In 1918, Frank Edward Aurand, Jr., patented a handheld power tool, a commutator slotting device, and began manufacturing and selling it. The following year Aurand was granted a patent for a clutch that was designed for coal conveyors; this invention was manufactured by Link Belt Co. of Chicago.

It appears that Aurand manufactured his commutator slotter in low volumes for a few years. By 1927 he was working for Concrete Surfacing Machinery Co. of Cincinnati and then in 1937 he established the Aurand Manufacturing & Equipment Co.

Information Sources

• 1918-12-17 Power (vol. 48 No. 25, page 880), article on the "Aurand Commutator Slotter", a handheld power tool "manufactured by Frank E. Aurand, 123 South Cuyler Ave., Oak Park, Ill."
• February 1938 Railway Engineering and Maintenance, page 114, in the "Supply Trade News" section.

  Frank E. Aurand, Jr., formerly associated with the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, has organized the Aurand Manufacturing and Equipment Company, with offices in that city, to take over the patent rights and manufacture of tools for cleaning metal and other rigid surfaces, heretofore in the hands of the Berg Cleaning Division of the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company.

• 1938 issue of Water Works Engineering, volume 91 page 179.

  Takes Over Cleaning Tools—Frank E. Aurand, Jr., formerly associated with the Concrete Surfacing Machinery Company, Cincinnati, has acquired from that company the Berg Cleaning Tool Division and is expanding the business under the name of the Aurand Manufacturing and Equipment Company, 2643 Colerain Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.

• New Equipment Digest, Vol. 4, No. 5, May 1939, Pg. 11.
• New Equipment Digest, Vol. 6, No. 4, Apr. 1941, Pg. 12.