During the 1940s the James Knight Knight Co. manufactured benchtop bar bending machines, a line they seem to have inherited from D. A. Hinman & Co.

Information Sources

• 1910-03-10 The Iron Age.

  D. A. Hinman & Co., Sandwich, Ill., recently purchased and have taken over the hand bending tool business from Estep & Dolan, who have been manufacturing and selling such tools for the past 10 years.

• Expired eBay listing for a 1948 James Knights Co. benchtop bending machines catalog. "Vintage James Knight Co benders catalog The James Knights Co. IL Angle-U-Bar-eye-pipe & awning frame benders models #1, 4, 2, 2 SPECIAL, 1A, 1 & 2 EYE, 3 EYE. 4 pgs."
• A page at the Smithsonian Institution provides the following history.

  The James Knights Company of Sandwich, Illinois was founded in 1942 to develop and manufacture crystal-controlled oscillators. In creating the company, James Knights and Leon Faber were responding to the enormous demand for frequency control in military radio and telephone communications during World Ware II. Faber, a utility company employee, had previous experience making quartz crystal control units for amateur radio enthusiasts, also known as "hams." James Knights owned a local electrical supply store.

  After the war James Knights produced crystal units for military aircraft radios. The firm became a subsidiary of CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply) in 1964 and the company name changed to CTS Knights. In addition to supplying crystals for use in military applications, the company manufactured crystal oscillators for use in a variety of other electronic devices including computers. During the early 1970s, the company was interested in the use of crystals in watches and clocks. The paper documents in the collection focus primarily on this effort.

  The company continued to produce crystal units as a division of CTS, now a global electronics firm, until 2002 when it was shut down.

• 2016-04-15 Sandwich Record, in an article on the Stone Mill Museum building.

  The Stone Mill first housed a steam grist mill until 1900. Then Lee Kellam and D. A. Hinman ran a machine shop in the building, with Hinman continuing the business, alone, from 1919 to 1940.

  Repair parts for Enterprise Equipment were made there for a while; and L. R. Evans moved into the building to manufacture hydrants and pump parts in 1946. It was 1950 when James Knights bought the building for storage for his crystal manufacturing business, James Knights, Inc.

  "J.K.", as the company was known by local residents, was located near the center of Sandwich, at the corner of Route 34 and Wells Street.

  About the time James Knights Inc. and CTS Corporation were merging in 1965, Knights helped establish and became active in the Sandwich Historical Society. He then donated the building for an industrial museum. The museum opened its doors in 1969 when exhibits were ready...