In 1914 John O. Berg established the Rotary Power Tool Co., Inc., based in Manhattan and with a very modest amount of capital. We find a few scant mentions that this firm was manufacturing a concrete surfacing tool that had a motor on a shoulder strap and connected by a flexible shaft to the cutter-head. This tool was used to remove surface imperfections such as form marks from concrete surfaces. In 1917 a patent was granted to Berg for this tool, assigned to Rotary Power Tool Co. An improved version of this invention was granted a patent just a few months later. Canadian, British and French patents followed. The company seemed to disappear in 1918.

In 1921 a new company appeared, the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co. of Cincinnati, manufacturing the "Berg Concrete Surfacer" and the "Hodges electric stucco machine". This new business was incorporated in April 1922.

It appears that by 1927 Frank E. Aurand was an employee of the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co., and in that year he was granted a patent for a portable surface-cleaning tool, which was for removing rust, scale and loose paint on metal surfaces. It proved to be popular for ship maintenance, including for the US Navy, and also for preparing for painting the iron and steel in bridges and other structures. This patent was not explicitly assigned to Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co., but Aurand's invention, as the "Berg Cleaning Tool", became part of their product lineup.

In 1937 the Aurand Manufacturing & Equipment Co. was established by Frank Aurand to take over the business of the "Berg Cleaning Tool" division of the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co. This Division seems to consist of the surface cleaning tools developed by Aurand; see the Aurand company entry for the subsequent history.

Meanwhile, the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co. continued making their concrete surfacers and related products for stone, concrete and similar materials. We find reliable data points only as late as 1971; after that time we can find occasional references in industry directories and the like, but such references are often not updated for years after a company's demise.

Information Sources

• 1914-05-11 Industrial World page 570, in a list of "Charters to New Corporations".

  Rotary Power Tool Company, Inc., Manhattan; $10,000. John Berg, 516, W. One Hundred and Sixty-Ninth street, New York; Julian G. Straus, New York; Helen Reid, Caldwell, N. J.

• November 1914 Concrete-Cement Age, page 225, has an illustrated article on a concrete surfacing tool "being manufactured by the Rotary Power-Tool Co., 122 Warren St., N. Y. C."
• From the Proceedings of the December 1914 Annual Meeting of the American Warehouseman's Association, in a "Report of the committee on warehouse construction and labor saving devices"

  An electric motor driven tool for finishing concrete surfaces is a recent invention. As described by the makers, The Rotary Power Tool Co., New York City, the tool is carried by a strap over a man's shoulder, the power is transmitted from the motor by a flexible shaft to a disc which carries 24 small cutter wheels at a speed of 2,000 R.P.M. The entire outfit weighs 20 lbs. and particular attention has been paid to the protection afforded the operator from injury. The average amount of work done by a single machine is claimed to be 100 sq. ft. per hr. where surface to be removed is that ordinarily found on concrete work and does not exceed 1/8-inch, at a current (i.e., electricity) cost of about 14 cents per day at New York City rates. The machine is arranged to do circular columns, curved corners and will surface within 3/8 of an inch of an inside corner.

• December 1921 Concrete, page 247, in an article on the construction of a club-house for the Riding Club of Cincinnati, mentions that the dash coat and stucco were applied by "the Hodges electric stucco machine" from the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co., Cincinnati.
• The Ohio Secretary of State report for 1921-22 shows that Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company was incorporated on 1922-04-12 to manufacture tools and machinery, with a capitalization of $25,000.
• 1930 issue of Metal Cleaning and Finishing, Volume 2 page 726. "A new tool, that incidentally introduces an entirely new and greatly improved method for removing paint, rust and scale from steel surfaces, has just been announced by the 'Berg' Cleaning Tool Division of The Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, makers of portable, power-driven surfacing, finishing and cleaning machines."
• 1931 issue of American Exporter, Volume 108 page 132. "For removing paint, rust, and scale from steel structures the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company showed a new Berg tool..."
• 1933 issue of Concrete, issues 41-42 page 29.

  Berg concrete surfacers, attachments and accessories, for surfacing, cleaning, polishing, brush hammering, channeling and drilling concrete buildings, bridges, walls, floors, dams, etc., are fully described in literature being distributed by the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company, Cincinnati.