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Parker Manufacturing Company was a machine shop during WWII, a manufacturer of machine tools, a manufacturer/distributor of metal kitchen cabinets and sinks, and an industrial landlord, in Santa Monica, CA. The company designed and manufactured a unique sheet-metal shear (a large machine tool for cutting sheet steel) and was able to provide delivery in only 30 days, when other manufacturers were taking two years to make deliveries due to wartime production backlogs.〔"Santa Monica's New Power Shear," ''Western Machinery and Steel World,'' Oct. 1946, Vol. 37, No. 10, pp.108-109, San Francisco, CA.〕 It also designed and manufactured a unique sheet-metal press. Regarded as the most versatile press ever built, the Multi-Max press performed multiple operations (which previously had required multiple machines) in a compact amount of production-line space which was unprecedented.〔"New Combination Shear & Press Made by 'Parker,'" ''Snips Magazine,'' Oct. 1947, Skokie, IL.〕 ==WWII era and machine tool builder== Parker Mfg. Co. began as a machine shop at 1746 Berkeley St., Santa Monica, CA producing items ranging from aircraft parts to precision fuses for bombs during WWII. What the company referred to as "precision" fuses may have been proximity fuses, which were a military secret that produced devastating effects on Japanese aircraft and German ground troops.〔Baldwin, Ralph B. ''The Deadly Fuze: Secret Weapon of World War II,'' pp. xxxi, 3-6, 11, 50, 180, 235-6, 241, 249, 267, 279-81, Presidio Press, San Rafael, California, 1980. ISBN 978-0-89141-087-4.〕 Southern California was a major producer of aircraft during the war, and Santa Monica was headquarters for Douglas Aircraft Co.〔"Los Angeles Then and Now: Douglas' Dream Took Wing in Santa Monica," Flatrock.org Web site (http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/flying/douglas_dream_in_santa_monica.htm).〕 Douglas produced nearly 30,000 aircraft from 1942 to 1945.〔"Douglas Aircraft Co. ... Building Up for War," Boeing Corp. Web site, History section (http://www.boeing.com/history/narrative/n026dou.html).〕 When the war ended, Parker Mfg. Co. obtained a franchise to become the West Coast manufacturer and distributor of Kitchen-Kraft steel kitchen cabinets, a product of Midwest Mfg. Co., in Galesburg, IL. Company President M. Wesley Parker, Jr.〔Brewer, Wilmon, ''A Life of Maurice Parker,'' pp. 28, 30-33, 54, 56, Marshall Jones Company, Francestown, NH, 1954.〕〔Brewer, Wilmon, ''Looking Backwards,'' p. 534, Marshall Jones Company, Francestown, NH, 1985.〕 made an arrangement with S. S. Battles, the president of Midwest Mfg. Co., for Nathan O. Parker〔Brewer, Wilmon, ''A Life of Maurice Parker,'' pp. 28, 31-33, 54, 55, 56, Marshall Jones Company, Francestown, NH, 1954.〕〔Brewer, Wilmon, ''Looking Backwards,'' pp. 526, 534, Marshall Jones Company, Francestown, NH, 1985.〕 (M. Wesley Parker, Jr.'s brother), to come work for Midwest Mfg. Co. temporarily in preparation for this venture. Nathan Parker worked there for something less than a year in 1946, in a variety of positions to learn about all aspects of the operation, ranging from cutting steel to painting cabinets to accounting. He then came to the West Coast to help set up cabinet-making operations there for Parker Mfg. Co., and served as its secretary-treasurer and as a director. In order to produce the cabinets, Parker Mfg. Co. needed a sheet-metal shear and a press. Due to the war though, machine tool manufacturers were backed up with orders so far that two-year delivery times were not uncommon. However, the company had a very talented chief engineer on the payroll, Harold Verson, who had been chief engineer in his family's machine-tool manufacturing business in Chicago.〔Clark, William, "Verson Allsteel History Revolves Around Brothers," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' May 18, 1959, E-7, Chicago, IL (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/564928502.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=May+18%2C+1959&author=WILLIAM+CLARK&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+%281923-1963%29&edition=&startpage=E7&desc=Verson+Alisteel+History+Revolves+Around+Brothers).〕〔Hampson, Philip, "The Road to Success," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' Oct. 29, 1955, B-5, Chicago, IL (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/506851552.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+29%2C+1955&author=Philip+Hampson&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+%281923-1963%29&edition=&startpage=B5&desc=The+Road+to+Success).〕〔Wirry, Anthony, "Giant Presses Speed Nation's Goods Output," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' Sep. 21, 1947, A-7, Chicago, IL (http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/495778402.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+21%2C+1947&author=ANTHONY+WIRRY&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+%281923-1963%29&edition=&startpage=A7&desc=GIANT+PRESSES+SPEED+NATION%27S+GOODS+OUTPUT).〕 He proposed that they design and build their own shear, which they then did. The machine was a success. M. Wesley Parker, Jr. showed it off to the owner of another shop, who was impressed, and made him an offer to buy the machine at a price too good to refuse. Parker Mfg. Co. sold it to him, and then made two more. The company sold those, too. It then made six more, and sold those.〔Video of a Parker shear (Serial #108) being tested at Peterson Machinery Sales, Casa Grande, AZ, after having been rebuilt in 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPDHigqGtlk).〕 Thus, it entered the shear-manufacturing business.〔Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 121, 127, Cypress, CA, 2013. ISBN 978-0-9897906-0-4.〕 The company was unable to obtain castings for the shears due to the fact that all the foundries were backlogged with orders, just as the machine tool manufacturers were. So, the uniquely designed Parker Shears were built entirely out of steel plate – no castings at all.〔"Santa Monica's New Power Shear," ''Western Machinery and Steel World,'' Oct. 1946, Vol. 37, No. 10, pp. 108-109, San Francisco, CA.〕〔"Power Squaring Shears - Handles up to 14 ga," ''Metal-Working Equipment,'' Jan. 1947, MWE #2396, New York, NY.〕〔"Shearing..Squaring machine cuts 10 gage steel to 73 in. in length," ''Industrial Equipment News,'' Jul. 1947, IEN-7204, New York, NY.〕〔"Parker Shears Conserve Space," ''Western Machinery and Steel World,'' Oct. 1947, Vol. 38, No. 10, San Francisco, CA.〕 In 1947, the company introduced the Multi-Max Press (which was also made entirely out of steel plate). The ingenious Verson designed this innovative machine, which would perform almost any operation on sheet metal (e.g., shearing, notching, punching, bending and forming).〔"New Press from Santa Monica," ''Western Machinery and Steel World,'' Nov. 1947, Vol. 38, No. 11, San Francisco, CA.〕 These processes would have normally required three separate machine tools (a shear, a press brake and a press). The versatile Multi-Max Press was also compact, did not require a special foundation, and could be moved easily in and out of a production line for efficient work flow. Customers ranged from small firms to large manufacturers, both domestically and abroad, including O'Keefe & Merritt, Baldwin Piano Co., Burroughs Adding Machine Co., Gillig Bros., and Toledo Desk & Fixture Co. As the post-war economy gradually got back to normal in the late 1940s, the lead times for machine tools began to shrink. To compete effectively with the big machine tool manufacturers, Parker Mfg. Co. would have had to dramatically expand. The company also experienced labor unrest. The workers wanted to unionize and demanded a significant pay increase. The company was already paying the highest wages in the area, and President Parker asked the labor leaders for some time to think it over. Within 30 days, the company sold the operation. The engineering and inventory were purchased by Diamond Machine Tool Co. in Pico Rivera, CA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Parker Manufacturing Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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