International Machine Tool Company During World War Two
International Detrola
Indianapolis, IN
1903-1945

This page added 4-12-2024.

Sometimes things aren't what they seem.  Within a couple of days of completing my page on the Michigan Power Shovel Company of Benton Harbor, MI Mr. Warren Richardson, truck historian, sent me the above photo.  This data plate was from the reverse side of the truck-crane shown in the photo below which I had used on my Michigan Power Shovel Company page.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

The data plate on the side of the crane shows this as a Michigan Power Shovel Company Model TM-16.  Or at least that is what I thought this was.  Some more investigation revealed, as shown in Table 1, that the International Tool Company of Indianapolis, IN was the actual manufacturer of this particular unit.  It was built under contract 33038-AC-9807.  Apparently, the Michigan Power Shovel Company was not able to supply all of the truck cranes required by the USAAF, so it contracted International Tool Company to build them under license.  So as things have worked out, the only photos of the TM-16 I have been able to obtain were not actually built by the original designer and manufacturer of the truck crane, but by another company under license.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Table 1 shows, with the exception of the last three contracts the company was awarded to the company during World War Two, that the company contributed machine tools to help win World War Two.  Late in World War Two, the company's owner purchased the Detrola Corporation of Detroit, MI, which was a manufacturer of radio and electronic equipment.  Soon after the war ended, the electronics portion of the company was sold to a California company.  At the same time, the operation in Indianapolis, IN was closed.  Starting in 1949, the large factory would be utilized for the manufacture of furnaces and air conditioning units.  At some point, the factory was razed, leaving only an empty field where this plant stood for almost a century.

International Tool Company World War Two Products:  The company produced an estimated 200 license-built Michigan TM-16 truck cranes.  Turret lathes are the only machine tool that the historical record notes that the company produced to help win World War Two.

The average cost of a crane of this type was $8,000.  Therefore, the estimated number of Michigan TM-16 cranes built under license by International Machine Tool Company was 200. 

It is unknown for what the two Army Transportation Corps contracts for Propulsion Units were actually used.  The Transportation Corps operated both trucks and water craft during World War Two.  The term propulsion unit sounds like it might have been for a water craft.  This is the first time I have seen this term in contract listings. 

Photo 1:  The International Machine Tool Company's crane is mounted on a Biederman Motors Company P-1 chassis.  Whether the crane was built by Michigan Power Shovel Company or the International Machine Tool Company, all were mounted on the Biederman chassis.  This photo shows the P-1 circa 1990-2000 when it was placed into storage in this field in Williamson, NY.  Make note of this photo for the Warren Richardson truck crane rescue narrative below.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

This is the same area in 2020.  Mother Nature has reclaimed the area that was left unattended along with the P-1 truck crane.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

In this image two data plates can be seen.  The top one identifies it as a Michigan TM-16 while the bottom data plate is the one shown previously with the International Machine Tool Company name on it.   Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

This is the data plate from the Biederman P-1.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

This enlarged image of the data plate reveals that the date built was 10-9-1944.  Table 1 indicates that the International Machine Tool Company was not contracted to build the TM-16 Cranes until April 1944.  There is a mismatch between the two dates.  Either Biederman finished the truck in October 1945 or the date of contract 33038-AC-9807 is incorrect.  I have seen this in other instances where the contract dates do not match the actual manufacturing dates.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Warren Richardson Truck Crane Rescue Narrative:  There was an adventure in pulling out from a New York woods this historic Biederman truck and International Machine Tool Company-built Michigan TM-16 Crane.  Below is Warren Richardson's narrative of the adventure.  Ken is Ken Ochenkowski, owner of the P-1.

"It goes like this: 

Someone posted a photo of the Biederman truck crane on Facebook in about 2020. He said the photo was taken in Williamson, NY (attached below). The person who posted it did not indicate if the photo was recent or old. Ken attempted to contact the person who posted the photo with a private message for weeks with no success. So Ken took to studying Williamson, NY by Google maps on satellite view. Over time he got to know the layout of Williamson and what spots looked promising. A couple of months passed and Ken purchased a small LeRoi engine in the Hornell, NY area. I went with Ken to go and pick up the engine and also to take a ride to Williamson (it was only about 50 miles out of our way) and see what there was to see. We spent 3 hours in Williamson driving around. When we saw someone we stopped and spoke to them. We talked to a man who was picking up a car from the '50s and loading it onto a trailer. He didn't recognize the photo but took Ken's number and said he'd make inquiries. He knew old car people. We stopped and talked to a man who suggested that we try a couple of spots where he thought he'd seen an old crane. That didn't work out. We stopped at an apple barn and spoke to a couple of workers. A spot across the street looked like the background in the photo. They had pallets of thousands of apples - it's apple country. One of the younger workers said he'd talk to his friend who knew "every old car in town and everyone who liked old vehicles". He took Ken's number. After driving around for 3 hours we gave up and headed south to Hornell. About 1/2 hour out Ken's phone rang. The kid who knew everyone called and said he spoke with his buddy and gave Ken a number to call. He had found the crane! Ken called the number and reached Tom - the crane's owner - and Tom said he was standing in his back yard looking at the crane. "Come on over!". So we turned around and met Tom in Williamson. Turned out the crane was on one of the properties that Ken thought was promising, but after we drove by we ruled it out because we thought that we'd see the crane boom. The crane was in the back of the property in a hollow (relative to the road) and still in the position of the original photo which had been taken 20 or 25 years before. It was covered in vines and tall trees had grown up around it. So we met Tom and "the negotiation" took place. 21 hours after we'd left Ken's yard we returned home. It was a long, but successful trip. On the next subsequent trip we pulled the crane out towards the street after turning the house, lowering the boom and removing the outer section. We brought the boom back with some smaller parts (outrigger pads etc.) on a trailer behind Ken's pickup. The next trip we took Ken's Kenworth tractor and a 50-Ton detachable lowbed and brought the crane back to CT.

I left something of importance out of my story - the owner Tom - yanked on the truck crane with his Case? backhoe while Ken pulled on it with a cable through a 2-part block and tackle with his pickup truck. I'm sure that the backhoe did a large part of the pulling. The backhoe outriggers took quite a beating as well.

Warren"

Below are images from the P-1 rescue.

This is how the Mr. Ochenkowski and Mr. Richardson found the P-1 when they returned to rescue it.  This is the same area is shown above and labeled Photo 1. The area was left unattended and Mother Nature very quickly began reclaiming the empty field.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Some of thearea has been cleared to allow them to get to the truck.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

As is normal for a truck stored outside over long periods of time, the wheels have sunken into the earth.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

Success!!!  Out of the woods and loaded onto the new owner's low-boy trailer.  Photo courtesy of Warren Richardson.

The International Machine Tool Plant:  The plant was located at 1124 West 21st Street, Indianapolis, IN.

When I went to this address on Google Maps, all I found was this empty field where the plant used to stand. 

This Google Maps satellite view shows the same empty field. 

This 1949 aerial photo shows what the plant looked like during World War Two.  Once International Machine Tool Company moved out right after World War Two, the plant stood empty until purchased by Bryant. 

This 1956 Sanborn Map image shows the plant configuration at that time. 

Excerpts from "Handbook of Instructions with Parts Catalog for Model P-1 Mobile Truck Crane":  Because the International Machine Tool Company-built Michigan Power Shovel Company TM-16 mobile crane is such an unknown, I have included the following pages from the manual to give the reader a more in-depth understanding of this truck.  This is T. O. No. 19-40-12 dated 5 March 1945.

This is the top view of the control box.

This is the side view of the control box.