The Clarke Sanding Machine Co. makes electric hand sanders and sanding machines, particularly floor sanding machines. In 1941-1942 they manufactured the Dreadnaught 8" Speed Saw.

Alex A. Clarke established the Universal Machine Products Co. in Dallas, Texas, in 1912. In 1920 he was granted a series of patents related to sanding machines for floor surfacing, and in that year the company underwent a major restructuring, changing its name to the Clarke Sanding Machine Co. The following year the company was related to Chicago, presumably to have better access to raw materials, shipping, and skilled employees.

Meanwhile, Muskegon, Michigan, was a lumber town whose forests had been exhausted, and businessmen and civic leaders were looking for new industries to boost the local economy. It seems likely that Clarke was looking for additional capital to grow his business, and a consortium of Muskegon businessman obliged him by buying shares in the Clarke Sanding Machine Co., with the proviso that the business relocate to Muskegon. Shortly after the business had relocated to Chicago, it relocated again, to Muskegon.

In 1930 the business apparently got into some financial difficulty: Clarke was pushed out as president of the company and former Muskegon mayor Thomas B. Bennett took over that role. Bennett had been instrumental in bringing Clarke's company to Muskegon, both as a civic leader and as an investor. Despite the change in leadership, by 1938 the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and a young Muskegon businessman, Thure Leafstrand, bought a controlling interest in the Clarke Sanding Machine Co., and replaced Bennett as company president. Leafstrand was a self-made man who made made his early money in real estate but also had experience in manufacturing. He led the company to win some key contracts for the war effort but then died unexpectedly in 1942 following a short illness, age 42. The company's secretary-treasurer, Ernest Cooper, replaced Leafstrand as president, and the company thrived under his leadership. By the early 1950s the company employed 500 people. In 1952 they acquired the sanding machine division of the Porter-Cable Machine Co. and also took over the inventory of sanding-machinery maker W. P. Hilger Co., St. Cloud, MN.

The company history from 1955 to present remains a topic for further research. They are now Clarke American Sanders group, which is, in turn, part of Nilfisk-Advance, Inc.

Information Sources

• 1934 Encyclopedia of American Biography, entry for Thure Hjalmar Leafstrand.

  Mr. Leafstrand was born February 3, 1898, in Ludington, Michigan, son of John and Emma (Johanson) Leafstrand. His father, a native of Sweden, came in early life to the United States, and settled in Michigan, becoming a farmer in Ludington. The mother was also born in Sweden, although she was married to John Leafstrand in Michigan.

  Ludington schools, in this State, furnished Thure Hjalmar Leafstrand's early formal education, and, to begin the active labors of his business career, he came to Muskegon. Here he accepted employment with the Continental Manufacturing Company, with whom he gained his initial business experience, familiarizing himself in that connection with all the varied aspects of business life and acquiring a mastery of commercial methods and procedures. When he was only twenty-one years of age, he was able to establish his own enterprise, the Leafstrand Realty Company, through which he developed a number of sub-divisions and came to occupy an ever more important role in the building of his adopted community. He was active at an early period in developing a sub-division on Highway No. 31 and another on Highway No. 46. Other similar developments followed, and Mr. Leafstrand was credited with playing a leading rôle in the development of the whole Muskegon area. He also became president of the Clarke Sanding Machine Company, which he which bought at a time when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and, in the years that followed, he not only saved from complete disappearance, but built up until it held a position of leadership in its line of activity . At the time of his passing, Mr. Leafstrand was busily engaged in filling defense orders that this company had accepted. Still another of his interests was the chain of eleven service stations that he conducted under the name of the Leafstrand Service Stations, handling gasoline and oil for the automobile trade. He was president of this organization.

  Long active in the Muskegon Real Estate Board, Mr. Leafstrand was formerly secretary of the board. Many business men, in this organization and in all kinds of commercial and industrial activity, found his advice and assistance helpful, and found him most generous in extending aid to others. He did everything in his power to further the interests of his community, both the larger Muskegon district and his own immediate environs in North Muskegon. A Republican in politics, he extended his activities beyond all bounds of partisanship. Education was a cause that particularly concerned him, and Mr. Leafstrand served for ten years as a member of the North Muskegon School Board, acting as its secretary. At the time of his passing, the schools here were closed in honor of him and as a token of popular appreciation of his service to schools, education and young people.

  Accepted Masons, holding the thirty-second degree of Ancient Accepted Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He attended Swedish Mission Church. In spare time he enjoyed outdoor life, doing considerable hunting in season and following baseball. Thure Hjalmar Leafstrand married, June 17, 1929, at South Bend, Indiana, Esther Hansen, daughter of John and Carrie Hansen. Her father was a Michigan farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Leafstrand became the parents of two children: Thomas Erwin and Joanne Ruth Leafstrand.

