In 1895, John James Stevens and Robert Morton Hamilton sold their business, Stevens, Hamilton & Co., to MacGregor, Gourlay & Co., their former employer. Hamilton stayed with MacGregor Gourlay, and Stevens entered employment with a competitor, R. McDougall Co. of Galt. Within a decade, Stevens went out on his own, forming the Stevens Company of Galt, Ltd.

The Stevens Co. apparently licensed the turret lathe design of the Jones & Lamson Machine Co. of Springfield, VT, and manufactured it for the Canadian market. Stevens also made a universal tool grinder.

During World War I the Stevens 18-inch engine lathe was manufactured by Preston Woodworking Machinery Co., Ltd. Perhaps Preston was providing additional machine-tool manufacturing capacity to meet the war-fed demand. Canada manufactured an enormous number of shells for the war effort, which fuelled a boom in machine tool manufacturing.

Detail of Preston Woodworking Machinery Co. advertisement from 1916-12-21 Canadian Machinery

Information Sources

• Text ad in the January 1906 Canadian Machinery and Manufacturing News:"Manufacturers of drill machine vises, bench vises, universal tool grinders, lathes, &c., &c."
• Journals of the House of Commons for 1911 includes a letter from "Stevens Company of Galt, Limited, Manufacturers of Machine and Tools." The letter is dated January 19, 1910.
• A 1913 issue of American Machinist has an ad from Grönkvist Drill Chuck Co., of Jersey City, NJ, that mentions the Stevens Co. of Galt, Ltd., as their agent in Canada.
• January 1939 Industrial Canada has the following snippet.

  The MacGregor-Gourlay Co. took over the Stevens-Hamilton Co. and then Mr. Stevens associated himself with the R. McDougall Co. as a designer of machine tools. About 30 years ago he organized and began operation of the present Stevens Co. of Gait, Limited.

• A 1944 issue of Agricultural and Industrial Progress in Canada mentions J. J. Stevens Co., of Galt Ltd., as a maker of machine tools.
• A Practical Machinist forum post provides a little information on a universal tool grinder from this maker.