Get FinancingDigging Deeper With Ditch Witch
Few companies in the construction industry have a more dominant presence than Perry, Oklahoma-based Ditch Witch. This company, with its iconic witch-riding-a-shovel logo, effectively pioneered the field of underground construction in the middle of the 20th century. Today, the market leader manufactures a variety of blaze-orange trenching, directional drilling, vacuum excavation, vibratory plowing, trenchless, and mini-skid-steer equipment for a wide range of applications, from fiber and utility installation to demolition, repair and maintenance, environmental cleanup, and more.
A Modest Start
Although Ditch Witch was founded in 1949, a German immigrant named Carl Frederick Malzahn established the company’s precursor, the Malzahn Blacksmith Shop, back in 1902. When Carl’s sons Gus and Charlie took over in 1913, they renamed the business Malzahn Brothers’ General Blacksmithing. In 1928, Gus passed away, and Charlie renamed the company yet again, to Charlie’s Machine Shop, relocating in the process. In 1944, Charlie’s son Edwin joined the business as a mechanical engineer and inventor.
In 1947, Ed created the Geronimo, a kind of zip line trolley with a manual brake allowing a worker in the crow’s nest of an oil derrick to quickly and safely make it back to the ground in the event of an emergency. They’re still in use today. Another of Ed’s innovations, dubbed the “Sky Witch,” was a portable scissor lift, though this idea never quite left the ground.
Just Scratching The Surface
In 1948, compelled by the sight of workmen digging a trench using primitive picks and shovels, Ed set his sights on miniaturizing the trenchers used for sewers and pipelines so that they could be used in residential applications; Ed thought his biggest customers would be plumbers. The secret sauce that made the Ditch Witch Power (DWP) Service Line Trencher capable of digging a 30-inch deep trench 6-inches wide at a walking pace was the planetary gearbox, which predated variable-speed motors and hydraulics. The DWP went on sale in 1949 for $750. Between 1957 and 1990, Ditch Witch made 25,000 trenchers, many of which are still operating today. That’s also why the company still makes parts for them. Recognizing the machine’s historical significance in 2002, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers named the DWP a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Fortune magazine has also listed the trencher in the top hundred best products made in the United States.
A Groundbreaker In The Industry
In 1958, Charles Machine Works incorporated, and Charlie and Ed became equal partners. Later that year, the company opened its first international Ditch Witch branch, in Australia. By the late ‘60s, Ditch Witch counted utilities, telecoms, cable companies, government agencies, and general contractors among its customer base. Today, 1,300 workers are employed at a 30-acre manufacturing plant on the Charles Machine Works campus near Perry. The company currently manufacturers a range of underground construction equipment including trenchers, vibratory plows, horizontal drilling systems, drill pipe, downhole tools, vacuum excavation systems, fluid management systems, and mini-skid-steers, most or all of which you’ll find for sale on MachineryTrader.com.
