User:Nyth83/Shopsmith (brand)

Shopmith (brand)

Shopsmith is a brand of woodworking Shopsmith combination machines currently manufactured by RLF Brands.

Shopsmith has its origins in the ShopSmith 10ER tool, a five-in-one woodworking tool for do-it-yourself consumers invented in the late 1940s by Hans Goldschmidt, an immigrant from Germany. It found a ready market among new homeowners in the period after World War II (1939–45). The compact ShopSmith 10ER combined a table saw, lathe, drill press, disc sander and horizontal boring machine. It was manufactured by Goldschmidt’s Magna Engineering Corporation of San Diego, California. Successive models included additional accessories such as a bandsaw, jigsaw, jointer and belt sander. The lawn and garden tool manufacturer Yuba Power Products of Cleveland, Ohio bought Magna and the ShopSmith product line in the late 1950s. A few years later a group of Yuba employees founded Magna American Corporation and purchased the ShopSmith assets. They started manufacturing in Raymond, Mississippi, but their company ceased operation prior to 1966. Later the brand changed hands twice before becoming dormant in 1966. Shopsmith, Inc. was founded in 1972 to resume manufacture of ShopSmith parts and products. In 2009 Shopsmith, Inc. went into bankruptcy, and reorganized as RLF Brands.

Origins
The concept of a multipurpose tool– a single machine that does the job of many– is probably as old as woodworking. In just the last two centuries, the United States Patent Office has issued dozens of patents for ingenious machines in one end and they'd spit furniture out the other. Patent No. 511,618 for a "Woodworking Machine", issued to Stephen Hurteau in 1893, is typical of these inventions, as illustrated in Figure A. Ac-cording to Hurteau, "My invention has reference to a combination wood working machine and consists of a strong frame on to which is arranged a lathe, circular saw, planer, jig saw, bans saw, auger, shaper, etc..., and is arranged in solid and compact form, its object being to provide a machine capable of performing the functions of several others, thereby saving expense on first cost." But Hurteau's "Woodworking Machine"– and many others like it– was a pipe dream. Only a few of the more practical multipurpose tool designs were ever built and marketed. Most of these were massive commercial-duty machines for furniture manufacturers, mill operators, and other professional woodworkers. They usually incorporated a circular saw, jointer, molder or shaper, and horizontal boring machine arranges around a single powerful motor. A woodworker could preset each of these components, then walk around the tool, machining one board after another to precisely the same dimensions and shape. On the other end of the scale, the "Red Jacket" was a compact multipurpose bench tool for the home handyman, sold in the 1930's. It's power plant was an ordinary electric hand drill that could either be detached or mounted in a stand. When mounted, the drill powered a small circular saw, disc sander, and lathe. However, none of these early multipurpose tools achieved any lasting success. Most machines were either too expensive or their capacities too limited to interest the average craftsman.

It wasn't until Dr. Hans Goldschmidt introduced his "Shop-smith"– a five-in-one machine, similar to the present Mark V– that a multipurpose woodworking tool became accepted and commonplace.

Hans Goldschmidt came to the United States in 1937, fleeing Nazi Germany. Once in America, he became a woodworker out of necessity. Like so many folks in the Depression, he couldn't find a job, even though he had a doctorate in Administrative Engineering from the University of Berlin. So he scraped together enough money to buy some woodworking tools and made handicrafts–napkin holders, trays, and coasters. After World War II, he became a foreman in a woodworking shop. All his life he had dreamed of being an inventor, and it was here that he got his chance. "The basis of being an inventor is recognizing a need," Dr. Goldschmidt said in a later interview. "Then try to invent something that fills that need." The need that Dr. Goldschmidt recognized was for a simple machine to perform a multitude of woodworking tasks. Watching the workers use the power tools in the shop, he saw much duplication– too many motors, pulleys, arbors. He also noticed a growing market for power tools, since so many soldiers had learned to use machinery during the war. It was the right time, he decided, to introduce an affordable, capable multipurpose tool. "I listed the most important woodworking tools and came up with a saw, sander, lathe, drill press, bandsaw, and jigsaw," recalled Dr. Goldschmidt, telling how he had designed his machine. "Then I analyzed what all these had in common. They all have a motor in common, for one thing. They all have a turning spindle that cuts. They all have a table or work holding device. Then I eliminated those tools that didn't fit well, which were the jigsaw and the bandsaw. And finally ended up with the saw, the sander, the drill press, and the lathe." Goldschmidt envisioned, then sketched his machine. From his drawings, he built a half-scale model in his spare bedroom. Later he assembled a full scale model from salvaged hardware and spare parts. When tested, his invention worked just as he had hoped: It had the capacity to perform most common woodworking operations, yet it was simple enough to be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

