Jay__Dub
Well-known member
It's a beauty. Congrats!
The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
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Sorry for your loss, great find.
@TattooMike, sorry for your loss. You **** for the boxes!
Mintgrun
Well-known member
Here's a mystery-box that's been on FB marketplace for weeks @ $20, with no takers. The photos are crappy, which probably doesn't help. It's an odd hip-top flip-front combination that I haven't seen before, with pullout drawers that don't have glides. I've zoomed in on the photo showing the label and enhanced it a bit, attempting to bring out more detail.
It looks like a previous owner brazed a series of nuts in a row to accept their corresponding sockets.
Does anyone recognize the maker? (I'm not going to be the buyer).
Tom
It looks like a previous owner brazed a series of nuts in a row to accept their corresponding sockets.
Does anyone recognize the maker? (I'm not going to be the buyer).
Tom
d42jeep
Well-known member
New Britain.
-Don
-Don
Mintgrun
Well-known member
Yes! Thanks Don. That didn't take long. 
Smokeshow69
Well-known member
That isn’t a veryHere's a mystery-box that's been on FB marketplace for weeks @ $20, with no takers. The photos are crappy, which probably doesn't help. It's an odd hip-top flip-front combination that I haven't seen before, with pullout drawers that don't have glides. I've zoomed in on the photo showing the label and enhanced it a bit, attempting to bring out more detail.
It looks like a previous owner brazed a series of nuts in a row to accept their corresponding sockets.
Does anyone recognize the maker? (I'm not going to be the buyer).
Tom
Common box, at least not in these parts. For $20 I would be all over that! Super cool box and appears to be original paint?
Mintgrun
Well-known member
It's over in Marysville. If it'd been sitting in the Habitat store at that price, it'd already be in my shop. I am not saying I don't want it; just that I'm not willing to go get it. I see that you're in the "Pacific Northwest." Go get it! It's been up for at least a month.
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Mintgrun
Well-known member
1939
None Better Tools : Catalogue No. 39 : New Britain Machine Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
68 p., illus., 17.1 cm, trade catalog
archive.org
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Cool box. I like the semi cantilever box look top and the hinged front panel.
Any fave restaurants or other attractions in Marysville?
Any fave restaurants or other attractions in Marysville?
bmwrd0
Well-known member
I picked up this rather neat old box the other day:
There is a label inside from an old, semi-local instrument calibration company, so I am assuming that this was used to hold some equipment for that line of work. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, maybe a range box or I might use it to keep some tools in my truck.
There is a label inside from an old, semi-local instrument calibration company, so I am assuming that this was used to hold some equipment for that line of work. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet, maybe a range box or I might use it to keep some tools in my truck.
Outlawmws
Well-known member
I like that box - getting a soft spot for those older leatherette cases.
Jay__Dub
Well-known member
In Windsor, Ontario. 150 CDN. It's on Fbook Marketplace. Too far for me, plus I'm pretty sure I'd turn up dead if I brought it home. It's beautiful. Must be 40's or 50's.
On the other hand, I scored this lot for 5 bucks. Might be a Kennedy. It's a brutal paint job, I'll dig in and see what I can figure out.
On the other hand, I scored this lot for 5 bucks. Might be a Kennedy. It's a brutal paint job, I'll dig in and see what I can figure out.
So thought this was a great shot of what looks like one of those cool TE-87-A Tool Chests that the Army was using for quite a while. By WW2 the packing lists on those boxes wouldn't have been Aircraft oriented as far as I know and maybe this was just rolled out as a desk/ seat/table/catch-all storage deal. I know the early version of those chests were literally labelled "Airplane Tool Chest Signal Corps U.S. Army" as Military Aviation fell under the Signal Corps initially, but...the actual 1940 era toolbox for the Wright R 1820 is maybe hidden on the other side of the plane...anyway. it IS an a O-47A observation aircraft, so that's kind of Signally.
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Tynee
Well-known member
Cruzan, I'm surprised you didn't get any feedback on these... Did you ever figure out a manufacturer? Interesting that the label inside includes German and French. Makes me wonder if perhaps the cabinets aren't british?
FJ 432
Well-known member
Read further. He did find ATD.
Cruzan80
Well-known member
Sorry for any confusion. The red cabinet (from prior question/post) was ATD, the blue ones are unknown at this point.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I do notice some differences. The two drawers on the chest for the Signal Corps TE-87-A radio station toolkit have a significant separator between them and do not extend all the way to the edge like that. Secondly, the TE-87-A chest has metal strapping riveted all around it at the bottom and top, not just a couple right angle corner straps like that chest. Lastly, the TE-87-A chest had three "doublers" screwed into the lid. I would think maybe they had been removed, but with the other features, I'm doubtful. Keen eye, though, and definitely looks very similar, maybe even sourced from the same maker and/or design.
