Not sure that your Yale mark isn't for a bike. Here is an excerpt from a website about Davis, either way it can't date from any later then 1924 when I think they were bought out.
The Davis Company built their first bicycles in 1892. Initially, they made bikes for other companies and hardware stores. The first year bicycles were produced under the name "Dayton" was 1895.
By 1897 Davis was the largest manufacturer of bikes in the United States. Davis produced top notch bikes with very fine finishes. All the bikes were produced in the same color, a carmine red. In 1897 the Dayton bikes had a leather tool box suspended form the frame. The tool box had an apron the unfolded from the bottom of the box and contained an oil can, adjustable wrench, hand pump and tire repair kit. This toolbox was the forerunner of the horn tank that appeared on later bikes. In the late 1890's Dayton produce a shaft drive bike with a dual shaft on each side. In 1899 the Davis Company introduced the "Dayton Special" with spherical hubs and crank hanger. Davis showcased their bike by sponsoring a racing team from 1895 to 1921. Bobby Walthour became national champion on a Dayton bike in 1920. A 1902 advertisement featured the Czar of Russia riding a Dayton. In 1897, U.S. bike manufacturers built 2,000,000 bikes which dropped to 250,487 units in 1904.
In spite of these tough times, the Davis Company thrived. In 1916 Davis purchased the Yale and Snell lines from the Consolidated Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio. Davis also purchased the "National" line of bikes from the National Bicycle Company of Bay City, Michigan. Davis kept the National head badge changing only the name of the city in which the bikes were built. Davis even kept painting the bikes the National blue color. Dayton manufactured motorcycles from 1914 through 1918. Bikes began to take on the look of their motorized cousins. They had an extra top tube, truss rods on the forks, extra long handlebars and sometimes a "gas tank" fitted between the top tubes. One 1913 model was the Three Arch-Truss Roadster which used three braces between the main tube. Dayton also had a spring fork, which replaced the fender with a leaf spring and pivoted where the fork met the head tube, on some 1912-1913 models. The 1914-1915 "Chief" model was painted red, had an ornate head badge and the name "Chief" engraved in the pedals.
In 1916 George Gorman of the Davis Company acquired a patent for a self-contained motor to be fitted to a bike. The "Gorman Motor Wheel" slip over the front forks and had a throttle that attached to the handlebars. It was built through 1918. Davis also produced bikes under the names of Duro, Dixie Flyer, LaFrance, Daytonia, Shrayer, Ohio, Shapleish Hardware, Western Auto and Western Flyer.
Let us know about the gold!
