Central Specialty Co. of Ypsilanti Michigan started to produce machinery and accessories for Sears in the 1932/1933 timeframe. King-Seeley acquired Central Specialty in 1944. Machinery and accessories with Sears source code "103" were from Central Specialty. These items carried the Craftsman, Companion, Dunlap, and Fulton labels.

Central Specialty was located on Norris St, near Forrest Ave. It had its own casting and machining facilities, with a separate engineering and administration building located across the street (720 Norris St). Today, some of the manufacturing plant still exists. The casting facility was torn down after Motor Wheel took over in the mid-1960s. The engineering and administration building is currently the home of the Corner Brewery bar and grill along with the Arbor Brewing Company micro-brewery.

Central Specialty also made automotive components. These included an intake manifold for the Hudson Motor Car Co. and a power steering pump body for the Chrysler Corp.

King-Seeley was headquartered in Ann Arbor Michigan. Besides wood/metal-working machinery, King-Seeley also made Thermos bottles, metal lunch boxes, picnic coolers, refrigeration components, etc. The Central Specialty Division of King-Seeley, located in Ypsilanti, was responsible for woodworking and metalworking machinery.

In 1964, all of King-Seeley's design patents, tooling, and parts stock were bought by Emerson Electric Co. of Paris, TN; Emerson then took over production of machines for Sears.

One notable machine was the 10" cabinet saw, introduced in 1953 and made until Emerson dropped its production in 1966. It was reportedly the first machine to have the arbor ground and trued in place, i.e., after being mounted in the saw.

In post-WWII machine badges said, "Made By King-Seeley Corporation"; subsequently in the 1950s the labels were altered to read, "Guaranteed Highest Quality".

Manuals for King-Seeley Machines

Look in the "Publication Reprints" section for a manual. Our collection is far from complete, but if you cannot find the exact manual you are looking for, look closely for similar products, as some machines with different model numbers were virtually the same except for the accessories or the motor. Also, check out the Craftsman, Dunlap, and Emerson pages. Some manuals have been uploaded under the model (Craftsman or Dunlap) name rather the manufacturer, and some machines continued virtually unchanged when Emerson took over from King-Seeley.

History related to Sears-compiled by Robert J. Pipes

Central Specialty Company (CS) entered the exciting and profitable business of being a supplier/partner with Sears Roebuck & Company about 1931 or 1932 and working together they spent the next 30 years designing, producing, marketing and selling consumer class wood working power tools to the rapidly expanding suburban middle class.

Sears was to become the largest retailer in the world and CS labored away in seeming obscurity with a relatively small, dedicated workforce producing high value low cost, cast iron power tools that the American homeowner as well as skilled tradesmen purchased by the millions.

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Michigan by John H. Lonskey, CS acquired financial partners, business acumen and machine shop and foundry experience and in 1919 moved to Ypsilanti where they acquired a Foundry to compliment their Machine Shop. We do not know at this point how the relationship with Sears was fostered or who approached whom but we do know that Sears had been selling OEM wood working equipment and rebadged power tools (Walker Turner’s Driver Line is one example) and were seeking a supplier who could produce power tools exclusively for Sears. John Lonskey was the brilliant man who could deliver the goods.

In the 1933 Sears power tools catalog a signal event occurs in power tools history. In that issue a new line of wood working power tools is introduced and the brand names introduced are “Companion” and “Craftsman”. These are the first known power tools produced for Sears by CS.

In ensuing years the brand name “Dunlap” and several new models were added to the line of Saws, Sanders, Shapers, Jointers, Planers, Drill Presses and Lathes. The brand names “Companion” and “Dunlap” would come and go thru the years, sometimes by manufacturers other than Central Specialty, but the “Craftsman” brand would become an Icon.

In 1944 John Lonskey reached retirement age and sold the company to the King – Seeley Corporation (KS) of Ann Arbor, Michigan. KS was already a supplier to Sears for some small appliance lines. They continued to invest in CS and in the relationship with Sears and as a result the power tools business grew as new products were designed and manufactured over the next 10 to 15 years.

