This manufacturer of electric motors, portable electric grinders, and tool post grinders was established about 1938. In 1940 they were acquired by A. O. Smith Corp., continuing operation under their own name as a wholly owned subsidiary. By the late 1940s, it seems that the Sawyer Electrical Mfg. Co. name had become "Sawyer Division, A. O. Smith Corp."

Information Sources

• A 1939 issue of Products Finishing has the following snippet:

  Sawyer Electrical Catalog. An interesting new catalog has just been issued by Sawyer Electrical Manufacturing Company, 5717 E. Leneve St., Los Angeles, Calif. In it is covered the complete line of air grinders manufactured by the company, as well as their hi-speed, heavy-duty tool post and pedestal...

• The 1940 edition of Industrial Research Laboratories of the United States has the following entry.

  Sawyer Electrical Manufacturing Company, 5715 East Leneve St., Los Angeles, Calif.
  President: M. B. Sawyer
  Research staff: M. B. Sawyer, Director; 3 engineers.
  Research activities: Special electric motors. (Research initiated ca. 1936.)

• From the 1941 Catalog of Copyright Entries: "Sawyer electrical mfg. co., Los Angeles. 18571 Sawyer portable blowers, bulletin 1007. For portable blowers. © Nov. 7, 1941 ; KK 10581."
• A 1942 issue of Ohio State University Monthly mentions "Stanley B. Hare, Arts, B.E.E., an electrical engineer with the Sawyer Electrical Manufacturing Co., at 5701 Leneve St., Los Angeles, Calif."
• A 1942 issue of Power Engineering mentions, "Sawyer Electrical Mfg. Co., Los Angeles, Cal., announces the appointment of George M. Snodgrass as manager of its Eastern Sales Div. with headquarters at 2110 Terminal Tower, Cleveland, O. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the A. O. Smith ..."
• A 1944 issue of The Trade-mark Reporter has the following snippet:

  Frazer, F. A. C.: Affirmed the action of the Examiner of Trade-Marks in refusing registration under the act of February 20, 1905, to Sawyer Electrical Mfg. Co., of Los Angeles, Calif., of the word "Sawyer" as a trade-mark for electric motors. The Examiner refused registration of said word on the ground that "it is merely ...

• International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 40, by Jay P. Pederson, 2001, gives a timeline for A. O. Smith Corp., including "1940: Company diversifies into electric motors through the purchase of Sawyer Electric Manufacturing Company."