Southern Cross in Durban en route to Sydney, Australia. My father’s business venture in Schweizer Reneke did not last long at all and in 1965 he decided to emigrate on his own to Australia to join the rest of his brothers and sisters who had emigrated there from Egypt in the early 1950s. (Rand is the South African currency denomination, internationally demarcated ZAR). The combination cost in the region of Rand 440 at the time. The jointer, a Model 37-220 6 inch was made by Rockwell in Guelph, Canada. The saw, made in Pittsburgh, USA, came complete with motor, fence and mitre gauge but without the saw guard attachment which was an optional extra. To this end, in 1964, he purchased a Rockwell Delta Model 1164, 10 inch Tilting Table Saw and 6 inch Jointer combination from E.W. In 1963/64 he decided to set up a small wood working business in Schweizer Reneke, a small maize farming town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. My First Association with Rockwell Delta Machinery ¶My first association with Rockwell Delta machinery came about indirectly through my late father. My grateful thanks to all those who responded and gave me the leads.įor those interested in the background, I hope you find this story as interesting as I did compiling it. The responses to that letter made this booklet possible. I could not find out much about this nor the circumstances thereof, so I eventually wrote to the Editor of the Eastern Province Herald, the newspaper that serves the Port Elizabeth area, asking for help from anyone who had any information on the Rockwell Delta / Tauco plant in Port Elizabeth.
However there seemed to be some disparity between the USA export Tauco and the South African Tauco. I then discovered that Rockwell Delta actually had a manufacturing plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa at some time and that these machines were also labelled as Tauco. It was only many years later that I found out that Tauco was the export arm of Rockwell Delta USA and that Rockwell Delta machines were exported under that name. I had always wondered why my father’s machine was branded a Rockwell Delta yet in the catalogue, an identical machine-in fact, most of the machines-were labelled as Tauco. It all began with my late father including a 1964 Tarry’s Tool Catalogue inside a crate containing a wood work machine which he shipped to me from Australia. Preface ¶The seed for this booklet was planted in my curiosity many years ago.