In 1877, Joseph Jeffrey, an Ohio bank executive and founder of the Commercial National Bank, happened by chance to view a crude model of a machine invented by Francis M. Lechner. The machine was designed to undercut coal seams in coal mines. It was the very first undercutting device and was known as a “chain breast cutter.” It worked on a principle similar to that of a chain saw: a cutter bar, thirty inches wide, was forced into the bottom of the rock face. After each cut, the bar was hauled straight out and the process repeated. The machine was a remarkable innovation for coal mining and proved to be the first commercially successful coal cutting machine.​

Jeffrey was so impressed with Lechner’s new device, that he sold his banking interest and acquired controlling interest in the Lechner Company. From that time on, it enjoyed a healthy and rapid growth. In 1887, the company was reorganized as the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, with Jeffrey as President and General Manager. Eventually, the company became the largest manufacturer of mining machinery in the world, including chain, elevating, conveying, screening, and pulverizing machinery. It also controlled the Ohio Malleable Iron Company of Columbus, manufacturers of elevator buckets and castings. Jeffrey personally perfected a number of devices connected with his undercutting coal mining machines and mining drills.​

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