Wysong & Miles Co. was founded in or before 1904, and survives to the present day. Their early machines were designed by Olmedo Cortez Wysong. We have no information on the identity of Mr. Miles.
Advertisement from the September 1912 issue of "Wood Craft"
The company's early product lines comprised belt sanders, mortisers, and bandsaws. A dovetailing machine was added to the line in about 1911. During the 1950s the company increasingly shifted its emphasis to metal forming machinery. In the mid-1970s they sold their woodworking machinery line to Central Machinery Co., owned by longtime Wysong & Miles employee and, evantually, VP of Manufacturing, Don Hege, of Lexington, NC, who provided support for Wysong & Miles' woodworking machinery until about 2017. Meanwhile, Wysong & Miles continued to manufacture metal-forming machinery until about 2003, then they discontinued manufacturing operations altogether in about 2005. They continue their rebuilding and parts business. See their website, http://www.wysongpartsandservice.com/.
Information Sources
- A 1904 billhead reads "Wysong & Miles Company / Woodworking Machinery and Supplies / Band Saws, Circular Saws, Emery Wheels, Molding Knives kept in stock".
- 1906-09-04 Greensboro Daily News had a substantial article on Wyaong & Miles that includes a brief corporate description and history, biographies and portraits of the company founders, and descriptions of the company's sanding machine and multiple mortiser.
- A post World War I document commemorating North Carolina's war dead was sponsored in part by Wysong & Miles. Their ad lists "Belt Sanders, Chair Post Mortisers, Automatic Dovetailers, Square Chisel Mortisers, Belt Drawer Fitting Machines, Chair Back and Seat Mortisers".
- An ad in a 1920 issue of The Wood-Worker shows their stroke sander.
- Listed in 1955-56 Hitchcock Wood Workers Digest Directory, which claims "50 years experience designing and manufacturing woodworking machinery."
- A Wysong & Miles company web site was active from 2001 through 2005. The Internet Archive has various versions of the Wyong Miles web site.
- The FactoryNew.com site provided information on Central Machinery's purchase of Wysong & Miles' woodworking machinery line.
- We do not have a volunteer steward to track Wysong & Miles serial number information. One reliable data point we have is the receipt for a Model 315 belt sander that was shipped from the factory to Thomasville Furniture on 1965-04-29, and has serial number ES1-467. This information comes from a posting on owwm.org.
- Information about the current status of Wysong & Miles comes from a discussion on owwm.org. A separate discussion provides some information on Central Machinery Co.
- Directory of Metalworking Machinery, 1951, pg. 47