A Brief History of Milwaukee & Their Sawzall®

Posted on mai 18, 2011

As World War I drew to a close, Henry Ford approached a young manufacturer named A.H. Petersen with a simple product request. Petersen had been producing tools and dies for Ford for a number of years. The request was for Petersen to produce a smaller, lighter, portable 1/4″ capacity power drill. Petersen seized the opportunity to provide Ford with the tool he was looking for, and created the Hole-Shooter. In 1924, with the intention to fully develop the sales potential of the “Hole-Shooter,” A. F. Siebert began the Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation.

Word of the new improvements quickly spread and soon, specifications for tools produced by Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation rivaled the equipment standards of the United States Government. In 1930, the company sought and achieved an acceptable equipment specification rating from the United States Government for its new portable electric drill. Before long, Navy technical standards were being applied to the manufacture of all Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation portable tools. Electric sanders, polishers, the electric hammer, and a portable hand grinder were now all manufactured according to Naval specifications.

World War II and the tremendous use of portable power tools in the armed forces marked the real turn around for the tool business and Milwaukee. Hole-Shooters were used extensively in the manufacture of airplanes and many new product ideas were developed during that period.

In 1951, Milwaukee produced an unparalleled new tool — the Sawzall® reciprocating saw. The first portable hacksaw made up of a reciprocating mechanism with only three moving parts, designed to withstand daily abuse and still provide a 3/4″ stroke ideal for sawing and roughing out. Both the Milwaukee Right-Angle Drill and the Sawzall® recip saw revolutionized the power tool industry, firmly establishing the Milwaukee tradition. Today, Milwaukee still delivers the same quality and ruggedness that they delivered so many years ago.