Collecting Vintage Woodworking Machinery Catalogs

Some three hundred major companies have made woodworldng machinery since the 1830s. Unfortunately the loss of primary research material over the years has doomed many of these businesses to remain only as mysterious names cast in iron. Vintage woodworking machinery trade catalogs have proved invaluable in uncovering the history of some of these companies. Catalogs, historians now realize, offer a fresh approach to studying man's past-his culture, industry, business, and technology.

Woodworking machinery catalogs are valuable not only from a purely technical point of view, revealing a company's complete line of machinery, but usually the catalog's introductory pages also give the location of the main works and office, the company officers, agencies and sales rooms, the date of the company's founding, and information about quality control and guarantees. If a researcher is lucky, the catalog may also include photographs of the works-inside and out-and a capsule history of the firm. A study of the text and illustrations tells much about machine construction-the type of frames, materials, and bearings-patent dates, important features exclusive to the company, methods of construction, the story behind the machine's design, the largest and smallest machines made, as well as other bits of information.

In comparison, company ledgers actually yield very little information unless there is a long consecutive run. A single small catalog with illustrations of a company's machines is often worth more to a researcher than a mountain of day books, ledgers, and old invoices.

Woodworking machinery catalogs are not only "cross-collectible" items appealing to those who collect ephemera (sometimes referred to as "dirty paper" or "old paper"), local history items, or the machines themselves, but are valuable reference tools for historians and industrial archaeologists. More than any other document, catalogs are the very best record of a company's manufacturing and product history. It is also fascinating to see which machines fellow woodworkers were using so many years ago and how designs (especially safety devices!) have changed, from Babbitt bearings to ball and tapered roller bearings, flat belts to V-belts, and square cutter heads to round.

Woodworking machinery catalogs are interesting to collect in themselves and for the woodworker interested in a specific company or the restorer seeking data on a single machine, they are usually the only remaining source of information, both historical and practical.

Many fellow enthusiasts research the· old companies not only because they are history buffs, but also because the background material helps them decipher just how the machinery was intended to operate. Something as simple as a catalog description, for example, can tell a restorer at what speed the machine was supposed to operate. (This is often a critical piece of data since older Babbitted machine arbors ran at a slower rpm.) An associate used a catalog illustration to solve the puzzle of where the operator stood when operating a machine. It may seem silly, but absent an instruction sheet, how was he to know?

A string of international exhibitions between 1851 and 1878-London: 1851, 1862; Paris: 1855, 1867 and 1878; Vienna: 1873; and Philadelphia: 1876-gave a great boost to the improvement and general acceptance of woodworking machinery by showing manufacturers and the general public what machines were available and what their capabilities were. It was during this period that the practice of printing and distributing trade catalogs grew. The United States has probably produced more trade catalogs than any other country, but it was not the first country to use this marketing tool. Firms in the major iron producing cities of Birmingham and Sheffield, England, were mailing out elaborately illustrated brochures to the Americas, France, India, Italy, Russia, and Spain in the 178Os. These British catalogs, unlike American catalogs, usually omitted the manufacturers' names and addresses to prevent customers from bypassing the sales agent and ordering directly from the company. The wily American companies were eager to do business anywhere with anyone and made a point of listing their addresses, sales terms, and other pertinent information so customers could order directly. Of course it helped that within the United States, where some of the states were as large or larger than some countries, money and merchandise could travel freely over vast distances without a network of agents to see to confusing customs' duties, language barriers, currency exchanges, and even bribes. Direct sales created an overabundance of expensive and inexpensive catalogs.

While Americans were quick to discover the value of trade catalogs, the publications didn't really come into their own until the Industrial Revolution was well under way. Prior to mass production, there was little incentive to advertise handmade goods since local craftsmen struggled just to satisfy local demands, and if someone did have a surplus there was always a buyer to take it off your hands.

Woodworking machinery catalogs were often printed by the best printers. And as printing technology improved so did the number, size, quality, and press run of catalogs. From 1850 to 1900, it was not uncommon for machinery manufacturers to hire best-selling authors to write the text, which was accompanied by lithographs, photographs, or drawings executed by the finest artists, engravers, draftsmen, and photographers.