For this line of successful multipurpose tools– in particular, the Mark V– Goldschmidt achieved recognition as an inventor in Time Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Popular Science, the Harvard Business Review, and other publications. Later, he went on to invent many other products.

, but thousands of Shopsmith Mark V's were manufactured until the early 1960's. Then a variety of changes within the company and with the buying public caused production to cease. In 1971, John Folkerth visited an old plant in search of spare parts. He not only found the parts, but molds, dies, jigs– everything needed to make new Mark V's. The owners were willing to sell and John jumped at the opportunity. By 1973, the Shopsmith Mark V was back on the market, manufactured by a new company– Shopsmith, Inc. The company changed hands in July of 2009 and redesigned the headstock and the base unit. RLFSHOP, LLC introduced the Shopsmith PowerPro® Headstock and the Mark 7 in August of 2010.

1947–1952
The inventor and several of his friends formed the Magna Engineering Company. They began making multipurpose tools at a lumberyard in Berkeley, California, building the first machines by hand. Montgomery Ward was Magna's first big customer, ordering 250 "Shopsmith Model 10ER's" for the west coast stores for Christmas, 1947. The name "Shopsmith" was suggested to Dr. Goldschmidt and his partners at a party. Response was so enthusiastic that the department store chain made it a stock item nationwide. An adervisement from February 1948 listed a price of $184.45, equivalent to about $ today.



1953–1966
This success of the "10ER" encouraged Dr. Goldschmidt to refine his original design In the 1950's, Magna introduced several new multipurpose tools. The Shopsmith Mark II was a scaled down, economy version for the woodworker on a tight budget. The Shopsmith Mark VII incorporated a lot of extras, including way tubes that tilted in both directions and a built-in shop vacuum. But the most versatile, durable and popular model was by far the Shopsmith Mark V. For this line of successful multipurpose tools– in particular, the Mark V– Goldschmidt achieved recognition as an inventor in Time Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Popular Science, the Harvard Business Review, and other publications. Later, he went on to invent many other products.

The Mark II and the Mark VII were only available briefly.

Shopsmith, Inc.
When searching for a replacement saw blade John Folkerth, a stockbroker in Dayton, Ohio, came across what was left of the company in Raymond, including the manufacturing equipment and boxes of unfilled orders for parts. He obtained investors and launched Shopsmith Inc. in 1972 to resume manufacturing in Troy, Ohio. The plan was to produce spare parts for the old tools sold by Magna and Yuba, but the company soon decided to start selling complete tools based on the popular and robust Mark V. The company moved to Dayton, Ohio in the late 1970s. Around the end of 1981 McGraw-Edison sold its power-tool division to Shopsmith, Inc.. Shopsmith liquidated the inventory and started to manufacture "Benchmark" products. In April 2005 the company reported gross annual revenues of US$13.4 million, with a net loss of US$800,000.

The MARK 7
The MARK 7 is an upgrade to the Shopsmith Mark V, supported by the PowerPro Headstock and includes two more woodworking tools; the under and over-table shaping and routing.

This machine includes a 10" Table Saw - 34" Lathe - 12" Disc Sander - 16-1/2" Vertical Drill Press - Over/Under-Table Router - Over/Under Table Shaper and Horizontal Boring Machine in a small two-foot by six-foot space. It has the capability to switch from tool-to-tool in 98 seconds or less. The multi-purpose design of the MARK 7 allows the user to only learn a single set of controls to operate all the functions of the machine.

