Most of our old woodworking machines are powered by electric motors. A few dozen companies made those motors, and this page provides a brief listing of those companies.
| Company | City | Years | Comments |
| Advance Electric Co. | St. Louis, MO | -1920- | From patent records. No confirmed motor sightings. |
| Louis Allis Co. | Milwaukee, WI | 1901-1977- | Louis Allis left his father's company, E. P. Allis, just before the merger that created Allis-Chalmers. Louis Allis Co. was Mechanical Appliance Co. until 1922. |
| Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. | Milwaukee, WI | -1901-1960- | Better known as an agricultural equipment maker, but they manufactured motors for many years. |
| American Electric Motor Co. | Milwaukee, WI | -1929-1933 | Acquired by Cedarburg Manufacturing Co. They had been a subsidiary of Splitdorf-Bethlehem Electrical Co. of Newark, NJ. Cedarburg went bankrupt in 1939. |
| Baldor Electric Co. | St. Louis, MO. | 1920-present | In 1967 HQ moved to Forth Smith, AR. One-time supplier of motors for Delta Unisaw and Powermatic 66. |
| Bodine Electric Co. | Chicago, IL | 1905-present | Still in business, specializing in very small industrial motors. |
| Brown-Brockmeyer Co. | Dayton, OH | -1929-1981 | |
| Burke Electric Co. | Erie, PA | -1908-1957- | |
| Century Electric Co. | St. Louis, MO | -1910-1993- | By the late 1970s they were owned by Gould Inc., and motors were labeld "Gould/Century". By 1993 the name was Magnetek Century Electric, Inc. |
| Cleveland Electric Motor Co. | Cleveland, OH | -1885-1957- | |
| Crocker-Wheeler Electric Co. | Ampere, NJ | -1888-1936- | Also "Crocker-Wheeler Co.", "Crocker-Wheeler Electric Manufacturing Co.", and "Crocker & Curtis Electric Motor Co." |
| Dayton Fan & Motor Co. | Dayton, OH | -1889-1929 | Also "Day-Fan Electric Co.", which was acquired by General Motors in 1929. |
| Dayton Electric Manufacturing Co. | Niles, IL | | Owned by W. W. Grainger, Inc. |
| Delco Products Corp. | Dayton, OH | -1910-present | Also known as "Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co.", "Delco-Light Co." and "Delco Products, Division of General Motors Corp." |
| Diehl Manufacturing Co. | Elizabeth, NJ; Somerville, NJ | -1909-1958- | By 1965 they were the "Diehl Division of Singer Co., Somerville, NJ" |
| Doerr Electric Corp. | Cedarburg, WI | 1939-1986 | Began as "Electro Machines, Inc." Acquired by W. W. Grainger in 1969, then sold to Emerson in 1986. It is uncertain when the Doerr name disappeared. |
| Emerson Electric Co. | St. Louis, MO; Paris, TN | 1890-present | Originally known as "Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co." They are now a conglomerate. U.S. Electrical Motors, Inc. was acquired in 1962, and now operates as "U. S. Motors". |
| Fairbanks-Morse Electrical Manufacturing Co. | Indiananpolis, IN | -1911-1969- | |
| Galvin Electric Manufacturing Co. | St. Louis, MO | -1925-1931- | |
| General Electric Co. | Schenectady, NY | -1889-present | Was "Edison General Electric Co." until about 1895. From the 1890s, GE battled with Westinghouse to be the dominant motor manufacturer. |
| Hobart Manufacturing Co. | Troy, OH | -1920- | This company is known for their food mixers but they also briefly made AC motors. |
| Holtzer-Cabot Electric Co. | Brookline, MA | 1875-1972 | Began as the "Holtzer Co." in 1875, then became "Seth W. Fuller & Holtzer" in 1880, then "Holtzer & Co." in 1888, then "Holtzer & Cabot" in '89 then "Holtzer & Cabot Electric Co." shortly thereafter. They primarily made smaller motors, 1 HP and under. |
| Hoover Co. | North Canton, OH | 1908-present | By 1945 Hoover had acquired Kingston-Conley, and K-C motors displayed the Hoover logo. It is possible that Hoover made their own motors before the K-C acquisition. |
| Jeannin Electric Co. | Toledo, OH | -1916-1925- | This company is known from patent records. No confirmed motor sightings. |
