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James Corbett
1911 - 1920

Hill Machinery Co. was originated by a Mr. James Corbett in 1911. He named it "Hill" because it was located at 415 Lafayette Avenue, N. E. and that area was and TETIT is referred to as the "Hill District." The automobile was in its infancy and often required parts from brakes to pistons. There were a great number of manufacturers, each with his own ideas, and spare parts were not readily available in that era. Mr. Corbett was an excellent machinist and could make most any part required and had the machinery to do so. Just prior to and during World War I, he made tapered machine arbors, large fluted drills, rotary milling machine cutters etc. There were no specialty shops in that period and raw materials were machined, heat treated and ground in his small crowded shop of 3300 square feet. Mr. Corbett expired shortly after selling to Al Brechting in 1920.

Al Brechting was a large man, 250 Ibs., 6'4". He was of a German extraction, his mother and father both emigrated from the Westphalia area of Germany. His father and brother made farm wagons which bore their name. Al started a machinist apprenticeship at Leitelt Iron Works, which was at that time located on the East bank of the Grand River. He was 15 years old. All early industries were located on river banks as the only source of power was water, by which Leitelt was originally powered. In those days, the 4th of July was a great day of celebration and many people had small black powder cannons which they fired along with fireworks (I have three). After one year, Al made himself a 1" bore cannon on his own time. The boss accused him of making it on company time which angered Al to such a degree that he quit. He then started an apprenticeship at the Fox Typewriter Co., located on the West bank of the Grand River just South of the 6th Street Bridge. Later this became the Allen Calculator Company, which made typewriters and calculators. Fox made typewriters and some metal working machines, perhaps more milling machines than others. Al completed that apprenticeship in 1905 for which he received a small manual on operating a lathe. I have that book.

In reminiscing to myself of his early life, I drew a conclusion that there were periods of depression in the machinist and die making trades and he moved from job to job because of lack of work, better pay or for a new experience. He often said he hired out as a die maker or a machinist or whatever position was available, never staying long at one place. In 1920, Al employed himself to Hill Machinery and shortly thereafter, he and a Mr. Ray Stevens bought Mr. Corbett out. Mr. Corbett was in ill health and died shortly thereafter. Al thought highly of Ray and often told me he was the best and brightest machinistdie maker he ever knew. Unfortunately, Ray had two problems, whiskey and women, the former getting the best of him. After two years, Al bought Ray out and Ray moved to Detroit. They still remained friends.

During those early days, Al did general machine work; made molds then for the (new) storage batteries; dies and special machines. Probition being in force, many people made their own beer and Al developed a bottle washer to rinse and flush the yeast sediment from the bottle. He also made a bottle capper. From these items, he made a few dollars. A local shop copied the bottle washer, a price war developed and no one made money.

While working around the country, Al met a man by the name of John Warren. John was truly a genious and was employed by several automobile companies to do research and development work for them. He thought highly of Al and gave him all the work within the capacity of his machines„ Remember, the automobile was in a rapid and ever changing development stage and Al made several prototype "self starters" (electric starters) for John. For several years he did a great deal of work for Reo Motor Car Co. of Lansing, Michigan, per John's design. Reo spent a princely sum on development of a self adjusting tappet which in that period were noisy and required constant adjustment. In 1935, Reo produced at least one car with an automatic transmission. I know, because I rode in one from Lansing to Grand Rapids. I knew and greatly admired John Warren.

Shortly before World War II, John was hired by Michigan Wheel to design machines to produce a better propeller and improve their foundry procedure. Hill built the machines. Shortly after this, he was employed by Federal Mogul Marine. All during the war John was employed in torpedo boat design. After the war, he was designing (Hill was building) a machine to cut the "pitch" on cast propellers. In 1946, John Warren passed away and Federal Mogul dropped the project. I devoted this much describing Mr. Warren because of his help to Hill Machinery Co. and in the short time I knew him we developed a close friendship and I greatly admired him.

In the years prior to World War II, Al Brechting also made dies and general repairs and was expert on making gears. During the war, Hill made small parts for machines that General Motors was making.

I, Don VandenBos, Sr., went to work at Hill in 1940 for $o55 an hour, which I considered good at that time. Mr. Brechting showed a great deal of interest in my well-being and made every effort to teach me the knowledge he had acquired. I admired Al in every way and my gratitude for him is beyond my ability to describe.

In February, 1942, I joined the U. S. Navy and I was discharged October 19, 1945, a few days later went back to work for Al. Business was pretty tough as the "war work" was over and many machine shops had started during the war. We fared quite well on making small dies and doing repair work and some special machines for Allen Calculator Company. Al Brechting passed on in 1949 and I, Don VandenBos, Sr., aquired the business from his widow, Mary. He did not marry until in his mid forties and they had no children.

I continued to do the same kind of work, but along with it, I started to make aluminum permanent molds at which time there were three foundries in Grand Rapids using them; there are none now. In April, 1953, Bernie Siehling went to work for me until he entered the U. S. Army that same year. He was discharged in 1956, at which time he immediately came back to work at Hill Machinery.

Still making permanent molds and having some rather large volume production work, we needed larger quarters. In 1956, I purchased a cinder block building at 632 Crofton St., S. E. After 5 years, we added an addition to it and in 1966, we erected an 8,000 square foot metal building at 704 Crofton St., S. E. In 1984, we put on an additional 8,400 square foot addition.

Around 1958, aluminum permenent molding faded away and we made small stamping dies, machine repair, production machining and whatever else fitted our talents and machinery. Around 1962, we began building special purpose machines and since that time, it has been our largest source of income.