It wasn’t too long before he came up with the first reversible meat grinder plate with a locking bushing. This allowed the customer twice the life before the plate needed sharpening. The combination of reversible plates and disposable inserts were a big success in the industry. In those early days Speco didn’t manufacture the product, just stocked inventory and sales. It was all operating out of a private home in Chicago.

Some time in the early 1930’s, Mr. Dieckmann’s grandson Charles William Hess started helping out in the business. The two worked well together and as time evolved Charles took over. Charles was a very mechanically minded person. He started focusing on manufacturing the product. Soon he acquired a lathe and drill press, and set them up in the garage. Things were going so great that in 1942, Charles had to hire a secretary and bookkeeper.

In 1946 the Specialty Manufacturer and Sales Company was incorporated and shortened to Speco. Trying to run a manufacturing business out of a residential home in the city just wasn’t going to last. Around 1950 the city and neighbors told Charles he must move! When he purchased a 3,000 square foot building in Schiller Park, west of Chicago, all that was out there were tomato farms and dirt roads.

Speco was the first manufacturer in the United States to use an alloy steel high in chromium and carbon that would be far superior to anything on the market (Triumph).

In 1957 Speco set another industry precedent by designing and building the first automated four spindle drill press. It was such a new design it consisted of a metal template with low voltage contacts, it also was patented. With this higher production it brought costs down and quality up. Rendering plates with more precisely drilled holes, fewer broken drills, and more equally spaced holes. The more accurate the spacing of holes on the plate, the greater the overall strength ofthe product.

Click here to continue with Speco's history...