In the 1970s and '80s, this firm made big drill presses and radial drills. At some point the name changed from Hydra-Tool Co., Inc. to Hydra-Tool Corp. There is a connection to I. O. Johansson Corp.: apparently Hydra-Tool manufactured some machines for Johansson.

Information Sources

• Thanks to Paul Thomas for bringing this firm to our attention.
• Sales bulletin with a typewritten "Manufacturing Change Notice" dated Sepember, 1978.
• The 1989 lawsuit of Michael F. Niccum v. Hydra Tool Corporation provides some history. The appellant, Niccum, had injured his hand in a "Wisconsin Forcemaster press brake" that had been manufactured in 1971 by Wisconsin Machine Corp. WMC was dissolved in 1973; shortly before dissolution, they sold their press brake line to Wisconsin Equipment Corp. (WEC) In 1977 WEC was acquired by HTC, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hydra-Tool that was created specifically to acquire that press-brake product line. Shortly after the purchase, the manufacture of the press brake line moved from Wisconsin to Mississippi and WEC was dissolved. In studying the details of the various corporate changes, the court determined that Hydra-Tool did not inherit liability for the press brake that injured the appellant and therefore they found in favor of the defendant.