In the mid-1870s William Eaton Canedy relocated from Illinois to Rochester, Minnesota, where he became a scrap-metal dealer while also working on inventions, including an anvil-vise and a portable forge. Data is very sparse but he operated for a time as W. E. Canedy and then as Minnesota Anvil & Vise Co. and also as Canedy Manufacturing Co. Under these various names he manufactured anvil-vises, other vises, portable forges, and small agricultural machines (potato planter, potato cutter).

In 1889 Canedy relocated to Downers Grove, Illinois, and partnered with William H. Edwards to form Canedy & Edwards, making essentially the same lineup of products as Canedy had made in Rochester. In 1894 Edwards left (or perhaps had left earlier) and Albert T. Otto became a partner; the firm became Canedy-Otto Manufacturing Co. and they had moved again to Chicago Heights, IL.

By 1910 Canedy-Otto was doing a growing business in portable forges, especially those used on construction sites to heat up rivets to connect girders for iron-framed buildings. Their hand-cranked blowers were also successful and typically were sold as an accessory to their forges. Their relatively new lineup of drilling machines consisted mostly of post drills, but they did also make some floor-standing drill presses, in sizes up to 21 inches. They were also seeing a growing business from automotive repair shops.

The 1920s saw a country-wide trend for home workshop machines. In the late 1920s Canedy-Otto jumped on the bandwagon with a 5-in-1 combination machine intended mainly for automotive repair: drill press, lathe suitable for turning a commutator and not much else, undercutter for working on armatures, valve grinder, and bench grinder. The $188 price was a significant fraction of the cost of an lower-end new automobile, and probably beyond the reach of most home mechanics. The drill press part of this machine was also available as a free-standing unit, for only $34 with motor.

Advertisement from the April 1929 issue of "Popular Mechanics"

It's not clear what happened but the company must have struggled through the 1930s. The company was voluntarily dissolved in 1942, but was then revived for a time, perhaps as part of the war effort. In 1949 the company was sold at public auction and was acquired by Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. and operated as the Canedy-Otto Division of Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. This division reportedly lasted only until 1956, but at least some of the Canedy-Otto product line continued under the "Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co." name.

The names "SNOW", "Royal", or "Royal H Western Chief" appear on some Canedy-Otto products. They used the "Tiger" name for their economy line.

Information Sources

• William E. Canedy of Wauconda, Ill., was granted an 1869 patent for a "stove-pipe shelf and drier". In 1876 he was in Rochester, Minn., when he was granted a patent for a combined anvil and vise. He was still in Rochester in 1886, but by 1890 he was in Downer's Grove, Ill., which is when he received his first drilling-machine patent. The first of his patents that was explicitly assigned to a company was an 1899 patent for an "attachment for drilling-machines" that was assigned to Canedy-Otto Manufacturing Co. Three patents, all granted in 1890, were jointly assigned to William E. Canedy and William H. Edwards, both of Downer's Grove. Edwards was perhaps a partner in Canedy Manufacturing Co.
• 1877-01-27 Scientific American, page 58, in a listing of new inventions.

  Improved Combined Anvil and Vise.
  William E. Canedy, Rochester, Minn.—This is a combined anvile and vise for the use of harness makers, tinners, farmers and others. The vise is secured to the anvil between projecting side guides by a fastening screw, and bears, by a lateral shoulder, on the top of the anvil.

