Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., 1971

Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. is best known for the Milwaukee brand handheld power tools.

In 1914 Arno Hubert Petersen and Harvey E. Bloomer established the P. & B. Manufacturing Co. to manufacture electrical supplies. Bloomer was president and Petersen was secretary and treasurer. They achieved some early success manufacturing BX connectors, outlet boxes and conduit fittings. In 1917 a fire destroyed their factory but they obtained more working capital and built a new and modern plant at 1614 Fratney Street in Milwaukee. At around this time it seems that Bloomer left the company and in January of 1918 the business was renamed to the A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Co.

Peterson was reportedly approached by Henry Ford who asked him to produce a small 1/4-inch electric drill for use on Ford's assembly lines. Petersen accepted the challenge and the company developed the "Hole Shooter" drill, in 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch sizes, both introduced in 1922. The Hole Shooter drill proved to be popular, but a fire in December 1923 damaged the factory and then a second fire in April 1924 completely destroyed the factory. Insurance refused to pay until an investigation on the fires' origins was completed, and compounding the trouble, Petersen became ill (he would die at age 54 in 1942). A few months after the second fire the business was forced into receivership. A group of "local business interests" acquired the company's assets and continued to operate the business under the original name. In 1925 Albert F. Siebert was hired as sales manager for the troubled business. The following year Siebert, along with Ray Beckwith purchased the business. At first the business was operated by Siebert & Beckwith and in 1927 Siebert bought out Beckwith and re-incorporated the business as the Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., with Siebert as president—a position he would hold until his death in 1960 at age 82.

Under Siebert's leadership they expanded their line of electric drills, then in 1934 introduced a small electric hammer for drilling holes in concrete and masonry. In 1937 they added a line of electric screwdrivers for production work, and in 1938 they added electric sanders, polishers and buffers.

They also put their name on bench grinders that were made by Kingston-Conley Electric Co., and, more recently, by Wisotta Manufacturing Co.

Information Sources

• 1914-07-25 Electrical World, page 206.

  The P. & B. Manufacturing Company has been incorporated with a capital stock of $5,000 to manufacture electrical fittings. The general offices are at 306 Manufacturers' Home Building, Milwaukee, Wis. Mr. A. H. Petersen is secretary and treasurer.

• 1916-08-05 Electrical Review and Western Electrician, page 263.

  James E. Gleason Company, 108 South Clinton Street, Chicago, Ill., has been appointed general selling agents for the P. & B. Manufacturing Company, 189 Fifth Street, Milwaukee, Wis., manufacturer of outlet boxes, BX connectors, fixture studs and conduit fittings.

• 1917-02-17 Electrical Review and Western Electrician, page 208.

  P. & B. Manufacturing Company's Plant Destroyed—The company's plant at Milwaukee, Wis., was destroyed by fire on February 5 and the loss estimated at $35,000. Arrangements are now being made to build a new plant. It will be 80 by 300 feet and it is expected that the plant will be operation within a couple of months.

• 1917-03-31 Electrical Review and Western Electrician, page 550.

  P. & B. Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., has increased its capital stock from $25,000 to $50,000. This is in line with the policy of the company to increase its manufacturing activities. Along the same lines is the fact that the company is now building a new factory of thoroughly up-to-date type, which will be completed about May 1. A number of new electrical devices will probably be manufactured by the company and the present line of fittings will be extended. The officials of the company are H. E. Bloomer, president, and A. H. Petersen, secretary and treasurer.

• 1917-04-28 Electrical Review and Western Electrician, page 721.

  P. & B. Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis., manufacturer of electrical devices, has taken out a permit for the erection of a $14,000 factory building at Becker and Fratney Streets. The company's plant was recently destroyed by fire.

• January 1918 Electrical Record, page 79.

  A. H. Peterson Mfg. Co., is the new name for P. & B. Manufacturing Co., makers of electrical fittings, at Milwaukee, Wis. The company will continue to manufacture the well known P. & H. products and plans to extend its manufacturing facilities. The address of this company is 1614 Fratney Street, Milwaukee, Wis. A. H. Petersen is now president.

