Cummins Industrial Tools? (Before They Became Junk)

Boyd · Oct 6, 2013

Yesterday I picked up a vintage, never-used, 1/2" drill at a flea market. I was a little hesitant to buy it because it was made by a company I had never heard of before (Cummins Industrial Tools) but it pushed too many of my buttons - vintage, new condition, still in the box, Made in the USA, cheap, etc. So I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

Well, I was curious about Cummins Industrial Tools, so I searched here and on the web. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information about them.

From what I could gather, the company started in Wisconsin (maybe an off-shoot of Milwaukee tools?) in the late 30's / early 40's. The company eventually moved to Chicago, where my drill was manufactured. While I'm unsure of when they relocated to Chicago, I'm guessing that my drill was made in the late 50's/early 60's.

Most of the recent information I could find was related to the poor quality of CIT. It appears the original CIT company went out of business in the early 80's. Then, from what I can gather, the rights to the name were sold to a marketing firm that sourced manufacturing overseas, thus beginning the less than stellar reputation of their tools.

Does anyone know any history about this company before it closed down and sold its naming rights?

Pics of my drill:

3xpendable · Oct 6, 2013

That drill is awesome. Nice score if you ask me

Here it is

YOU ****!

rusty65 · Oct 6, 2013

I also have a old cummins metal 1/2 drill and the metal tag on my drill claims they are celebrating there 60 anniversary from when they first opened in 1887. And that cummins portable tools was a division of C.S.M corp based out of Chicago,IL.

Sent directly from the Snap On Kool Aid factory.

Boyd · Oct 6, 2013

Thanks for the info.

Anyone else?

sberry · Oct 6, 2013

Ok, I don't think they ever were much on the hi end, I think they made that drill and it sold under a lot of brands, as I recall it was cheap.

rusty65 · Oct 6, 2013

Boyd said:
Thanks for the info.

Anyone else?

I'm 90% positive that the old cummins drills were made by Thor but branded Cummins.

Sent directly from the Snap On Kool Aid factory.

IOWNJUNK · May 27, 2014

Been searching for a place to put this, found it in a storage auction. Best info I could find on it was a similar saw on ebay that said 1920's vintage. It is a saw powered by a drill. Had a drill connected to it but it was a LOCKHEED brand (at least that was the name on the side)

zcbauer89 · May 27, 2014

Whether it was a good drill or not I think that is a great score!!! I would have picked it up!

Farmall450 · May 27, 2014

I recall seeing this...nice US made chuck too!

Steinmetz · May 27, 2014

IOWNJUNK said:
Been searching for a place to put this, found it in a storage auction. Best info I could find on it was a similar saw on ebay that said 1920's vintage. It is a saw powered by a drill. Had a drill connected to it but it was a LOCKHEED brand (at least that was the name on the side)

That's not a 1920's vintage object, based upon the die casting, and the star washer, at least.

BTW, it looks like an accident waiting to happen.

IOWNJUNK · May 27, 2014

I wasnt sure, just going off what I saw on ebay. I was trying to sell it at flea markets and even the guys in their 70's hadn't seen one. Looks better on the wall in the man cave than the $10 I was asking for it anyway.

IOWNJUNK · May 27, 2014

zcbauer89 said:
Whether it was a good drill or not I think that is a great score!!! I would have picked it up!

The drill worked perfectly, and I was in need of a corded drill so it went into the toolbox. Fast, quiet and powerful for its size. Neither one cost me a cent, which is always nice.

Toolguybak · Aug 17, 2015

Cummins (back in the day) was a division of the John Oster Mfg. Co. (that made hair clippers). Around 1960 they became part of Sunbeam. There is no affiliation with the Chiwanese built Cummins tools or Milwaukee tools. They are excellent tools overall.

gratch46 · Sep 27, 2018

I'm far from an expert on Cummins history, but can shed some light on them.
Cummins was founded in 1887 When they purchased a patent for a check perforator. It would put VOID and a date in tiny holes on cashed checks.

They expanded into other perforator products, such as holes for binding books. They did in the early 50's go into power tools. This is a picture from the company's history wall.

A circular saw from that era

I don't know when they sold off the power tool division, but the ones that say a division of CBM are theirs. Cummins later bought the Allison payment company and is now called Cummins Allison. They are based out of Mt Prospect IL. They did get into the paper shredder market and today is the world leader in automated money processing equipment. Bill counter, coin sorter etc.
Not a complete history but hopefully will help.

HotWire · May 20, 2019

Interesting......

I just picked up a Cummins Industrial portable bandsaw for $10.
It’s definitely a cheap tool but runs straight and has 2 speeds.

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

harley jim · Jan 24, 2020

I picked this up today.

Sent from my SM-A102U using Tapatalk

2oolhound · Jan 25, 2020

YOU **** HotWire!

Kinda late I know but getting a portable bandsaw for $10 is unheard of (until now). Nice way to get one in your arsenal. :thumbup:

Cummins Industrial Tools? (Before They Became Junk)

Boyd

Well-known member

3xpendable

Well-known member

rusty65

Well-known member

Boyd

Well-known member

sberry

Banned

rusty65

Well-known member

IOWNJUNK

Well-known member

zcbauer89

Well-known member

Farmall450

Well-known member

Steinmetz

Well-known member

IOWNJUNK

Well-known member

IOWNJUNK

Well-known member

Toolguybak

Active member

gratch46

New member

HotWire

Well-known member

Attachments

harley jim

Well-known member

Attachments

2oolhound

Well-known member