There are two main types of catalogs-trade and consumer. A trade catalog was sent to distributors, sales agents, and other manufacturers, but not, as a rule, to the general public. Trade catalogs usually contained highly detailed engravings or photographs (sometimes in color) and full descriptions of the machines. These catalogs are the most historically valuable.

Consumer catalogs, on the other hand, were often a collection of related but miscellaneous merchandise usually made by several different companies, available for sale to the general public. The best known of all such catalogs was perhaps from Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogs are scarce because people and businesses a hundred or more years ago were no different than today. Outdated machinery catalogs are tossed into the trash without a thought when a new one is received. Unfortunately, many companies do not preserve copies of their old catalogs no doubt because of lack of space, personnel, and, perhaps, historical perspective.

I've found my best hunting grounds for these catalogs to be flea markets, library book sales, and charity used book sales. Though the author knows nothing about the Internet, friends have told him that Web sites such as eBay are wonderful sources for picking up such catalogs. No catalog is unimportant, but, as any researcher or historian can tell you, not every catalog is valuable. Rarity, age, condition, number and type of illustrations, size, number of pages, and the company's popularity are among the most important factors that actually determine a catalog's monetary value. Beware! Many dealers seem to have the mistaken notion that age and size alone are the determining factors.

Any sort of detailed bibliography devoted to woodworking machinery catalogs is beyond the scope of a journal article but the following short list of significant and landmark catalogs published by major manufacturers might be of interest. Many I own, some I have examined, some have still eluded me.

The American Machinery Co. published its first catalog in 1896, which was nothing more than a price sheet listing its nos. 1, 2, and 3 wood trimmers and Turkish emery oil stones in patent metal cases for keeping the machines' knives razor sharp.

The Oliver Machinery Co. printed its first real catalog in 1904. Called Catalog "A," it was an ostentatious affair but an important effort. It bore the title "The Oliver Machinery Company, successors to the American Machinery Co." The name had been changed in 1903 to avoid confusion with the giant American Wood Working Machine Co. The company trademark, an American eagle with its wings outstretched over the new and old worlds appeared on the cover. Its use probably predates the catalog by several years, possibly going back to the early 189Os.

The American Wood Working Machine Co. was incorporated in 1897 with the object of merging a group of major woodworking machinery manufacturers into one giant corporation. By year's end eleven companies had been welded into one. America's massive 362page Catalog No. 1 was issued in 1898. "Owing to the demand for a catalogue," it said, "we have been obliged to compile this, our first issue, in a hurried manner, and desire to say that it does not represent our full line of machines. As soon as convenient we shall issue a complete catalogue comprising all of the various machines made by our separate Branches." It consisted of pages collated from the various companies catalogs, and it bore the following notice: 'This company is not a Trust, and does not intend to make its money by inflating prices; all we want is a fair profit, and in return we give our customers the benefit of our consolidation, namely: economical manufacture, consolidated experience and a line so large to select from that our salesmen are able to give you an unbiased opinion as to the best machine or machines for your use." American issued its last catalog in 1925, the same year the company was purchased by the P. B. Yates Machine Co., thus forming the famous Yates-American Machine Co.

In circa 1900, The J. A. Fay & Egan Co. issued the very important Catalogue-Series L (Figure 1), "illustrating The Latest Types of Improved and Patented Standard Wood-Working Machinery." Measuring 14½ x 9¼ inches, the 440-page hard back was profusely illustrated with finely detailed illustrations-half page and full page with some oversized fold out pages. It even included two pages showing its prize medals (Figure 2).

"J. A. Fay & Co. and The Egan Company have published separate catalogues," explained the introduction, and further:

The time has now arrived for the combined company, consolidated in 18.93, to present its united efforts.

We take pride in calling attention to the fact that the new company, J. A. Fay & Egan Co., has produced almost a complete line of new and improved machines, and in the past three years has taken out on new and useful improvements nearly two hundred patents.

