From the late 1800s until the late 1930s Mayer Brothers Co. manufactured blacksmithing machinery, including "Little Giant" power hammers. We do not understand the exact sequence of events, but apparently around 1915, brothers Lorenz Mayer and Louis Mayer moved to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and opened a plant there in rented space; it appears the Mankato plant remained open. In early 1918, with their rented premises no longer available to them, the Mayer Brothers, Inc. merged with the Kaukauna Machine Works and moved their operations into Kaukauna's buildings. The merged business was known as the Kaukauna Machine Works Co. In 1921 they merged with the Moloch Automatic Stoker Co. of Chicago to form the Moloch Co., which continued to make "Moloch" power hammers.

The Mayer Brothers company did not do well during the Great Depression and in 1939 it was in receivership. The receivers sold the Moloch power hammer business to a manufacturer of sawmill, pulp and paper machinery, the D. J. Murray Manufacturing Co. The Murray business renamed the Moloch hammer to the Murray hammer and then to the Murco hammer. In the mid-1960s they sold their power hammer business to the Little Giant Co.

Information Sources

• Article on the different models of Little Giant power hammers.
• The definitive source of information on the sometimes complicated relationships between the makers of power hammers is the 1997 book Pounding Out the Profits - a Century of American Invention, by Douglas Freund.
• 1918-02-15 The Iron Age. "The Kaukauna Machine Works, Kaukauna, Wis., and Mayer Brothers, Inc., Antigo, Wis., manufacturer of power hammers, have consolidated and are reorganizing as the Kaukauna Machine Works Co., with a capital stock of $50,000. A. W. McLean, J. A. Watson and George Watson, founders of the machine works, have retired and stockholders in the new corporation are Lorenz and Louis Mayer, F. W. Grogan, F. M. Charlesworth, J. J. Jansen, M. H. Niesen, C. D. Boyd, Hugo Weifenbach and B. W. Fargo Mayer Brothers established a plant for the production of power hammers in Antigo about three years ago, leasing the former group of the International Hoist Co. and Pioneer Iron Works. Recently, the plant was purchased by the Murray-Mylrea Machine Co., and Mayer Brothers were obliged to seek a new location. The Kaukauna plant includes a foundry, machine-shop and auxiliary buildings. No immediate enlargement is contemplated, but some additional machinery and tool equipment will be Installed. The Mayer Brothers Little Giant power hammer will be made in three sizes, 25, 50 and 100 lbs., and larger types will be added shortly."