Cleveland Machinery & Supply Co. was established in March 1915, primarily to manufacture artillery shell machinery. In Nov. 1915 they contracted to have 100 Simplex lathes built by a Marion, OH, foundry, then refused to comply with the contract. In March 1916 they acquired drilling machine maker Kern Machine Tool Co. Next, they bought American Lathe & Press Co. of Hamilton, and Columbus, OH. In January 1917 their machine tool manufacturing was consolidated as Simplex Machine Tool Co., with Cleveland Machinery & Supply Co. as the selling agency. In February 1917, Cleveland Machinery bought Richmond Adding & Listing Machine Co. and used its Richmond, IN, plant for machine tool manufacturing. Sometime in 1918, Simplex went into receivership, perhaps partly related to a government contract to supply lathes totaling 2,044 feet of bed length. Simplex outsourced some major components, and their lathe-beds supplier was already busy with other war-related work and could apparently not fulfill the orders after Simplex delayed things by failing to provide the necessary drawings on time. In addition to the two mentioned, there were other lawsuits related to failure to fulfill contracts and one of deceiving an investor.

Despite the bankruptcy, Cleveland Machinery & Supply Co. continued to manufacture lathes into 1919, with plants in Hamilton, OH, Columbus, OH, and Richmond, IN. Simplex seems to have emerged from receivership but never really regained their footing, and ceased operations in 1922.

The company's product line initially focused on machinery for manufacturing munitions—shells—and after the war ended in late 1918 the more specialized machines were presumably discontinued in favor of more general-purpose lathes and drilling machines. During the years of World War I, 1914 to 1918, there was tremendous growth in the manufacturing of machine tools and after the war there was much consolidation and business failure. It is likely that Simplex was a victim of this process.

We have been unable to find much information on American Lathe & Press Co.

Information Sources

• The 1918 book A History of Cleveland and Its Environs.

  STANLEY W. SPARKS... At that [March 1915] date, with other associates, he organized the Cleveland Machinery & Supply Company, of which he is president and treasurer, with C. D. Gibson, vice president, John O'Brien, treasurer, and W. E. McNaughton, secretary. This company devised a special lathe for the manufacture of shell machinery. This lathe met with universal favor and in less than a year the company had sold the machines to an aggregate value of over two million dollars. At one time they had twenty-eight plants in Ohio engaged in turning out these machines. In March, 1916, the company bought the Kern Machine Tool Company at Hamilton, Ohio. This plant was equipped for manufacturing a line of high speed ball bearing drill presses, and also upright drilling machinery. After improving the plant and adding to its equipment they gave it greatly increased capacity. Among other improvements they installed a complete tool room employing 150 men. This business has grown so rapidly that the plant was soon inadequate to fill orders and they then bought the American Lathe and Press Company at Hamilton, employing 220 men. This plant is used for manufacture of a complete line of heavy duty engine lathes.

  In January, 1917, the business was reincorporated under the name Simplex Machine Tool Company. This company controls all the manufacturing plants owned by Mr. Sparks and his associates, while the Cleveland Machinery and Supply Company has the exclusive selling agency for the different plants. Phenomenal increases in industries of this kind are the order of the day, and in February, 1917, another great increase was justified. At that time they bought the Richmond Adding and Listing Company of Columbus, employing 125 men. That plant was well adapted for light manufacturing, and is now used for the manufacture of light tool machinery, especially 12-inch lathes and universal tool room grinders. At the present time the organization of which Mr. Sparks is at the head is approximately five months behind in its orders.

• The early 1920s volume Decisions of the War Department Board of Contract Adjustment has a section regarding a dispute over payment of a government contract for lathes that was not fulfilled when Simplex went into receivership.

  The claimant herein is the Cleveland Machinery & Supply Co., which was the selling agent of the Simplex Machine Tool Co. Mr. Monk testified that the Simplex Co. went into the hands of a receiver, and the claimant company went out of business; that prior thereto this claim was assigned to the Cleveland National Bank in view of the fact that claimant company owed said bank about $700,000. Copies of two letters under date of November 28 and December 21, 1918, are attached to record in substantiation of the alleged assignment.

  The following paragraphs reveal that Simplex normally contracted with Davenport Locomotive Works to supply its lathe beds, and they may have outsourced other major components as well. Simplex was granted a contract to supply lathes with bed lengths totalling 2,044 feet. Davenport was able to deliver at a rate of 80 feet per week and perhaps 100 feet per week, but Davenport was already busy fulfilling a different priority contract and so could not supply Simplex. This situation was in existence before Simplex signed the contract so the Board of Contract Adjustment was unsympathetic and ruled against them.