized as the Orton Machine Co.

From early on, the company's most successful products were heavy planers, and this would remain true for all of the company's existence. Orton Machine Company lasted until 1998; by that time their heyday was long over. Orton planers are still common in the western states.

Collins Knapp Orton was the son of Gerrit Van Zandt Orton, who had worked for–and obtained a planer-related patent for—J. A. Fay & Co. In 1899, Gerrit V. Orton was working as a machinist for Williams & Orton. Gerrit's brother was Lyman Osgood Orton, who was the titular Orton in the firm of Berry & Orton, operators of the Atlantic Works in Philadelphia.

Information Sources

• 1888-07-07 Mining and Scientific Press has this text ad: "C. K. Orton / J. H. Williams / Williams & Orton, Manuf'rs of General Machinery / Works, No. 315 Mission St., San Francisco. / Special attention given to Woodworking machinery, Steam and Gas Engines. Correspondence solicited."
• January 1892 Industry has an ad for "Williams & Orton / Manufacturers of / General Machinery / Sole Manufacturers and Agents of the O. C. Hanson Shingle Machinery ... Steam and Gas Engines, Pumping Machinery, Cutter Heads, Saw Arbors, Shafting, Hangers, Etc. ... / Williams & Orton / 315 Mission St., S. F."
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• 1894 issues of Industry: A Magazine Devoted to Science, Engineering, and has a text ad: "F. Orton / Mechanical Engineer / Expert Designer of Special and General Machinery / Preparing Plans of Steam, Air, and Hydraulic Apparatus; Iron and Wood-Cutting Machines; Transmission of Power, etc. / 218 Mission Street, San Francisco." Ads for F. Orton (probably "Frederick" Orton) are the only mentions of an Orton in San Francisco with any connection to woodworking machinery or even to mechanical engineering in general.
• 1899 Crocker-Langley Directory lists, under "Engineers—Mechanical" and under "Machinists", "Williams & Orton, 315 Fremont". This firm was a partnership of John H. Williams and Collins K. Orton; listed as employees are Charles Andrews (machinist), Frank Demeral (helper), and Gerritt V. Orton (machinist). Note the address, 315 Fremont, which is the same as the 1907 address of Orton Machine Co.
• 1900 Crocker-Langley Directory has identical listings for Williams & Orton as seen in the 1899 edition.
• 1901-07-11 The Iron Age. "SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., June 27, 1901.-The machinists' strike, as it is termed practically involves all those employed in the iron trade of San Francisco and Oakland... The number of establishments that are under strike is 71. They are as follows... C. K. Orton Machine Works..."
• 1904 Crocker-Langley Directory lists "C. K. Orton Machine Co., C K. Orton pres, W G Orton sec, mfrs of Orton Patent surfacers, band saws, shingle and special machinery, 315 Fremont, tel Kearny 631".
• Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of California for the 58th and 59th Fiscal Years Beginning July 1, 1905 and Ending June 30, 1908 lists new incorporations, including "Orton Machine Co. / San Francisco / (capital stock) $50,000 / (filed) Oct. 9, '06 / (no.) 47,762".
• 1907 San Francisco-Oakland Directory lists, under Machinists, "Orton Machine Co. The, 315 Fremont, S F, tel Tmpy 631".
• 1911 Hendricks' Commercial Register of the United States lists "Orton, C. K. Machine Co., 315 Fremont" under "Machinists & Founders / California / San Francisco".
• 1912 Crocker-Langley Directory lists "Orton Machine Co., C K. Orton pres, W G Orton sec, mfrs of Orton Patent surfacers, band saws, shingle and special machinery, 315 Fremont, tel Kearny 631".
• 1909 Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Thirty-Eighth Session of the Legislature of the State of California lists incorporations, including "Orton Machine Co. / San Francisco / (capital stock) 50,000 / (filed) Mar. 25, '07 / no. 47,762".
• December 1917 The Timberman.

  Orton Machinery Co., of San Francisco, builders of the Orton patent endless bed surfacer, report a fair demand. The company has been busy building special wood pipe making machinery. C. K. Orton, the inventor of the surfacer, is assisted in the conduct of his business by his son, W. G. Orton.

• May 1924 The Timberman has an ad for patented endless bed surfacers from Orton Machine Co., 325 Fremont Street, San Francisco. "Established 1886."
• 1925 Hendricks' Commercial Register of the United States lists "Orton Machine Co., 325 Fremont, San Francisco, Cal." under "Planing Machines (Traveling Bed)", "Planing Machines (Wood)", "Machinists & Founders", "Heads (Cutter)".
• 1932 issue of The Timberman. Pioneer Woodworking Machinery Man Dies In the going home of Collins K. Orton, 71, president Orton Machine Co., San Francisco, California, October
• An ad in 1955-56 Hitchcock's Wood Workers Digest Directory says, "Established 1886."
• Also reported: Orton "Ship Shaper" router, made in 1975.
• The FindAGrave.com page on Collins Knapp Orton shows that his father was Gerrit Van Zandt Orton, presumably the Gerrit V. Orton listed as an employee of Williams & Orton in 1899.