| Kingston-Conley Electric Co. | Jersey City, NJ; North Plainfield, NJ | -1935-1945? | Acquired by Hoover Co. sometime before 1945. Motors after that time had both Kingston-Conley and Hoover names. |
| Leeson Electric Corp. | Milwaukee, WI | 1972-present | Acquired by Regal-Beloit Corp. in 2000. Acquired Lincoln Motors in 2006. |
| Leland Electric Co. | Dayton, OH | -1926-1951- | There was also a Leland Electric Canada Ltd. |
| Leland Faraday Electric Co. | New York, NY | -1969-1986- | Brand now belongs to Essex Technology, Inc. |
| Lincoln Electric Co. | Cleveland, OH | -1927-2006 | Acquired by Leeson Electric Corp. (Regal-Beloit Corp.) in 2006. |
| Mechanical Appliance Co. | Milwaukee, WI | -1914-1922 | Renamed to Louis Allis Co. in 1922. |
| Marathon Electric Manufacturing Co. | Wausau, WI | 1913-present | Became "Marathon, Inc." at some point. For many years the main motor supplier for Unisaws. |
| Master Electric Co. | Dayton, OH | 1920-1961? | Closed its Dayton plant in 1961. Made some motors for Delta (combo units, e.g.), possibly including some rebadged as Delta. Acquired by Reliance? |
| Ohio Electric & Controller Co. | Cleveland, OH | -1920-1930- | |
| Peerless Electric Co. | Warren, OH | 1893-present | |
| Prestolite-Leland Co. | Sarnia, ON | | Canadian motor maker. The few reported examples are all 1 HP or less. |
| Reliance Electric & Engineering Co. | Cleveland, OH | 1904-2006 | Acquired the Medium AC Motor Division of Westinghouse in 1986. In 1994 Reliance was acquired by Rockwell Automation but continued to operate under the Reliance name. Acquired by Baldor in 2006. |
| Reynolds Electric Co. | Chicago, IL | -1902-1944- | |
| Robbins & Meyers Co. | Springfield, OH | -1893-present | Have seen "Robbins & Meyers Co.", "..., Inc.", "..., Corp.", Supplier for Powermatic 65/66 saws. |
| A. O. Smith Corp. | Milwaukee, WI | 1904-present | A. O. Smith started out making automobile frames. They got into the motor business roughly... In 1986 they Bought Westinghouse's small motor business. In 1999 they bought Magnetek's motor operations. |
| Sterling Electric, Inc. | Irvine, CA | 1927-present | |
| B. F. Sturtevant Co. | Boston, MA | -1902-1945 | The company dates back to 1856 but motor manufacture started about 1902. The company was acquired by Westinghouse Electric in 1945. |
| Sunlight Electrical Manufacturing Co. | Warren, OH | 1917-1919 | This motor manufacturer was very quickly acquired by GE. Their motor designer, Frederick S. Kingston, went on to co-found Kingston-Conley. |
| Triumph Electric Co. | Cincinnati, OH | -1907-1921- | From patent records. No confirmed motor sightings. |
| United States Electrical Manufacturing Co. | Los Angeles, CA | 1908-present | Became the "U.S. Electrical Motors Division of Emerson Electric Co." in 1962. |
| U. S. Industries, Inc. | Los Angeles, CA | -1915-1962 | This maker of AC induction motors became a conglomerate, and around 2004 changed its name to Jacuzzi Brands, Inc. |
| Valley Electric Corp. | St. Louis, MO | -1920-1942- | Original name was "Valley Electric Co." Suffix changed to "Corp." in about 1939. Edwin Ballman co-founded Baldor while he was working at Valley Electric. |
| Wagner Electric Manufacturing Co. | St. Louis, MO | 1891-present | An early motor supplier to Delta. Still in business as "Wagner Lighting Co." |
| Westinghouse Electric Co. | Pittsburgh, PA | 1889-present | Also known was "Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co." and "Westinghouse Electric Corp." GE and Westinghouse were the two biggest makers of electric motors. |
| S. A. Woods Machine Co. | Boston, MA | 1920-1962 | Starting about 1920, S. A. Woods started manufacturing motors for its own use. Their high quality motors were designed for direct drive applications and were also sold to other machinery manufacturers. "The Murray Co." name was used during the war years. In 1961 Yates-American purchased the rights to all of S. A. Woods' products including the motor line. |