Getting To Know Porter Cable Power Tools
Many people have not heard the name Porter Cable Power Tools before but it is a name that has been around for a very long time and Porter Cable Power Tools has come to stand for quality and durability in the power tool industry. The story of Porter Cable Power Tools is pulled from the pages of any American dream and is full of prosperity and also some serious ingenuity in the face of the most difficult of economic times. It is the story of GG Porter, RE Porter, and FE Cable and how their little home made machine shop grew from making pencil erasers to becoming one of the best know names for high quality power tools in the world. The Porter Cable Power Tools story is very much a success story.
The Porter Cable Power Tools company was started by GG Porter, RE Porter, and FE Cable in 1906 out of a home garage in Syracuse, NY. They started out by making old fashioned pencil sharpeners and anything else they could sell but what they really wanted to get involved in was making the products that made working easier. To that end Porter Cable Power Tools started making power lathes in 1914 to help out with the huge band driven lathes that were inefficient for making smaller products. In 1916 they took on WA Ridings as a president and it was Ridings who helped Porter Cable Power Tools through the Great Depression by inspiring the Porters and the Cables not to sit back and wait for better times but to go out and buy up other tool companies. When World War II was over Porter Cable Power Tools was ready for the big time.
Bringing On The Innovation
In the early 1920's a brilliant engineer named Art Emmons was brought into the Porter Cable Power Tools family and he promptly went on to invent the hand held power saw that we know today and a sanding system that became so popular that it became its own company. All of this by 1929 and all of this before Art Emmons was even 30 years old. Throughout World War II Porter Cable Power Tools and Art Emmons continued to release innovative power tool ideas that caused the company to grow well beyond anything the original owners could have ever imagined. Art Emmons continued to create power tool magic until he retired in 1964 and the Porter Cable Power Tools was almost lost.
Rockwell International bought the company in 1960 and tried to phase out the Porter Cable name. But in 1981 the company was purchased by Pentair Inc who proudly displayed the Porter Cable name on their products. Now with its own display in the Smithsonian the Porter Cable company has cemented its place in history.
