[bkreigsr]

Originally Posted by dad911

I sleep with my Diehl. Truth.

..can't blame you. Interesting history (- to me anyway)

Before 1885, Philip Diehl was a machine designer for sewing machine manufacturer Singer Manufacturing Co. That year, he went out on his own to manufacture his new electric motors. Operating under the name Philip Diehl, he worked out of space in the Singer factory in Elizabet, NJ, and Singer was, of course, his main customer. In 1887, Diehl created the first ceiling fan that was directly driven by an electric motor. This impressive technical achievement was enabled by the use of a low-speed high-torque motor developed by Belgian electrical engineer Zénobe Gramme. Perhaps inspired by the potential sales of his new product, Diehl incorporated that year, as Diehl & Co., changing the name in 1896 to Diehl Manufacturing Co..

Over the next few decades, Diehl Manufacturing Co. expanded their product line to include fractional horsepower DC and AC motors plus a variety of motor-based products such as oscillating fans, handheld electric drills, and bench grinders. This website's focus is woodworking and metalworking machinery plus the motors that powered them. Thus, Diehl is listed on our site because they made motors and bench grinders. Other items they made, such as electric drills, fans, and specialized (e.g., sewing machine) motors, are outside the scope of our site and we cannot provide more information on them.

At some point Diehl was acquired by Singer and became the Diehl Division of Singer Manufacturing Co., or, more formally, Diehl Manufacturing Co., a Division of Singer Manufacturing Co. Both before and after that time, they were a supplier of handheld electric drills and bench grinders to Sears, with Sears model-number prefix 315.

In 1988 the Motor Products Division of Diehl (which was, in turn, a division of Singer) was acquired by Japanese power tool maker Ryobi, Ltd., becoming the basis of Ryobi's new U.S. operations, Ryobi Motor Products Corp.; Ryobi took over supply of products to Sears Craftsman, retaining the 315 manufacturer code.


(FWIW, my Dad was born and raised in Elizabeth)