American Machine & Tool Co., Inc. (abbreviated AM&T or AMT) was established in 1928, although they seem to have kept a low profile until after World War II. In 1947 they began advertising inexpensive home-shop machines in Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. Within a few months they were using the name Marcus-Pollak on some of their machines. Many of the ads mentioned Marcus-Pollak and not American Machine & Tool Co., Inc., which caused us to believe for some time that Marcus-Pollak was a separate makers. Not so; trademark filings make clear that AMT was the originator of that name. "Pollak" was likely Abraham Pollak, their machine designer and the vice president of the company. In the early 1990s Samuel Marcus was Vice President so an old relative, perhaps his father, was presumably the "Marcus" in "Marcus-Pollak".

Advertisement from the November 1948 Popular Science

In early 1952 AMT started using the trademark Plana Centric to refer to their patented blade tilting mechanism in their tablesaws. At the same time they started using the name Yolands Precision Tool Co. of Boston as the name at the bottom of their magazine ads. We don't know the nature of the relationship between Yolands and AMT but we have not found a single mention of Yolands except as a name in ads for AMT machines.

Within of few months of introducing the Plana Centric and Yolands names, the Marcus-Pollak name was dropped. One minor exception was a 1953 ad from Yolands that featured a small circular logo with "American Machine & Tool Co" around the perimeter and "MP / Quality" in the middle.

Another trademark we have seen on a few AMT machines is Amco. Besides the machines sold under their own names, AMT also sold machines under the Sears, Roebuck & Co. label. These AMT-made Sears machines have the model-number prefix of 149. Later AMT-made machines bearing the Craftsman label were Asian imports.

AMT continued to manufacture home-shop into the 1980s but they also began importing machines from Taiwan and China. Please note that these Asian-made machines are outside the scope of this website and pictures and manuals of those machines should not be uploaded here.

For some time, AMT has specialized in the design and manufacture of pumps. In February 2002, AMT was acquired by Gorman-Rupp Co. of Mansfield, OH. AMT no longer has any information on their old woodworking machinery products, and does not provide support for them.

Information Sources

• 1928—Correspondent Brian Clairmont reports that his AMT catalog #27 says, "Shaping Your World Since 1928".
• 1928—Trademark filing shows first use in 1928, and lists some woodworking machines in its product list: jointers, planers, shapers, routers, saws, lathes, drill presses, sanders, and dovetail cutters. Some of these machines may have been for metalworking only.
• 1948—The February 1948 Popular Science features three different models of "Marcus-Pollak" table saws from American Machine & Tool Co., Inc. of Royersford.
• 1949—On 1949-05-10, American Machine Tool Co., Inc., filed for a trademark on a mark that reads "Marcus Pollak" with a symbol between the two words consisting of a large half-tone "MP" overlaid with the word "QUALITY".
The mark was issued on 1952-03-04, registration number 555,748. The registration was signed by Abraham Pollak, Vice-President of American Machine & Tool Co.
• 1949—An ad in the October 1949 Popular Mechanics has an ad for a Marcus-Pollak "Dynasaw", a 24-inch scrollsaw of inexpensive construction. The ad does not mention AMT.
• 1953—The February 1953 Popular Science has an ad for a tablesaw from Yolands Precision Tool Co., 20 Boylston St., Boston.
• 1953—The June 1953 Popular Mechanics has an ad for a "Plana Centric" tablesaw from Yolands Precision Tool Co., 20 Boylston St., Boston. The saw is similar to, but not identical, to the saw from the February ad. the use of the term "Plana Centric" in referring to the tilt arbor mechanism.
• 1954—The February 1954 Popular Mechanics has an ad for a Plana Centric tablesaw from Yolands Precision Tool Co., 20 Boylston St., Boston. This is the latest Yolands ad we have found.
• 1955—The January 1955 Popular Science has a brief article on a a combination machine from Plana Centric Power Tool Co., 20 Boylston St., Boston 16.
• 1955—The September 1955 Popular Mechanics has an ad for a Plana Centric tablesaw from American Machine & Tool Company of Royersford, PA.
• 1961—U. S. Trademark registration number 772,789 is for the letters "AMT" in an oval circle. The registration was issued on 1964-07-07; first use was 1961-10-13.
• 1968—U. S. Trademark registration number 894,080 is for the AMT logo in an ovoid box. First use was on 1968-02-01. It was registered on 1970-07-07 and renewed in 2010.
• 1989—Batory lists some 1989 catalogs from AMT.
• The 1992 Standard Directory of Advertisers lists AMT with H. M. Pollak, President, Samuel Marcus, Vice President, and Cheng Chau, Vice President-Administration.