In 1914 this company was established to make bicycle parts. In the August of 1925 they introduced an automatic wood-turning lathe that had been invented and patented by a local man, James Hoogerhyde. The lathe was specialized for mass-producing spindles. We have no information on how long the lathe was produced.
We have also seen a pattern-makers lathe from this firm. The legs on the lathe are labeled, "THE PORTER", which implies that the legs were made by another Grand Rapids manufacturer, C. O. Porter Machinery Co.
Information Sources
- Ad in 1955-56 Hitchcock's Wood Worker's Digest Directory for a used "Imperial" automatic shaping lathe.
- Thanks to correspondent Tim Clark for drawing our attention to a Craigslist ad for a lathe from this company; the lathe also carried a Wm H. Field Co. tag.
- The company's website provided most of the few historical tidbits here.
- A 1929 steady-rest patent was assigned to this company. The patent references a 1925 automatic-lathe patent to the same inventor, James Hoogerhyde. The steady rest was designed for use with the automatic lathe, which was designed for production spindle turning.