Yates-American Machine Company

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Yates-America acquires S.A. Woods

In 1961 Yates-American purchased the S. A. Woods Machine Co., and moved just across the state border to Roscoe, IL. In 1981 we moved back to Beloit, WI. By this time, we were specializing in large planer-matchers. Although Yates doesn’t perform service on the machines still in the field but we are able to provide replacement parts for many active machines.

The Woods model’s parts are still available for are as follows: (Planers) 404, 407, 408, 409, 410, 412, 414, 415, 480, 484, 489, 501 (Flooring Machines) 502, 503, 504 (End Matchers) 525 series (Grinders) 227, 229, 327, 328, 329.

History of S.A. Woods Co.

S.A. Woods Factory View

1898 Factory View

According to “Planers, Matchers & Molders in America”, Woods started making machines 1852, when he introduced a wood-framed planer-matcher. In 1862-1863, this company was one of three to introduce molders with cutter-head shafts supported on both ends; the others were C. B. Rogers & Co., and Charles R. Tompkins.

S. A. Woods was one of the first makers to switch to cast iron frames, and they made their machines big and heavy: the biggest machines were over 16 feet long and weighed 20,000 pounds.

In 1899 S. A. Woods acquired the rights to manufacture the patented Nichols lock corner machine from W. E. Nichols Machine Works; this machine was used to make box joints for mass-produced wooden boxes. At least one example of this specialized machine still survives.

In 1915, Woods introduced the “pineapple” feeding system, which increased feed rates as much as 50%, reduced labor, and improved output quality. This patented system proved lucrative for Woods, both in winning a lawsuit against Yates, and in collecting royalties from Yates and others.

During the second World War, Woods’s president, Harry Dodge, refused to allow unionized workers as ordered by the government, and so the plant was seized and operated by “the Murray company” (quoting from Planers, Matchers and Molders in America) until after the war. During that period, the few woodworking machines that were made bore the Murray name. Woods continued to do well until Dodge’s death in the 1950s.

In 1958 S. A. Woods Machine Co. became a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Industrial Syndicate, Inc. (UIS). In 1960, three of UIS’ wholly owned subsidiaries, including S.A. Woods, merged; the surviving company was called GKB Company, Incorporated (GKB). UIS also formed a new shell corporation, called the S.A. Woods Machine Company, which was created to preserve GKB’s right to manufacture products under the S.A. Woods name. In 1961 UIS, GKB, and Yates entered into an agreement whereby Yates purchased GKB’s “machinery and equipment used in the motor department, jigs, tools, dies, patterns, drawings, all of its woodworking machinery business, including the exclusive right to use its trademarks and trade names.” (Quoted from the bill of sale, which was in turn quoted in a 1990 legal judgement regarding UIS’s liability for an S. A. Woods molder manufactured in 1949.) At the end of 1961, GKB merged with UIS, with the merged entity using the UIS name.