  The death of Thure Hjalmar Leafstrand, May 30, 1942, in Muskegon, Michigan, was an occasion of profound sorrow and regret wherever he was known. A man of many achievements and distinctions, his record was the more remarkable in view of the fact that he was self-educated and self-made, attaining results always by virtue of his own unaided efforts. He stood for integrity, fairness and sincerity of purpose, and his life exemplified these splendid attributes, for which he will long be affectionately remembered and his influence continuingly felt.

• Hardware Age, Vol. 150, No. 2, July 23, 1942, Pg. 242.
• 1952 issue of Woodworking & Furniture Digest, Volume 54, Issue 1, page 186.

  Porter-Cable Sells Floor Sander Line—The Porter-Cable Machine Company of Syracuse, New York, announces the sale of the firm's floor sanding machine line to Clarke Sanding Machine Company, of Muskegon, Michigan. The Clarke Sanding Machine Company, established in 1920, has long been a leader in the field of rental floor sanders. The purchase of the Porter-Cable patent rights, tools, and fixtures will broaden Clarke's line so that they will now have a full line of floor finishing and maintenance machines for both the professional and rental dealers.

• 1955 book, Michigan Through the Centuries, Volume 4, page 452.

  CLARKE SANDING MACHINE COMPANY—Throughout most of its history, the Clarke Sanding Machine Company has been a Muskegon industry. In its specialized field of production—sanders and edgers for finishing floors—it is known throughout the United States. The company had its modest beginning in Dallas, Texas, in 1912. It was founded by A. A. Clarke, who gave the firm its name and who will be remembered by Muskegon residents as the first president of the organization in their city. In 1921 Mr. Clarke moved his young enterprise to Chicago, and only a short time later re-established in Muskegon.

  The major influence in securing his important industrial operation for Muskegon is to be found in the person of Thomas Bert Bennett, who was formerly mayor of the city, and the founder of Bennett Pumps Corporation (now the Bennett Pumps Division of the John Wood Company). Prior to this, the Greater Muskegon Industrial Fund, through the efforts of Ralph S. McCrea and John C. Beukema, had been attempting to bring the sanding machine firm to the city, but encountered too many obstacles. Mr. McCrea was industrial commissioner of the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Beukema its secretary and manager. After personally satisfying himself concerning the financial stability of the firm and the possibilities for its products, Mr. Bennett invested a hundred thousand dollars in the purchase of a large block of Clarke stock. Sizeable purchases of this stock were also made by L. C. Walker , A. W. Shaw , William Munroe, L. O. Gordon, C. E. Johnson, Carl P. Damm, and the Bauknecht brothers. The purchase of this stock, and the assurance that the Industrial Fund would finance construction of a manufacturing plant, definitely secured the Clark Sanding Machine Company for Muskegon. It made its debut at a crucial period in the city's economic history, when the major industry of many years, lumber, had gone its way. The first headquarters in Muskegon were in a new building constructed on McCracken Street through the assistance of the Greater Muskegon Industrial Fund. This structure , with its thirty-seven thousand square feet of floor space, was the center of manufacturing activities for several years, and at the end of that time the building on Clay Avenue was acquired. It has been occupied by the firm since. The portable sanding machines which Mr. Clarke had designed and patented provided the basis for manufacturing operations. Concerning the early products, "Clarke Tales," house organ of the company, has related:

  . . . The company's first product was a chain-driven sander similar to the Model DC-3. The young company was moved to Chicago in 1921, and there Mr. Clarke introduced the six-inch Model D-6 to the market.

  After the relocation in Muskegon, A. A. Clarke remained in the company's presidency until 1930, when he was succeeded by Mr. Bennett. The latter's assistant, Maurice J. Reddy, became president on Mr. Bennett's death, and he served until succeeded in turn by Thure H. Leafstrand in 1938. Also in that year, Ernest Cooper became secretary-treasurer-treasurer; and he and Mr. Leafstrand, who were also majority stockholders, were planning a number of improvements to expand company business when Mr. Leafstrand died in 1942. There had already been a major reorganization in the firm's corporate structure. This occurred in 1920, when the firm's original name, Universal Machine Products Company, was changed to its present form.

  Ernest Cooper, secretary-treasurer of the corporation under Mr. Leafstrand, succeeded him as its president in June, 1942, and has held that office since. He is the subject of a separate biographical sketch accompanying. Early in his administration, the Clarke Sanding Machine Company was engaged in the production of war material, but at the end of the war again turned its attention fully to manufacturing floor-sanding and maintenance equipment. In 1947 expansion became necessary and seventeen thousand square feet of floor space was added. Since that time the company's sales volume has exceeded five million dollars annually. This affords a significant contrast with the little company which came to the city thirty years ago and achieved a three-hundred-thousand-dollar volume of sales. The company is still expanding. In 1952 the Clarke Sanding Machine Company acquired the sanding machine division of the Porter-Cable Company, and also took over the inventory of the W. P. Hilger Company. The firm's payroll now lists over five hundred people. Mr. Cooper voiced the confidence of this growing organization when he recently stated: " We feel confident that 1953 will be the biggest and best in Clarke's history . . . . Our 1953 goal is to continue to be the number one manufacturer of the top...