• 1920-08-05 The Iron Age, page 372.

  The A. H. Petersen Mfg. Co., 1614 Fratney Street, Milwaukee, manufacturer of special machinery, tools, gages, fixtures and metal stampings, has increased its capitalization from $50,000 to $150,000. The works have been undergoing expansion for six months and new equipment is being installed from time to time.

• 1921-07-21 Automotive Industries, page 149.

  The A. H. Petersen Mfg. Co., 1614 Fratney Street, Milwaukee, for several years one of the largest exclusive manufacturers of tools and dies in the Middle West, is discontinuing this line and will concentrate on the manufacture of portable electric drills and similar equipment for automotive shops, garages, machine works, etc. The plant is being retooled and a regular production schedule will be resumed about Aug. 1 or 15 with 200 operatives.

• Memories of Milwaukee County, Volume 4, by J. S. Currey.

  Petersen, Arno Hubert

  Arno Hubert Peterson is... president and treasurer of the A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Company, conducting a well-equipped plant at Nos. 1614 to 1624 Fratney street. His birth occurred in Chilton, Wisconsin, on the 3rd of March, 1887...

  Arno H. Petersen obtained his education in the public and high schools of his native town and after putting aside his textbooks spent three years as a salesman in a clothing store there. When nineteen years of age he purchased a half interest in the establishment... but two years later sold out to his associate. He next played professional baseball as a pitcher for one year and then embarked in the clothing and men's furnishing goods business at Mayville, Wisconsin, where he was thus engaged for three years. On the expiration of that period he disposed of his interests in Mayville and came to Milwaukee in 1912, here organizing the New Process Specialty Company for the manufacture of electrical specialties. Two years later, however, he again sold out and organized the P. & B. Manufacturing Company, which corporate name was subsequently changed to the A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Company, of which he has since remained the president and treasurer. They build special machinery and make portable electric drills and other automotive specialties, their market including nearly over country on the face of the globe. They are pioneers in the building of light portable electric drills and have developed an extensive and profitable business in this connection...

• June 1922 Mill Supplies, page 105, in a listing of new incorporations.

  A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Co., 1614 Fratney street, Milwaukee, $500,000; the company was organized six years ago by Arno H. Petersen and the incorporation brings no change of company name. Mr. Petersen is principal stockholder and president, and Arnold J. Petri is secretary. The company is manufacturing a portable electric drill for metal and woodworking.

• July 1922 Western Machinery World, page 254, has an article on the Hole Shooter drill from A. H. Petersen Mfg. Co.
• 1924-05-08 American Machinist, page 716j.

  The A. H. Petersen, Mfg. Co., 1614 Fratney St., plans to build a 1 story, 62 x 300 ft. factory for the manufacture of electrical specialties. Engineer or architect not selected.

• 1924 issue of Automotive Industries (volume 51 page 76).

  Portable Drill Maker Answers 200 Creditors

  MILWAUKEE, June 30-The A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Co., manufacturing the "Hole Shooter," an electric portable drill used in automobile factories, garages, etc., has filed schedules in answer to involuntary bankruptcy proceedings instituted on behalf of 200 creditors.

  The plant, built three years ago, was damaged by fire in December, and gutted by a second fire in April. A. H. Petersen, chief officer and owner, has been confined by illness several months.

  Liabilities of $184,634 are admitted and assets of $309,353 claimed. The assets include an item of $ 125,000, representing insurance claims which remain unpaid pending completion of the investigation into the origin of the fire.

• 1924-12-04 The Iron Age, page 1525.

  The Northern Realization Co., Milwaukee, organized by local interests which recently acquired from the trustee the entire property of the defunct A. H. Petersen Mfg. Co., at 1614 Fratney Street, manufacturer of electric drills, has let contracts for the rehabilitation of the main machine shop, badly damaged by fire prior to the bankruptcy action. The new owners plan to resume production of drills and other appliances and will require considerable new equipment both for replacement and new departments.