My original copy even includes occasional net prices and weights written in by its first owner some one hundred years ago. While a purist may find fault with this fact, it only made it more interesting to me-a direct link to a person of the past.

The 11 x 7¾ inch hardback Defiance Machine Works Catalogue No. 200, dated 1910, is one of the finest woodworking machinery catalogs ever issued (Figure 3). The 533-page catalog is illustrated with superb half-page and full-page engravings of some 255 basic woodworking machines. A series of black and white photographs show the various departments-engineering, foundry, machine shop, executive offices, testing, shipping, etc. However, an earlier catalog runs a very close second.

H. B. Smith Machine Co. published its twentieth century, fifty-fifth edition catalog in 1902. This 8 x 11 inch, 408-page hardback is a magnificent effort with several vibrant color plates along with quarter-and full-page photographs and engravings of machinery along with a few fold outs (Figures 4, 5, and 6). There are photographs of the plant and awards and historical notes on founder H. B. Smith and his innovative iron frame tenoner. This catalog is the only one the author knows of that explains how the catalog was put together.

"An Incomplete Catalogue. If we were less progressive we could issue a complete catalogue," the catalog copywriters noted:

This Catalogue was a complete representation of the different machines we manufactured at the time it went to press; but, whilst it is in printing, improved machines are being constructed, and some we never made before, are being added to our line. Owing to this policy of progression, it is quite impossible for us to show a set or series of cuts, exactly representing our machines as sold by us, at any future time. Therefore, do we ask of you, if contemplating purchase, to write us for particulars. We will then send to you illustrations or photographs of our latest models, as well as full descriptive matter."

"We use photographs quite extensively, for the reason that they show the machines exactly as they appear in our testing rooms, and not as they are made to appear by an engraver. We usually take from two to ten views of a machine, in order to show it from all sides, and in all of its principal details. These photographs are from 10'' x 10'' x 18'' in size, and being of such size and in such numbers, enables the purchaser to see the machine, in all of its details, in a thoroughly intelligent and satisfactory manner. The cuts used in this volume are made from the photographs direct, and are exact reproductions of the machines shown.

The rabid anti-German hysteria that swept the United States during World War I eventually forced the famous Berlin Machine Works to change its name. The 7½ x 5-inch, 223-page paperback Catalog No. 14 issued in 1917 was the first to carry the new company name, The P. B. Yates Machine Co., after its principal shareholder. Full-page and half-page photographs accompanied the text (Figure 7).

In 1932 Yates-American Machine Co. issued their 11¼ x 8¾ -inch first edition general catalog, Woodworking Machinery, a slick, glossy hardback containing 350 pages with full-page and half-page machinery photographs (Figure 8).

Co-founder Elmer Harrold wrote and copyrighted Crescent Machine Co.'s first catalog in 1903. The company's 6 x 4-inch, 1921 paperback catalog (Figures 9 and 10) was its last large catalog. After 1921, Crescent switched mainly to 8 Va χ 11 color brochures illustrating and describing either single machines or types of machines such as planers or tablesaws. The pocket-sized work carried fulland half-page photographs. A nice touch were red arrows accompanied by red text emphasizing the improvements to each machine (Figures 11 and 12).

Author

Dana Batory is a geologist-turned-cabinetmaker who operates a small one-man shop in Crestline, Ohio, with several antique machines. Several years ago, he began work on an ambitious project-a definitive history on American manufacturers of woodworking machinery from 1830 to the present in a series of volumes, each consisting of four or five detailed histories of selected companies. Volume 1, Vintage Woodworking Machinery, appeared in spring 1997 and volume 2 in autumn 2004. (Available from Astragal Press: P.O. Box 239, Mendham, NJ 07945, astragalpress.com; $25.95 and $33 postpaid. Autographed copies are available from the author for $SO and $35, postpaid, 4O2 E. Bucyrus St., Crestline, OH 44827. A third volume is a work-inprogress.

Copyright Early American Industries Association Sep 2005
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