This maker of woodworking machinery was active in 1887 as Herbert Baker. Within a couple of years the name was Herbert Baker Machine Works. A couple of years after that, in 1891, it was Herbert Baker Machine Co. By 1896 it had morphed into Baker Brothers.

From May 1889 The Wood-Worker

Information Sources

• Ad in 1887-03-15 The Mechanical News: "Herbert Baker / Manufacturers of Wood-Working Machinery, / Single and Double Rotary bed Planers, Buss Planers, Universal Saw Benches, and Special Machinery of all kinds. General dealer in Wood and Iron-Working Machinery. / No. 100 Erie Street, Toledo, Ohio."
• From The Railroad, Telegraph, and Steamship Builders' Directory, 1888: a listing under wood-working machinery for "Baker, Herbert, 98 Erie st., Toledo, O."
• We learned of this company via Keith Rucker, who forwarded us an ad from The Wood-Worker, Vol. VIII, No. 3. May 1889. Pg. 4. The ad shows single and double surfacers, a universal woodworker, a jointer ("buzz planer"), tablesaw ("universal saw bench"), and a dowel machine.
• An 1896 ad for Baker Bros. shows a jointer that is labeled, "HERBERT BAKER, TOLEDO, O."
• The 1893 catalog of Hill, Clarke & Co., pg. 356-357, has the Colburn Saw Bench with Herbert Baker... cast into an adjusting wheel.