The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
- Thread starter mjozefow
- Start date
My Dawn's really tight
LOL,
No wall cabinets near my bed
RTM
Well-known member
Not a toolbox, obviously, but I snagged this Excelsior key at the flea market this morning on the "ya never know" principle...
..., as in ya never know if it will fit a toolbox with an Excelsior latch missing its key, such as this Hinsdale master mechanics set box!
Always buy those suckers. If it fits in the slot, a competent locksmith might be able to make it work, or how to DIY.
I always flip through piles of flat keys like those just in case one comes close.
Here is one ref catalog for the Remline chest… She is nice to, Man.
Rem Line : Tool Chests, Roller Cabinets, Tool Boxes : Model Industries Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
12 p., illus. 27.9 cm, trade catalogarchive.org
I just put that into rotation as a mobile hand tool cart. I really like the multiple drawers but I also like the little AMDco mechanic on the older handles because that’s what my gramps had.
Nutria
Well-known member
I posted this Penncraft yesterday over at the JC Penney thread, but I guess that it belongs here too.
Not original paint, unfortunately. It didn't come with a push handle, so I added one using rivnuts. Someone had welded caster brackets to the bottom, which had to be ground off before I could replace them. Slides and lock mechanism were good; just had to replace the lock. The rollaway works well for me. I use it for my wood turning tools. Solid little box, made by Waterloo, I think.
Not original paint, unfortunately. It didn't come with a push handle, so I added one using rivnuts. Someone had welded caster brackets to the bottom, which had to be ground off before I could replace them. Slides and lock mechanism were good; just had to replace the lock. The rollaway works well for me. I use it for my wood turning tools. Solid little box, made by Waterloo, I think.
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jeffmoss26
Well-known member
That’s a pretty common precut keyNot a toolbox, obviously, but I snagged this Excelsior key at the flea market this morning on the "ya never know" principle...
..., as in ya never know if it will fit a toolbox with an Excelsior latch missing its key, such as this Hinsdale master mechanics set box!
It doesn't but, ya never know..., so into the small odds and ends drawer it goes.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
@Private Lugnutz what # are you looking for? it shoud on on the lock somewhere
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
"Looking" is too strong of a term. I am hoping to find the Excelsior key to the Excelsior center latch on that Hinsdale carry box I posted above. So when I see precut flat keys, I always flip through them to see if they're Excelsior, and if they have the basic shape, I buy them and try them. There is no number on the latch. And it's not the kind of box or goal where I am going to do research to figure it out. Not a high priority.
ssjones
Well-known member
We recently moved from MD to Louisiana. We had a 1980's grandfather clocked shipped with our goods, that is my home pride & joy (US made Ridgeway cherry corner clock, I replaced the movement two years ago). I carefully packed the pendulum and weights and locked the glass door. When we unpacked, one of the first things I did was to setup the clock. Neither my wife or I could remember where we put the key. A few weeks later, my wife found a set of key rings that belonged to her grandfather. One of the skeleton keys fit the clock! So yep, you never know.Not a toolbox, obviously, but I snagged this Excelsior key at the flea market this morning on the "ya never know" principle...
..., as in ya never know if it will fit a toolbox with an Excelsior latch missing its key, such as this Hinsdale master mechanics set box!
It doesn't but, ya never know..., so into the small odds and ends drawer it goes.
My Dad designed the Rem Line and Power Kraft boxes from about 1977 - 1997. I worked at the Yorkville IL factory (assembly, warehouse, spot welding) for a couple summers and Christmas breaks. So at least one of us may have had something to do with your roller cabinets or chests. I have a 6 drawer chest from the 70s that's still in great shape.
Nutria
Well-known member
Outstanding. Images and tales, please! Should be super informative.
I will share a few memories. Dad died of Covid in 2020 so I don't have him to tap into.
My father started at Advertising Metal Displays in Cicero, IL in 1957 and moved out to Model Industries in Yorkville, IL in 1977. Both were owned by the same man at that time, Lou Krueger (hope I spelled that right). Dad was the designer of their tool boxes from 1977 until retiring in 1997. He was a self-taught engineer with a high school degree from Crane Tech in Chicago. I posted some background and info about his US Patent in the Advertising Metal and Rem Line thread.
The name "Model Industries" for the Yorkville facility was a hope for a more modern, "model" of a manufacturing plant.... I am guessing it was built in the early-mid 1970s.
It changed hands a couple of times in the 1980s and 1990s (Lyon Metal owned them for a bit). Now the building is something called the "Aurora Specialty Textiles Group."
They cranked out small boxes, tool chests, and roller cabinets for the most part. Their own brand was Rem Line and they also made them for Montgomery Ward for quite a few years - from what I recall the differences were cosmetic.
Coiled steel came in one side of the building, was cut/punched/bent/welded/painted/riveted/assembled in the middle and warehoused/shipped out the other side. When I worked there in the late 1970s, everything was painted red or grey, with sometimes red or grey drawers contrasting with the box color. It was a non-union place.
