This business was founded about 1887 by Louis Frederick Koss, Sr., in partnership with Dwight W. Williamson and then with Charles Herdrich. By 1893 Capital Machine Works was operating as a sole proprietorship. At about the same time, Koss was granted a lath-machine patent that was assigned to Indianapolis Lath Machine Co. The relationship is uncertain; most likely the lath machine was developed by Capital Machine Works under contract.

In 1909 the business was incorporated as Capital Machine Co. When Koss died in 1947, his son Louis Frederick Koss, Jr. took over. He remained president until his death in 1963, when his son, Louis Jack Koss, assumed the presidency. In 1994 William Koss became the fourth generation to run the company when he took over upon his father's death.

The company advertised itself as a "builder of special and experimental machinery", which almost from the beginning included veneer-cutting machinery. The company has produced a long series of innovations in veneer slicing, including a vertical slicer, staylog lathes, variable-speed drives, a knife-rocking mechanism, hydraulic control systems including dogging and knife-bar movement, and, more recently, CNC veneer slicers.

Information Sources

• A document from the Indiana Historical Society provides much of the information here.
• Information on Indianpolis Lath Machine Co. comes from patent records.
• 1902 The Journal Handbook of Indianapolis, pg. 288.

  Capital Machine Works, Nos. 502-504 South Pennsylvania street— It is located in its own building, a commodious brick structure. All the latest and most improved machinery and appliances are employed, and from seven to ten skilled workmen are given steady employment, their products being sold in all parts of the United States. The line of manufacture embraces all the latest improved veneer cutting machinery, automatic improved knife grinders, and all machinery for working veneer products, etc. Mr. Koss has had a long and valuable experience in the business, and was connected with the same line many years previous to entering this enterprise.