King-Seeley made machinery for Sears that were sold under the Craftsman and Dunlap labels. If your Sears product has a model number beginning with "103-" then it was made by King-Seeley Corp.
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, King-Seeley was an operating unit of General Motors; they probably used GM's Willow Run foundry for their castings. Besides woodworking machinery, King-Seeley also made Thermos bottles, metal lunch boxes, picnic coolers, refrigeration components, etc., all using excess GM manufacturing capacity. The Central Specialty Division of King-Seeley, located in Ypsilanti, was responsible for woodworking machinery.
One source reports that in 1947, King-Seeley acquired a contract to make the Craftsman and Dunlap machine lines for Sears-Roebuck (Walker-Turner had the contract before then). That source claims that King-Seeley had not made woodworking machinery before that time. However, we have a report of a Companion scrollsaw with a 103 (King-Seeley) prefix. Since the Companion name was supposedly dropped in 1941, there is an inconsistency in our information. Update (Feb2006): several machines from the late 1930s through the WWII time period have been identified with the 103 source code.
Please contact us if you have any information that would shed light on when King-Seeley started producing woodworking 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.
Until the late 1950s, machine badges said, "Made By King-Seeley Corporation"; subsequently, the labels were altered to read, "Guaranteed Highest Quality".
Manuals for King-Seeley Machines
Look in the "Publication Reprints" section, below, 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.
Be sure to look at the complete list of manuals under each "Publication Reprints" section, and not just the list of the 10 most recent reprints.
Copies of manuals for some vintage Craftsman machines with model numbers beginning 103 and 113 are available by emailing Sam Anderson, sande38 (at) sears.com (replace the (at) with the @ symbol). Include model number and your mailing address in the request.
Information Sources
- The service manager at the Ridge Tool Co. -- which took over production of Craftsman machines from Emerson -- provided the updated information on the availability of manuals.