However, as with all manufacturing processes, competition and innovation overtake them and in 1963 Sears informed CS that their contracts with Sears, which were renewed on a 3 year bidding cycle, would be allowed to expire. The entire manufacturing process was transferred to Emerson Electric Corporation and moved to a new, larger facility in Paris, Tennessee, where almost all Sears power tools would be manufactured for the next 25 years.

KS ceased their manufacturing operations in Ypsilanti at the end of 1964 and an era for power tools came to a close.

Sears introduced their model number system in 1937. This system uses a 3-digit supplier prefix and a 4, 5, or 6 digit catalog number suffix to identify who supplied the equipment to Sears and to some extent, what year or years it appears in the power tools catalogs. If your Sears equipment has a 103 prefix, then Central Specialty Company made it in the Norris St. plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan between 1933 and 1963. KS owned CS from 1945 to 1963 (and were even allowed to put the King Seeley name on the Craftsman badge for a time) but CS was the actual manufacturer of the product.

Information Sources

• A 1915 edition of Foundry magazine has the following news item:

  The Central Foundry Specialty Co., Detroit, has increased its capital stock from $25000 to $50000 and has changed its name to the Central Specialty Co.

• A 1928 publication of the National Historical Association, Historic Michigan, Land of the Great Lakes, has the following intriguing tidbit, retrieved through Google Books:

  J. H. Lonskey, who is president of the Ypsilanti Foundry Company, was born in Vincennes, Indiana, November 4, 1879. ... After some time spent in charge of several large foundries, he went to Detroit and in 1911 organized the Central Specialty Company. In 1919 he moved to Ypsilanti and organized the Ypsilanti Foundry Company, which is incorporated for one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Lonskey serves as secretary of the Detroit company and is president of the Ypsilanti firm...

• A 1928 issue of Automotive Industries has the following news item:

  Foundry Companies Join DETROIT, June 30— The Ypsilanti Foundry Co. and the Central Specialty Co., of Detroit, have consolidated and the new firm will be known as the Central Specialty Co. with offices in Ypsilanti and. ...

• A 1964 edition of Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record has the following:

  The plant was founded in Detroit in 1911 as the Central Foundry Specialty Co., and moved to Ypsilanti in 1919. Originally, it produced automotive castings, piston rings and general jobbing castings. The association with Sears- Roebuck began in 1932, or twelve years before Central Specialty Co. became a division of King-Seeley Corp. ...

  This places the acquisition of Central Specialty by King-Seeley in 1944.

The following sources were used by Robert J. Pipes in his history of Central Specialty related to Sears

• Historic Michigan Vol III, Author: George Fuller, A Short Bio of John H. Lonskey.
• The Ypsilanti Press, Article: October 30, 1954; Article about King Seeley and Central Specialty History.
• The Ypsilanti Press, Article: June 22, 1964; Article about the sale of the Central Specialty Facilities to Motor Wheel Corporation.
• The Ypsilanti Press, Article: December 1963; Article announcing the closing of Central Specialty Company.
• The History of Central Specialty Company, A 1944 Article authored by John H. Lonskey describes the early financial challenges and success of the company.
• The C-Saw; A Central Specialty house newsletter, various issues from 1940s and 1950s.
• King-Seeley Corporation Annual Reports: 1962, 63, 64, Mentions closing and selling of Central Specialty; lists officers of the company and various products.
• July 6, 1941 LA Times, Advertisement for Common Stock in Central Specialty “Makers of Companion and Dunlap Power Tools”
• June 7, 1945 New York Times, Article announces that King Seeley Corporation of Ann Arbor Michigan has purchased the entire assets of Central Specialty Company of Ypsilanti, Michigan.
• Interview and discussion with Robert “Skip” Stachlewitz, Jr., son and namesake of the man who worked his entire career at Central Specialty.
• Sears Power Tool Catalogs1933 to 1970.
• Patent applications by John Lonskey and Walter Gaskell of Central Specialty Company for wood working tools and accessories 1940 to 1956.
• Brian Kachadurian; writing on www.owwm.com describes the Sears Vendor Number List he uncovered and the connection between Sears Catalog and Model Numbers.