In about May of 1900 a pair of executives from the former Grand Rapids Cycle Co., L. T. Wilmarth and S. A. Morman, established Wilmarth & Morman Co. to take over the business of the Fuller Mfg. Co. of Kalamazoo; Charles D. Fuller of that firm became treasurer of WIlmarth & Morman. Fuller had manufactured the "New Yankee" line of drill grinders, and that product line remained the primary focus of the new firm although they would soon add surface grinders to their product lineup.

In 1902 Wilmarth & Morman was located At 1187 Monroe Avenue N. W., Grand Rapids, MI. A 1906 ad gives their address as 577 Canal Street, but subsequent ads, dating as late as 1922, give the Monroe Avenue address. Their New Yankee drill grinders were sold in England by Buck & Hickman, and were featured in the 1903 English book, Emery Grinding Machinery.

In January 1928 Wilmarth & Morman merged with Covel-Hanchett Co., of Big Rapids, MI; the merged company used the Covel-Hanchett name and the name of "Wilmarth & Morman" disappeared.

From March 1906 Canadian Machinery

Information Sources

• 1900-06-02 The Age of Steel, page 18.

  A New Corporation.

  The Wilmarth & Morman Co., a corporation recently organized at Grand Rapids, Mich., has purchased the entire business, including factory, patents and good will of the Fuller Mfg. Co., of Kalamazoo, Mich., and succeed that company in the manufacture of the well known "New Yankee" drill grinders.

  The new corporation is officered as follows: President, L. T. Wilmarth, of Grand Rapids, founder of and for nearly eleven years secretary-treasurer and general manager of the Grand Rapids Cycle Co., manufacturers of "Clipper" bicycles, and which company has recently sold out to the American Bicycle Co. Vice-president: S. A. Morman, also of Grand Rapids, who was for over seven years president of the Grand Rapids Cycle Co., and is interested in various other industries. Secretary, C. E. Meech; treasurer, Chas. D. Fuller, former owner of the Fuller Mfg. Co.

  With abundant capital, largely increased facilities and capacity, the Wilmarth & Morman Co. plan to properly care for the rapidly increasing foreign and local demands for the "New Yankee" drill grinder, and to make this an exclusive business rather than a "side line," and so merit the continued favor of machinery users.

  The home office of this company will be at Grand Rapids, where all mail be be addressed, although the offices and factory will be maintained at Kalamazoo until about Sept. 1st—consequently mail addressed to either city will reach the company.

  The Wilmarth & Morman Co. have already in press a fine art catalogue, said to be by far the finest drill-grinding machine catalogue ever issued.

  In this connection it is not amiss to speak of the phenomenal growth of the "New Yankee" drill grinding machines. They are sold in every country where there is any iron working done, and from the very first have received the endorsement of the highest mechanical authorities. The doing away with all preliminary adjustments but one in grinding drills of any size within the range of their machines, was an epoch-marking improvement in this important art. While the designing of a complete line of drill grinders—both belt and electrically driven, and for either wet or dry wheels, and covering the enormous range of drills from No. 60 to 5 inches in diameter—has enabled iron workers to procure machines exactly adapted to their individual necessities.

  That the new company will enjoy the respect and patronage of the iron working fraternity, is beyond question. We wish them a full measure of success.

• W&M grinding machinery was featured in the March 1917 issue of Boston Blue Bulletin from machinery distributor Hill, Clarke & Co.
• This firm's No. 1 universal grinder was featured in the September 1917 issue of Boston Blue Bulletin from machinery distributor Hill, Clarke & Co.