Photo Index - Dennis Machine Co. - Model not identified, planer

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Dennis Machine Co.
Jackson, MI

True Manufacturer:
Dennis Machine Co., Jackson, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Planer, Wood
Machine Size:	24"
Submitted By:	Pat Ingalls

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Model not identified, planer
Date of Manufacturer:	unknown
Serial Number:	unknown
Last Updated	12/7/2010 7:23:16 PM

Comments:

This planer was donated to the Michigan Flywheelers Museum, South Haven, Michigan in 2010. The machine has no serial number.

In 1872 or '73, Elmore Dennis established E. Dennis & Co. Machine Manufactory, a general machine shop. In 1882 Henry Kline, a young man who was orphaned as a child and was raised by the Dennis family, became a partner. At that time the business began making woodworking machinery. The company name was changed at some point to the Dennis Machine Co. Kline died in 1910. The business continued until at least 1915, when Dennis was 86.
Ad from May 1898 issue of "The Wood-Worker"
Information Sources
Used wheel-boring machine in 1917 catalog.
Used drill press seen in ca. 1920 catalog.
A 1920 issue of The Wood-Worker lists a Dennis two-spindler horizontal borer.
From the 1890 book, Portraits and Biographies of Jackson County, Michigan we got the information about Kline's joining the company in 1882 and beginning the manufacture of woodworking machinery.
From History of Michigan by Charles Moore, 1915:
Elmore Dennis. This notable personality and remarkable business career has been that of this venerable citizen of Jackson, now passed the age of eighty-six, yet strong and vigorous and bearing the weight of four-score six, as many uphold their three-score. His home has been in Jackson county since 1838, and he can recall events and circumstances that were long ago written in history. For forty years he has been proprietor of the Dennis Machine Company at Jackson, one of the oldest industrial establishments of the city. He is a Democrat, who began voting for the party candidates in 1848, and still is staunch to the tried virtues of Andrew Jackson.
The birth of Elmore Dennis occurred in the village of Dover Plains, Dutchess county, New York, Jun 11, 1827. His father was Cornelius Dennis, who was born in the same New York village, and for many years followed the trade of millwright. His grandfather was Joseph Dennis of American birth, but the son of an Englishman who came to the American colonies just prior to the Revolutionary war. The mother of Elmore Dennis was Clarissa Taylor, who was a native of New York, the daughter of Nathaniel Taylor, and who died in the year 1847... The Dennis family made settlement in Jackson county, Michigan, in 1838, when Elmore was eleven years old. Their settlement was on a farm in Springport township in the northwest corner of the county. A portion of the farm was entered directly from the government, and the rest was bought from local owners. Under such conditions it was but natural that Elmore Dennis got more training from practical work than from school attendance. Almost as soon as he came to Michigan he began assisting his father in the improvement of the land. The old homestead was located eighteen miles from Jackson, and the intervening country was so sparsely settled that for a distance of seven miles not a single habitation broke the continuity of the original wilderness. It was on that old homestead that both the parents died. When they settled there Springport township had only about one dozen voters, and of these Mr. Dennis cannot recollect one who is still living. Cornelius Dennis in the early days held the office of highway commissioner in his township.
During his early manhood, Elmore Dennis learned the trade of millwright at Ann Arbor, and worked as a journeyman and built mills on his own account for many years. In 1867 he located in Jackson, and here gave his attention to general work in mechanics. He had a natural bent for mechanical pursuits, and having acquired a knowledge of everything pertaining to the machinist's trade, soon had all the business he could attend to. In 1873, Mr. Dennis established the Dennis Machine Company, which has been successfully conducted under his principal supervision ever since. There is perhaps no other establishment in Jackson, that has been in continuous operation under the same name so long as that of the Dennis Machine Company. Its work might be characterized as a general jobbing business, but for the most part it has put out a large line of woodworking machinery. For twenty-five years, the concern was conducted as an incorporation, of which Mr. Dennis was president. One of his partners was Henry Kline, now deceased. Mr. Kline was an orphan boy who came into the Dennis home at the age of thirteen, was reared to useful manhood, and when old enough was given employment in the Dennis Machine shop. He later acquired a partnership, and also became one of Jackson's prominent citizens... Henry Kline left a son, Elmore Kline, a namesake of Mr. Dennis, now employed in the Dennis Machine Shops..."
A correspondent reports the results of his query to the Jackson, MI, historical society: "Elmore Dennis opened the Co. in 1872 under the name E Dennis & Company Machine Manufactory, and produced much of the machinery used by George T. Smith to manufacture his flour-purifier machines. A description listed their 'concern' as 'job work in machinery, making a specialty of pulleys, shafting and couplings...[and] a large amount of woodworking machinery.'"

Photo 1:

Comments: 24" planer, Dennis Machine Co., The gear cover has been removed for this photo
Source: pat Ingalls

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Photo 2:

Comments: 24" planer, Dennis Machine Co.
Source: Pat Ingalls

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Photo 3:

Comments: 24" planer, Dennis Machine Co.
Source: Pat Ingalls

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Photo 4:

Comments: 24" planer, Dennis Machine Co.
Source: Pat Ingalls

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Photo 5:

Comments: 24" planer, Dennis Machine Co.
Source: Pat Ingalls

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