John Bertham and Son Co LTD - Anyone?

[Fasttrack]

Anyone heard of John Bertham and Son Co LTD? Out of Dundas Ontario, maybe?

I'm eye balling a shaper made by these folks, but I never heard of them before. The seller didn't provide very much information on the machine itself, just the name. Unfortunantly, I know very little about shapers in general, let alone specific makes, but the best way to learn is to jump on in, right?

"Bertham No 11710"

[JCHannum]

Is it possible that it is an equipment tag for John Bertham? The rather high number is not what you would expect for a machine number. They are usually easier to remember, like 3. I doubt there were Bertham No. 11709 and No.11711 shapers.

Most manufacturers did cast their name into something on the machine, but it might not be aparent, or accessible. Equipment tags or dealer tags sometimes get confused with manufacturers tags.

The shaper looks like a good fit with your other machines.

[jimmstruk]

A friend of mine has a Bertram lathe made in Canada, so I suspect a shaper could have been made by the same people. Just a guess? JIM

[jimmstruk]

OOPS the spelling might be different (of the names) Sorry JIM

[jimmstruk]

Hey , Fastrack, I went and looked at the Bertram lathe to make sure I knew what I am talking about. The lathe was made by John Bertram & Sons, Dundas Ont Canada, this all cast into the machine. Sooo might be same company. There may be some interesting history with this company, as the lathe I am am acquainted with is pretty good size machine with many options that I have not seen on other lathes. JIM

[Fasttrack]

Ahh... Betram - ok. In the ad. it was spelled first as "Bertram" and later as "John Bertham and Sons". I assumed the first was just a typo. I'll see if I can dig anything up on Bertram, instead. I thought the high number was strange, too. Maybe it's a serial number or ... ?


Good news! I was able to find some information on Bertram machines. They made some real monsterous, including a 48" stroke shaper! Apparently it was a tool and die manufacturer way back when. It was bought out by Niles-Bement-Pond in 1905 but continued to produce machines under the company name for the Canadian market. They are very similiar to Niles machines, apparently.