The Acme Manufacturing Co. of Michigan was owned by Gustave A. Carlson. In 1947 one of Carlson's sons, George R. Carlson, established his own business, Midwest Supply & Mfg. Co., also manufacturing specialized grinding, buffing and polishing machinery. George put in $50,000 capital and it seems likely that his father must have provided some financial assistance. Over the next several years the new company was granted a series of patents related to production-line belt-sanding, buffing and polishing machinery. Sometime after 1955 it seems that at least some Midwest patents became the property of Acme. We do not yet know whether Acme acquired Midwest, or if Midwest shut down and Acme bought the assets, or perhaps Acme acquired only a portion of those assets.
Midwest Supply & Mfg. Co. manufactured assembly-line grinding, polishing and buffing machinery. One specialty was belt sanding machinery for finish sending of thin sheet metal. Other machinery seems to overlap considerably with the specialties of Acme, i.e., the automated buffing and polishing of irregularly shaped work-pieces such as bumpers and bumperettes.