RLF Brands
Shopsmith filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and reorganized, at first under the name of RLF Shop. RLF Brands LLC was registered in Ohio as a Domestic Limited Liability Company by Robert L Folkerth on 1 June 2010. As of 2017 the company has continued to market the Shopsmith Mark V and Mark 7 multipurpose tools, with seven different tools and various accessories.

Patents and trademarks
As is common with many corporations, the Malleable Iron range company applied for and was granted numerous patents for its products over the course of its existence.

Utility patents

 * 10,384,365	Blade tilt mechanisms for table saws
 * 10,092,968	Table saws
 * 9,981,326	Table saw
 * 9,908,189	Blade elevation mechanisms and anti-backdrive mechanisms for table saws
 * 9,844,891	Blade tilt mechanisms for table saws
 * 9,555,491	Blade elevation mechanisms and anti-backdrive mechanisms for table saws
 * 8,353,095	Self feeding drill press lathe attachment
 * 8,261,464	Swivel mounting device
 * 7,377,022	Drill press lathe attachment
 * 6,935,084	Taper-ream wood repair apparatus and method
 * 6,652,361	Abrasives distribution method
 * 6,569,002	Hand-held oscillating spindle sander
 * 6,568,531	Sandpaper index file for ease of storage
 * 6,463,836	Guide for band saws
 * 6,427,735	Multi-speed surface planer and method of manufacture thereof
 * 6,289,956	Wood planer attachment for directing and capturing wood shavings and chips
 * 5,139,060	Duplication attachment for wood turning lathes
 * 5,065,652	Scroll saw
 * 5,058,476	Scroll saw
 * 5,042,346	Apparatus for fabricating accurate mitered corners
 * 5,035,152	Speed increaser for woodworking tools
 * 5,017,180	Speed reduction device
 * 5,004,027	Biscuit joiner
 * 5,000,237	Jointer cutter guard with featherboard
 * 4,989,654	Woodworking workable assembly having an extruded T-slot
 * 4,972,885	Power module for special purpose woodworking tools
 * 4,926,916	Biscuit joiner
 * 4,899,793	Duplicating system for a lathe
 * 4,813,322	Scroll saw mount for multi-purpose tool
 * 4,721,023	Saw guard system
 * 4,715,872	Portable dust collector
 * 4,694,713	Duplicating system for a lathe
 * 4,658,687	Saw fence
 * 4,658,686	Miter gage
 * 4,615,247	Anti-kickback system
 * 4,597,424	Carving adapter for multi-purpose woodworking machine
 * 4,588,005	Duplicator attachment for woodturning lathes
 * 4,566,510	Workpiece support system for a power tool
 * 4,548,246	Headstock elevating apparatus
 * 4,538,655	Cutter head system
 * 4,538,654	Multiple use fixture assemblies for a cutting tool
 * 4,510,980	Table assembly for a multipurpose tool
 * 4,494,591	Tilting table for a woodworking tool
 * 4,485,859	Planer chip removal system
 * 4,485,711	Adjustable straddle block
 * 4,484,608	Router table
 * 4,476,757	Adjustable featherboard
 * 4,456,042	Planer table assembly
 * 4,440,204	Planer mounting system
 * 4,257,166	Adjustable drill template

Design patents

 * 1) 	D834,912	Sanding tool
 * 2) 	D716,631	Contoured vehicle surface polisher and restorer
 * 3) 	D328,904	Power module for woodworking tools
 * 4) 	D292,407	Combined guard and dust collector for a table saw
 * 5) 	D286,538	Support frame for a power tool
 * 6) 	D281,431	Headstock for a multipurpose woodworking tool
 * 7) 	D281,328	Saw table
 * 8) 	D278,790	Push block for use in guiding work pieces during cutting operations
 * 9) 	D278,440	Router table
 * 10) 	D278,022	Push stick for a saw table or the like
 * 11) 	D276,616	Planer

Trademarks

 * Shopsmith


 * Shopsmith Power Pro


 * Saw Smith


 * Shopmate