The exact point of his transition to inventor and the nature of his education or training in mechanical engineering are unknown.

The charter of the company was quite broad covering possible activities in mining, manufacturing, construction, and development of unspecified inventions, patents and trademarks.

While continuing to develop additional patents, Powell attracted investors to transform his plans into practice.

These investors included such men as C. F. and R. P. Rainey of eastern Montana, substantial land owners and cattlemen, who Powell met in Washington, D.C. in 1919,[5] and later Rexton (Rex) Rainey, the son of C. F. Despite the fact that the elder Rainey brothers had no engineering training, they moved to the Chicago area soon after meeting Powell, financed and set up an experimental machine workshop to transform the designs into actual motors.

Under chief engineer Verner J. Swanson, the company prototyped and experimented with various designs using the Powell Lever approach [6] and made them commercially available in the late 1920s through the 1930s.