Yates-American was created by the 1925 merger of P. B. Yates Machine Co. and American Wood Working Machine Co. At that time, they had factories in Beloit, WI; Hamilton, ON; and Rochester, NY. As is traditional for the largest American company in any field, Yates-American proclaimed itself the largest woodworking machinery maker in the world (Dana Batory's Vintage Woodworking Machinery Volume I mentions Thomas Robinson & Sons of England and the Guilliet Co. of France as other possible contenders for the throne.)

It would be an interesting and challenging exercise to trace the heritage of various Yates-American products back to their roots in P. B. Yates or one of the eleven-plus companies making up American. Because Yates and American had been direct competitors with full lines of equipment, the merging of product lines must have been a contentious affair.

The depression era was very hard on this company, as it was on other woodworking machinery companies. Yates-American sales decreased 90% from 1929 to 1933.

In 1933 they introduced the A20 planer-matcher, which proved to be one of the most successful such machines ever. Planers, Matchers and Molders in America notes that it can produce as much as 100,000 board feet of dimensional lumber per shift. Yates-American also dominated the hardwood planer-matcher market, where flooring is produced with boards as short as 12 inches, and special provisions are required to avoid chewing up the shortest pieces.

Yates-American J-180 planer, restored by Roger Van Maren.

In the early 1930s Yates-American introduced the J-Line ("Junior-Line") of machines aimed at the vocational education market, where shrinking school budgets had triggered a move to smaller machines. Over 1936 and 1937, Yates-American introduced the W-Line. In the words of a 1936 ad,

"Now the 'J' line is supplemented by this 'W' line, as a further contribution to education, in order that those 'Laboratories of Industries' whose needs are not as extensive as the large vocational schools and those Industrial Art Departments who are courageously carrying on their work in the face of restricted funds, might also enjoy the quality and built-in safety features of Yates-American machines... All non-essentials have been eliminated."

The W-Line survived only until about 1941. In 1961, their J-180 18" planer was sold to Rockwell Manufacturing Co..

Over the ensuing decades the J-Line marketing was shifted to focus on hobbyists. During the 1960s, Yates-American ran live infomercials on Sunday afternoons on WGN in Chicago. The company president happened to be watching one Sunday as the demonstrator cut off his thumb on live television. Shortly afterwards, the company sold its the J-Line to Brodhead-Garrett Co.

At some point Yates-American became the exclusive distributor of Whitney shapers. Y-A also distributed Whitney's line of vocational machinery.

In 1961 they purchased the S. A. Woods Machine Co., and moved just across the state border to Roscoe, IL. In 1981 they moved back to Beloit. By this time they were specializing in large planer-matchers. In 1989 they announced that, due to safety and liability considerations, they would no longer support many of their older machines; Batory's Vintage Woodworking Machinery Volume I gives a partial list of these machines.

By 1994 the company was reduced to 6 workers in their plant. In 2002 they had 50 workers, about half of whom are in the plant.

Information Sources

• An excellent history of this company can be found in Dana Batory's Vintage Woodworking Machinery Volume I. Most of the historical information here comes from that book.
• The information on the J-Line and W-Line introductions is courtesy of Joe Potter.
• Information on Y-A reselling Whitney shapers came from an owwm.org forum discussion.
• 1964 issue of Forest Industries (Volume 91 Issues 1-7, page 235).

  New Wide Belt Sanding Concept Announced

  The wide belt sander market continues to expand the latest to enter the market is Yates-American, the long-time sanding equipment producer. Two of the company's units are the S-54 and S-56.

  Most of the features on the new Yates-American S-54 (four belt) and S-56 (six belt) double deck sanders are a direct result of the simplified abrasive belt drive system, an exclusive system called Torc Pac. Basically, it is an inverted three phase squirrel cage induction motor housed inside a precision drive roll.

  Development of the Torc Pac resulted from a project by Yates-American engineers to find a drive system that was adaptable to wide belt sanders where high speeds and close tolerances are a necessity. Management was convinced that mechanical drive systems robbed valuable horse power and introduced vibrations into the machine which caused premature failure and loss of new machine accuracy. Torc Pac motors are a direct drive unit, so the horse power that is developed is the horse power that is delivered. Vibration, associated with motor overhang and the inherent unbalance of pulleys vee belts and couplings is eliminated by dynamically balancing the Torc Pac unit. S-54 and S-56 sanders can be equipped with 75 hp, 100 hp or 125 hp motors. Different capacity motors can be specified for each of the individual drive rolls.

  These new sanders will size and finish plywood and particle board at speeds of up to 200 FPM with a guaranteed tolerance of +0.005". On certain applications S-54 and S-56 wide...

  In addition to delivering the full "quoted" horse power, the simplicity of the Torc Pac system eliminates many of the routine maintenance problems that are accepted when a standard motor arrangement is used. Each Torc Pac unit slides out of the machine to simplify any maintenance that might be required. The small "size" to "capacity" ratio on the S-54 and S-56 sanders can also be attributed to the Torc Pac system. By eliminating motor over-hang, pulleys, etc., there is created a wide belt sander that will handle 50" or 60" wide stock in about the same amount of floor space required by a conventional drum sander. Cutting the distance from in-feed to out-feed simplifies the sander- man's job of watching the entire operation . The S-54 is six feet long; the S-56 eight feet long. Operating controls for both the four belt and six belt sanders...

  ...ers are "zoned" to give positive control of the machine at all times.

  A single push button lowers and raises the upper deck to adjust the stock opening height; a handwheel, located right above the push button, is used for fine settings. Movement of the upper deck is accomplished with massive supporting wedges that are synchronized with zero backlash indicators.

  Belt changeover is a five minute operation. The possibility of sand-throughs and damaged ends has been eliminated by four power-driven pinch rolls at the in-feed end. Both machines also have a pair of rolls between each cutting head stand and a pair of rolls at the out-feed end of the machine. Feed rolls are on wedges which are adjusted at the operator's side of the machine. (Top platen and feed rolls are spring loaded; the bottom is rigid.)

  Belts are tracked automatically with a combination of air control and electric solenoid. If a belt breaks, automatic brakes on the contact rolls and...