Between 1921 and 1932 Cheshire & Greenfield Manufacturing Company made a small pedestal-mounted mitering and trimming saw for the printing trade that C. & G. sold under the "Trimmiter" trade name. It seems that by 1932 the company was in financial distress. The Milwaukee Saw Trimmer Corp. was formed in 1932 and immediately acquired the assets of this firm, continuing to make the "C&G" line of printing saws under the new banner.

Movable type is now largely obsolete and so printer's saws are obsolete, and are often repurposed for other small-scale precision cutting of wood and soft metals. Getting replacement blades can be a challenge because the saws use non-standard arbors and new off-the-shelf blades will require precise drilling and boring of new holes.

Information Sources

• We learned of this maker from a now-lost discussion in an owwm.org forum.
• September 1921 The Inland Printer page 812.

  , in a report on exhibitors at a recent trade show. mentions that John S. Thompson, author of the textbook The Mechanism of the Linotype, was representing "the C. & G. Manufacturing Company, of Chicago", makers of "the C. & G. trimmiter". Early mentions of this firm used the name "C. & G." rather than "Cheshire & Greenfield".

• 1923-12-05 The American Printer page 70.

  Trimmer Claims Allowed—A letter from S. G. Greenfield, secretary and treasurer of the Cheshire & Greenfield Manufacturing Company of Chicago, states that patents on the C. & G. Trimmiter have been issued and that all of the forty-eight claims made by the company were allowed, thus proving that the features of this device are new and distinctive. It is claimed for the Trimmiter that it is one of the best, safest, and most economical on the market. The Philadelphia Public Ledger recently installed six of these machines in its plant.

• The Printing Trades Blue Book for 1928 lists "PRINTERS' SAWS Cheshire & Greenfield Mfg. Co., 182 E. Clybourn St., Milwaukee."
• A 1932 edition of Printing carried the following news snippet:

  NEW FIRM Succeeds Cheshire & Greenfield Mfg. Co. MILWAUKEE Saw Trimmer Corporation, a new organization, has purchased the complete line of Cheshire & Greenfield Manufacturing Company's machines, as well as all the equipment ...