Acme Iron Works was founded by Charles F. Axelson and Gustavus A. Axelson in the early to mid 1890s. In 1904 the business incorporated as Axelson Machine Co. Sometime between 1928 and 1936 the name was changed again to the Axelson Manufacturing Co.

Ad from December 1912 Western Machinery World

The company began as a general machine shop for the oil and gas industry, and segued into making pumping equipment for oil wells. For their own factory use Charles Axelson designed and built lathes that were adapted to the heavy and repetitive large-scale work they were doing. These lathes were successful and a few were made to order for customers. In 1914 Axelson began manufacturing them for general sale. Driven by demand for these high-quality and highly productive lathes, Axelson expanded from 2700 square feet to over 100,000 square feet by 1921, including their own iron foundry. The company created a subsidiary to manufacture engines and other products for the aircraft industry; their oil-well pump business continued to prosper. Meanwhile, their lathes continued to evolve, making them ever more convenient and reliable.

In 1954, Axelson was purchased by U. S. Industries (USI) Clearing Division; at that time, Axelson had 1100 employees. Prior to the acquisition they had been a non-union shop but the workers voted to unionize shortly after. Under USI the Axelson lathe lineup was redesigned, which included modernizing their external styling which provides a visual indication of whether you are looking at an old-school Axelson lathe or one post-dating the USI redesign. The redesigned lathes were unsuccessful in the market and USI soon discontinued Axelson's manufacture of lathes.

Information Sources

• 1905-06-29 American Machinist page 887. "Axelson Machine Company, Los Angeles, Cal., will build an addition to its plant, doubling the capacity."
• 1906 Biennial Report of the Secretary of State of the State of California lists new incorporations, including, on page 39, "Axelson Machine Co. / Los Angeles / (capital stock) $200,000 / (filed) Sept. 17, '04 / (file number) 41,015".
• Metal Trades, Volume 12, Feb 1921, page 62.

  In the early 'nineties, C. F. and G. A. Axelson started in business in Los Angeles in a small machine-shop under the name of the Acme Iron Works, which name was later changed to the Axelson Machine Co. From a general jobbing business the company gradually developed a manufacturing business in oil-well tools, particularly pumping equipment. In 1910 the company commenced the construction of heavy-duty lathes, from designs prepared by C. F. Axelson, several of these machines being placed in its own shops. These proved so satisfactory that others were sold to outside concerns in response to requests. Finally, in 1914, after service-tests had demonstrated conclusively the soundness of the design, the lathes were put on the general market, the company continuing its production of oilfield equipment.

  During this time the floor-space required by the company has increased from 2700 sq. ft. in the first shop to more than 100,000 sq. ft. at the present time. This has been accomplished by moving the plant several times, the most recent move being to a five-acre tract at the corner of Boyle and Randolph avenues, Huntington Park, about five miles from the main business district of Los Angeles.

  In the foundry the company makes all its iron and semi-steel castings, both for its lathes and for its various lines of oilfield equipment, and also does a general jobbing business, principally for manufacturing concerns that have no foundry of their own, and whose orders are of sufficient volume to justify the Axelson company in rigging for quantity production. The foundry building, like the other structures at the plant, which include machine-shop, assembling department, forge-shop, patternshop, pattern-storage building, warehouse, and office, is of brick and steel construction with ample window-space to ensure the maximum amount of daylight.

• Vintage Machinery wiki on Axelson lathe serial numbers, covering 1920 to 1957.