The company was founded in 1881 as the William E. Hill Co., which became Hill-Curtis Co. In 1928 its general manager W.C. Hammond bought the firm and renamed it Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc. in 1929. The company is now known as Hammond Roto-Finish. Under these names they manufactured machinery and supplies for printers.
Sometime in the 1930s or '40s they acquired another local manufacturer whose products included a printers' saw, American Manufacturing Concern, Inc.
The Hammond "Glider" and "Ben Franklin" Trim-O-Saws were small precision tablesaws originally designed for metal, and were popular with printers for cutting metal type. Since not many people still use movable metal type, Trim-O-Saws have re-surfaced in woodworking shops. There was a Fine Woodworking article that discussed converting these saws to woodworking uses; be sure to read the OWWM forum discussions first, e.g., this message from John Marotta. We hear that for a modest charge, Forrest will bore their blades to fit this saw.
In addition to saws, the company has manufactured metal grinding and polishing machines since the 1920s.
Information Sources
- Hammond Roto-Finish A brief history of Hammond Roto-Finish.
- Railway Mechanical Engineer, Vol. 103, No. 11, Nov. 1929, Pg. 703.
- The Graphic Arts Monthly New Ship With an Old Pilot.
- Numerous discussions in the OWWM forum have shed light on this company and their machines.
- Past web searches for information on Hammond Machine Co. have been quite fruitful.
- Hill-Curtis 83-page catalog, ca. 1920, titled "Hill Saw Mill Machinery". The title page also says "Catalog No. 1" and "The old reliable Hill line -- since '81." Batory's catalog list has an entry for "Curtis Saw Mill Machine Co. (see Hill-Curtis)".
- 1946 MacRae's Blue Book and Hendricks' Commercial Register page 96. "American Manufacturing Concern, Inc., Kalamazoo, Mich. (now Hammond Machinery Builders, Inc.)