• 1880 Minnesota State Gazetteer and Business Directory including Dakota Territory: Volume II, part 1 lists on page 562, "Canedy & Klopp, junk." On page 565 is an ad for "Rochester Iron Works / F. D. Livermore, Iron Founder and Machinist / Engines and Boilers, Grain Elevator and Well Drilling Machinery, Superior Sugar Cane Mills, "Champion" Bob Knees, "Monogram" Pumps, Canedy's Anvil and Vise, Pulleys, Shafter, Hangers, Etc. Rear Post Printing Office, Cor. 4th and Oak, Rochester, Minnesota. On page 566 is listed "Hurd, Martin J, Forge, Anvil and Vise Mnfrs."
• 1882-3 Minnesota State Gazetteer and Busines Directory, Volume III, Part 2, lists on page 632, "Canedy Wm E, Forge, Anvil and Vise Mnfr." On the following page is an ad, "Rochester Iron Works / F. D. Livermore / The Monarch Wind Mill. / Engines and Boilers, Grain Elevators and Well Drilling Machinery, Superior Sugar Cane Mills, "Champion" Bob Knees, "Monogram" Pumps, Canedy's Anvil and Vises, Pulleys, Shafting, Hangers, etc. Rear POST PRINTING OFFICE, Corner 4th and Oak, Rochester, Minnesota." In Part 3, page 1234, is listed in the category of "Forge, Anvil and Vise Mnfrs.", "Canedy W E / Rochester".
• 1884 Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Directory lists on page 578 "Canedy Wm E Mngr Minnesota Anvil and Vise Co. and Dealer in Scrap Iron, etc."
• 1885 Official Catalogue of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of New Orleans, page 28, lists exhibitors of agricultural machinery, including "Canedy W. E., Rochester, Minn. Potato planter."
• 1888 The Railroad, Telegraph and Steamship Builders' Directory, page 184, under "Iron—Scrap": "Canedy, W.E., Rochester, Minn."
• A report on the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, published in the book The White City by John Moses and Paul Selby, 1893 (available through Google Books), lists Canedy-Otto Mfg. Co. of Chicago as exhibiting "Portable forges, blowers, vises, drills, screw plates, anvils and blacksmith tools."
• 1928-29: The C-O Utility Drill and the C-O Master Mechanic 5-in-1 machine.
  • The lathes.co.uk site's page on Canedy-Otto gives a detailed description of the C-O Master Mechanic 5-in-1 machine.
  • All the ads we have found are from Popular Mechanics, and are available in the online repository for Popular Mechanics.
  • The earliest ad for the drill-press portion of the machine (the "C-O Utility Drill") appeared on page 146 of the May 1928 Popular Mechanics.
  • The earliest ad for the 5-in-1 machine (the "C-O Master Mechanic") appeared in the page 128 of the February 1929 Popular Mechanics.
  • The latest ad we could find anywhere appeared on page 181 of the April 1929 Popular Mechanics.
  • We have seen a couple of surviving examples of the drill press but there are no reports of a surviving 5-in-1 machine.
• 1942—Correspondent Ken Lyons learned from the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State at Canedy-Otto Manufacturing Co. was voluntarily dissolved on 1942-04-08.
• 1951—Joe Potter pointed out that the cut-sheet for the 21" stationary-head floor drill, dated 10/51, says "Canedy-Otto Division / Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. / Cincinnati 9, Ohio, USA". The letter attached to the cut-sheet is dated November 21, 1951, from Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. The letter refers to "Cincinnati Lathes" and "Canedy-Otto Drills".
• The 1968 book The U.S. Machine Tool Industry From 1900 to 1950, by Harless D. Wagoner, has this snippet obtained via Google Books: "... the Canedy-Otto Manufacturing Company of Chicago Heights, Illinois, which was sold at public auction in 1949 and purchased by the Cincinnati Lathe and Tool Company.
• The 1991 book The Ancestors of Edna Frances Cady, by Robert Cady Gates, has this snippet, available through Google Books: "Some of these were the following: 1887: Canedy Manufacturing Company of Rochester, Minnesota..."
• More information related to this maker is available in the Wiki, including an article on restoring a "New No. 16" post drill.
• Listed in the EAIA's Directory of American Toolmakers, with a single data point of 1894.
• The Directory of American Toolmakers also lists Canedy Manufacturing Co.: "The company, which was also called C.M. CO., made hand cranked blowers with the brand name WESTERN CHIEF and forges. They were succeeded by the Canedy-Otto Mfg. Co. Their only Chicago listing is in an 1890 directory; they may have worked in Grove before that."
• Seen on eBay: a manual for a Royal 16 drill press from the Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. There is no mention of Canedy-Otto on the cover of the manual.
• Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 36.
• Findagrave.com entry for William Eaton Canedy (1843-1914).