In the very early 1940's, Richard Louis Schmitt (R.L.) worked for Lincoln
Park Industries. Lincoln Park was a very large, technically oriented "job
shop" that produced anything and everything. During the war (WWII), Lincoln
Park played a very important part in the war effort. Besides the many simple
"tool & die" items, Lincoln Park experimented with various materials, one of
which was Tungsten Carbide. As the story goes, "R.L." was grinding cutting
tools by hand and he was asked to make different shapes of carbide burrs for
various applications and that's exactly what he did. At that time he didn't
think much of it, but eventually those shapes became "standards" in the
industry. These shapes - round, cone, flame, tapered, ball - can be seen in
our older literature, as well as in everyone else's!
During this period, everyone at Lincoln Park did what was necessary to get
the jobs done and R.L. Schmitt was no different. He eventually had done most
jobs including some machine grinding, gage lapping, engineering, sales and
delivery of the finished product. He saw what people were using in different
shops and decided that he would be able to meet some of their requirements.
He formed a partnership with a couple of other fellows to produce carbide
cutting tools and gages. Unfortunately, that partnership eventually soured
when he found his partners skimming money from the business. It was shortly
thereafter, during the year of 1947, that he started R.L. Schmitt Company.
The location was in the garage behind his house in Allen Park.
R.L. Schmitt started with a couple of bench grinders and the memory of those
special shaped burrs from Lincoln Park industries. His first employee was
Lyle Smith, a short, gentle man that had always been the brunt of practical
jokes. R.L. gave him a job with the promise that he would never be without
work and R.L. kept his promise - Lyle worked for the company until his
retirement in 1977.
As the R.L. Schmitt Company grew, so did the need for space. The garage was
soon outgrown and the equipment was moved into a rented portion of a
building in Wyandotte. As it continued to grow, R.L. eventually took the
plunge and bought a building in Allen Park on Roosevelt Road. This 1500
square foot building eventually was added onto until it reached an
unbelievable size of 2800 square feet!
In 1962 R.L. Schmitt Company became "incorporated" and R.L. Schmitt's eldest
son, Rick, began working along side his father. During this time, Rick
attended night school for various engineering classes to become more
knowledgeable in his field. As his children aged, each of R.L.'s additional
sons began working "at the shop" during the summers. These summers become
"after school" and eventually "after graduation" as well. However, there was
another war - Viet Nam. Christopher and Mark Schmitt end up drafted into the
Army and were called to duty. Both ended up in Southeast Asia and,
fortunately, neither one was injured. Both came home, safe, sound, and tan!
The years were 1970 & 1971.
Bruce Schmitt, the middle son, didn't get called to duty with the military
but instead was able to go to college. He eventually returned to the shop in
1971 and the 2800 square foot building was full of machines and Schmitts! It
was getting time to grow again. In 1977, an effort was made to find a
suitable place to move the business. Allen Park did not have any "Industrial
Parks" so the decision was made to build in Livonia. By 1979, a new building
had been constructed and things were rolling. In 1980 Paul Schmitt, the
youngest, joined the company as a full time fixture and now there were six
Mr. Schmitt's! It was very practical and efficient to have a "Schmitt" in
every key area of the business and this personal involvement helped give
every customer exactly what he wanted.
However, in 1986 Rick Schmitt decided he would like to do something on his
own as well as closer to his home. It was at that time he purchased Rotary
Tool Company in Romulus, renaming it Riverside Tool and Cutter. R.L. simply
gave him the equipment used in making cutting tools and turned R.L. Schmitt
Company's emphasis over to gages and drill bushings. Shortly after, in 1989
Christopher Schmitt also decided to go on his own. He saw a potential in the
engraving tool business and also began dabbling in poultry processing with
his second company, Frankenmuth Poultry/Snowbird Farms.
Still focusing on gaging, in 1992 R.L. Schmitt Company bought a brand new
Federal Products Form Scan. This ultra high precision inspection machine
moved our gage inspection abilities into the 21st century! Also looking into
the future, R.L. made the difficult decision to retire. His desire was to
spend more time at his cabin in northern Michigan. After 50 years in the
carbide tooling and gage business he deserved some peace and quiet time to
relax. He left his business in the capable hands of his three sons Bruce,
Mark and Paul.