• 1954 National Cyclopedia of American Biography, page 78.

  Siebert, Albert Franklin, was born in Dayton, Ohio, Oct. 18, 1878, son of Albert F and Emma (Barnes) Siebert. His father was a minister. Albert F. Siebert received his preliminary education at public schools in Germantown, Ohio, attended Thiel College, Greenville, Pa., for two years, and was graduated B.A. in 1900 at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio. He was employed during the subsequent seventeen years by the National Cash Register Co. and later by the National Brake & Electric Co., Milwaukee, Wis., a subsidiary of Westinghouse Air Brake Co. In 1922 he was appointed sales managers of the Elliott Fisher Co., typewriter manufacturers of Harrisburg, Pa., a position in which he remained for three years. In 1925 he became sales manager for the A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Co., Milwaukee, and a year later he purchased the business, which he incorporated in 1927 as the Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. He was president of that corporation thereafter until the close of his life. Beginning operations under Siebert with the production of two models of an electric drill, the company added further models in subsequent years and introduced its small electric hammer, designed to drill holes in concrete and other masonry, in 1934. Several electric screw drivers, made for use in production work, were added in 1937, and in the following year the company's electric sander and electric polishing and buffing machine were placed on the market. ... Albert F. Siebert died in Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 11, 1960.

• 1925 Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine Encyclopedia, page 700.

  The Petersen is another make of portable electric drill. These drills are especially designed for use in automobile shops, garages, and automotive electrical service stations, and are made only in two sizes most general used for automobile work, namely ¼" and ½" capacities, that is, for drilling holes in metal to and including ¼" and ½" in diameter.

  In addition to drilling holes, the ¼" capacity machine can also be used in connection with special attachments for removing carbon, hard scale, and rust, or for emergency grinding, buffing nickel and brass, filing and roughing tire casings, etc.

  Fig. 25. The Petersen ¼" guaranteed portable electric drill, the original and famous "hole-shooter."

  The price of the 110 volt ¼" drill is $25, and of the ½" capacity, same voltage, $50. The accessory attachments range in price from $1.25 to $8.00 each. (Manufacturers are the A. H. Peterson Mfg. Co., Milwaukee, Wis.).

• 1992 work, Competitive Assessment of the U.S. Power Tool Industry, page 18.

  Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation

  The Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation was founded in 1924 by Albert F. (A. F.) Siebert after he purchased the assets of the defunct A. H. Petersen Manufacturing Co. and set up shop at its West State St., Milwaukee plant. A. H. Petersen had intended to manufacture a 5 pound 1/4 inch "Hole Shooter™" drill when its plant burned. After making design improvements, Milwaukee introduced the Hole Shooter™ and continues to market a modern version of the drill. By 1930, the company began to manufacture its own electric motors. During World War II, Milwaukee deliver a large quantity of Hole Shooters™ to the Navy for ship construction, making a turning point in Milwaukee's portable tool business.

  By the early 1950s, Milwaukee Electric had come to concentrate on its major market—the construction industry, especially plumbing and electrical contractors. The Sawzall™ portable electric hacksaw and a right angle drill were first introduced in this period and became staples of today's Milwaukee Electric Tool output.

  In 1965, the firm moved its headquarters to a location in suburban Brookfield, Wisconsin, where it has remained. The need for expanded manufacturing capacity brought about construction of a plant in Jackson Mississippi in 1973. Other Milwaukee plants include a 105,000 square foot plant in Blytheville, Arkansas, and a major distribution center at Olive Branch, Mississippi.

  In 1976, the Amstar Corporation, originally known as the American Sugar and Refining Corporation acquired the firm. Amstar and Essex Corporation were combined in 1989 to form Esstar, Incorporated, the current parent of Milwaukee Electric Tool

• History of Milwaukee, retrieved from the Wayback Machine
• findagrave.com entry for Arno H. Petersen (1887-1942).