The Woodwind Company, founded in 1919, was managed early on by Eugene Bercioux, a French native living in New York City. Bercioux' name is on U.S. Patent No. 1,452,953, granted in 1923, for a mouthpiece facing machine. The patent number appears on many WWCo mouthpiece blanks.

The Steel Ebonite tradename, much like C.G. Conn's Steelay tradename, referred to an extra-hard rubber compound. It is not known whether it contained steel shavings, altho it has been compared to bakelite and may have contained same. Once Leblanc took over the WWCo trademarks it was renamed Steelite Ebonite.

Types B, C (solo jazz), D, G, and K (section lead) were all available for clarinet. G was the favorite symphonic model, but was also used at least briefly by Benny Goodman.

Types B, C, D, G, K, and N were available for saxophone. C was the jazz alto model, N the jazz tenor.

Tip openings ranged from 4 to at least 9 (perhaps 10), including starred numbers 4*, 5*, etc.

The B series was apparently the working pro favorite in the 1930s, but by the '50s it was the K.

WWCo also did models like the '36, the Meliphone (straight sidewalls, steel shank band), the Sparkle-aire (brighter sound), and the Educator (student model), as well as "player endorsed" models for Dick Stabile, Chester Hazlett, Robert Marcellus, and Joe Crossman. Stabile's pieces were Meliphone K5s.

There were also WWCo metal pieces, mostly for tenor apparently. I missed out on purchasing one recently, but they're said to be as good as the others. The blanks were used by other makers as well.

WWCo facings sometimes appear on other makers' mpcs, too. You could go to their NY shop and have refacing done, and they would stamp the table like one of their own pieces.

WWCo sold out to Leblanc in 1968.