They ran one shift, 5 days a week, one assembly line of the painted parts. Usually ran one type of box each day, more of the Rem Line than Montgomery Ward styles. If I had to guess, I would say more than 500 units of the roller cabinets or chests per day, more of the small boxes?
The largest roller cabinet was 120 lbs and it got tiring to wrestle onto skids all day - but I was a lot younger and stronger then. Got really hot in the summer, with large fans positioned in the factory. I was not a great forklift driver....
In the 1990s, they also made medical carts for Armstrong medical, which were modified roller cabinets. It was Dad's one "sales account", as they only wanted to deal with him for design, changes, and prices. To this day, when I am in an older part of a hospital in the Chicago area, I often see one of his all-steel units. The medical staff acts like they believe me when I say "my father designed that," but I'm sure not all of them do. Armstrong's catalog shows steel and aluminum ones now.
It was a great summer job, back in the days when you could pay for half of college with a full-time summer/Christmas job. And I got to hang out with my Dad for about 90 minutes in the car each day, which I now realize was priceless.
The picture below is of my 6 drawer chest that my father gave me in the mid 1980s. Ironically, the Rem Line logo got broken off in a move, so I taped one my father's old business cards to it.
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Nutria
Well-known member
That is a remarkable contribution, thank you. Sorry to hear that you lost your father in that first bad year of covid. Awesome that you have all of those commute memories.
Folks here will love to read anything you want to post about this history-- priceless, really.
d42jeep
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Great story!
Absolutely!Does my Powr-Kraft box look to you like it was designed by your dad?
-Don
Really taxing my memory now. When I worked in the warehouse for a summer, I recall orders from distributors for hardware stores and auto parts stores. Not the national chains, I don't think. Sorry - It has been over 40 years since I was there.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
That makes sense, the national chains would have them branded to them.
Thank you for posting!
Love hearing these stories from those that were there or had relatives that were. we get a few and its always great to get that perspective. All too often we talk about these companies, and it's too easy to forget the people behind them, both at the top and in the trenches, doing.
Thank you for posting!
Love hearing these stories from those that were there or had relatives that were. we get a few and its always great to get that perspective. All too often we talk about these companies, and it's too easy to forget the people behind them, both at the top and in the trenches, doing.
alinc100
Well-known member
To my eye it looks like you'd need a key shaped similar to this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2950872127...hQsfk+32DrJgU69Yde9zZEM5BHm9QMnhnmx/shfEjqMI= but that's just a guess and I look at every ES for keys whenever possible.Not a toolbox, obviously, but I snagged this Excelsior key at the flea market this morning on the "ya never know" principle...
..., as in ya never know if it will fit a toolbox with an Excelsior latch missing its key, such as this Hinsdale master mechanics set box!
It doesn't but, ya never know..., so into the small odds and ends drawer it goes.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Thanks for the suggestion, Andy. I really don't know. I really should get more serious than "hope to find the right one by trial and error", I suppose, but I don't even know where to start without any number or documentation. Here's a better pic. And I'll tag @jeffmoss26 again.
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
I agree with Andy it is a "Cross" type flat key; No clue how many variants Excelsior made, but it can't be too many...
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Hole in the tray indicates military - Oil can spout hole - Someone more knowledgeable should be able to pin down the maker.
d42jeep
Well-known member
A picture of the interior of the box would probably be helpful. Could be Union.
-Don
-Don
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Hi Don,A picture of the interior of the box would probably be helpful. Could be Union.
-Don
Here is a photo of the inside of mine - the tray supports seem to match yours.
I'm also including a photo showing (if you look carefully and squint a bit) the place where a rectangular decal used to be. It looks to be in the same location as the decal that is on your box. Looks like mine is a Union. Thank you for the help Don and Outlawmws (and from Lugz' info farther back in this thread, now that I know what this is).
Mine is 21" wide, 7.5" tall (to peak) and 8.75" wide (at the very widest point).
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Found another one at the same store that did not come home with me. It was a different color, about 1 inch longer and had full width tray supports, a circle on the front, no oil spout tray holes, and no external corner reinforcement pieces.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
Yours has TWO oiler holes in the tray--like my unidentified box:This one look familiar to anyone? I can't find any markings on it.
Corner reinforcement looks the same, too.
It seems these larger double-oiler boxes aren't common and are somewhat uncertain as to just what they are.
Nutria
Well-known member
Cool-- a File-Eze file handle.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Those embossed rectangular tabs for the handles, two on each lid, are the easiest Union tell. None of the other known wartime mfgrs (Hamilton, McAleer, or Waterloo) did that. There are other means of ID (number of hinge elements, corner feet, tray handle, etc), but those tabs are foolproof.
Smokeshow69
Well-known member
This box has the same green as an early 30’s Montgomery ward tool box color. And the round stamping is a match for their logo. I’m fairly certain this is MW.Found another one at the same store that did not come home with me. It was a different color, about 1 inch longer and had full width tray supports, a circle on the front, no oil spout tray holes, and no external corner reinforcement pieces.
four.cycle
Well-known member
Yours has TWO oiler holes in the tray--like my unidentified box:
Love the coleman lantern mantles
Classic
