In June of 1895 the Champion Shingle Planer Co. was incorporated to manufacture a machine that had just been patented by one of the incorporators, William J. Pugh. Oddly, that same machine design had been licensed to Model Shingle Planer Co., which had been incorporated in Chicago in March of that year and would disappear within nine months or so.

The Champion Shingle Planer Co. began with an exceptionally small capital stock of $8,000, which is usually a sign that a company will be short-lived. This company went a different route: they seem to have done exactly nothing—no ads or articles on the company or their products have been found, nor have any surviving machines surfaced—until the corporation was forcibly dissolved by the State in 1921.

Information Sources

• 1895-06-20 The Iron Trade Review. "The Champion Shingle Planer Co., of Chicago, has been licensed to incorporate with a capital of $8,000 to manufacture machinery. Incorporators, William J. Pugh, Norman T. Morse and Michael Simons."
• 1903 Certified List of Illinois Corporations lists such corporations, including Champion Shingle Planer Co.; capital stock $8,000; location of principal office 172 Washington st., Chicago; president or manager J. K. Kick, Danville; secretary R. E. Buchanan, 172 Washington st.
• 1904 Proceedings of the Illinois State Board of Equalization lists Illinois corporations that were exempt from paying certain taxes because they were manufacturing companies, including the Champion Shingle Planer Co.
• 1921-05-21 The National Corporation Reporter lists a tremendous number of corporations for whom the Attorney General of Illinois had filed a bill praying for their dissolution, including the Champion Shingle Planer Company. Such an action was normally undertaken when a company had consistently failed to file necessary paperwork or pay taxes. Judging by the number of corporations so listed, this was the first time in some years that the Attorney General had done so.