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Thanks. I see your point. You probably know more about them than I do. I did say "looks like" and picked the number for the chest I see most often. I found these 2 examples online just now. The weathered one has the older "Airplane Tool Chest" brass tag and the refinished one is being ID'd as a T-11.
I also just now ran into a topic on the G503 about "M1918 Tool Kits" that have a box with a similar but distinctly different look that I'm sure you're quite familiar with as you seem to have contributed to the thread.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Well, I know enough to know I'd really like to run into one that wasn't a shambles of its former self or mint-y and priced like a used car!
Yes, hence, my keen eye comment. There's definitely a similarity. TE-87-A is the number for the Tool Equipment set that went in it, by the way, not the chest. I don't know that the chest ever had a separate number. There are a few similar looking chests in slightly different configurations in my copy of the SNL J-19.
Those are very handsome, and dead ringers, I would say. Maybe the one in the staged photo of the NA O-47 stayed in service since WWI. I am not familiar with T-11. I am familiar with a TE-11. A different Signal Corps set for constructing shacks, towers and poles. Also came in a wooden chest, but it was squatter than the chest for the TE-87-A. So many sets, so many chests!
Those are to die for!
Jay__Dub
Well-known member
Got this box today. I'm not sure what to make of it. Cannot find anything on it, besides the initials PC. I think it may be home made, not sure. Great old piece. I'm going to clean it up.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Made by Duplex. They made and sold them in-house. They also made them third party, including Snap-on, Old Forge, and many others. After a fire burned the factory down in NY, Pendleton Tool Industries, Inc. bought out the company and moved them to Arkansas. I have a few.
Jay__Dub
Well-known member
Thanks for the great information!
RTM
Well-known member
Mine has Duplex embossed in the lid, and an early decal under the lid, patent pending should put it at…
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
is that P&C? or an owner made markings?
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
You're welcome. That was my Newark Airport Cell Phone Lot summary!
Much more, with more details, and my boxes, linked here...The VINTAGE toolboxes of Garage Journal!
Riley, that is the 1954 (catalog), "best toolbox" box, right?[/IMG] Correct! Available from 1951-54. The 1951 catalog calls it a "Deluxe" cabinet. When I initially looked at it (in person), I immediately thought it was a Pressteel made cabinet (you have one, right Outlaw?). In fact, I never...
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
...August 28, 1926 through July 2, 1928.
With the caveat that aspects of these boxes like yours (Beemer has one, too) don't jibe with other data, as I have noted on this and other threads. References indicate that the patent was assigned to Coe, an employee of another toolbox maker at that time, and he didn't start Duplex Mfg, which was located in Sherman (close to Jamestown), until 1932. Also, they actually look later than some of the examples that have the patent number embossed in the lids, which are typically black, not OD, don't have the Duplex decal, and have much cruder cantilever hardware. It's possible the other references are wrong. But there's a nagging possibility of a second, later patent. I've always had a note to do a second round of research, but I never did.
RTM
Well-known member
I did some digging when I discovered the patent pending label, and have not found where I documented it. Will try to get back to the WFH desk later today. Not been there much lately. Not sure it was anything more conclusive.
Jay__Dub
Well-known member
PC, its even stamped on some of the levers. Must be the owner I guess.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Thanks to this subject being bumped by @Jay__Dub 's find, prompting another round of research, I may have solved the mystery.
The name of the company that was making cantilevered toolboxes in Sherman, NY as early as 1932 (see Ref 1), for the US Army Ordnance Dept as early as 1940 (see Ref 2), and throughout the war (see Ref 3 from 1943), acquired by Pendleton Tool Industries Inc (i.e., Proto, PENENS, Fleet, etc) in 1958 (see Ref 4), quite literally in a fire sale, with its remaining assets relocated to Ft Smith, AR (see Ref 5), was definitively Duplex Manufacturing Corporation, located in Sherman, NY, and that's the only name and place of the company we have always associated with these (and other style) Duplex boxes.
But note that reference 1 says the enterprise was previously located in Lakewood, NY.
The name of the company that was making cantilevered toolboxes in Sherman, NY as early as 1932 (see Ref 1), for the US Army Ordnance Dept as early as 1940 (see Ref 2), and throughout the war (see Ref 3 from 1943), acquired by Pendleton Tool Industries Inc (i.e., Proto, PENENS, Fleet, etc) in 1958 (see Ref 4), quite literally in a fire sale, with its remaining assets relocated to Ft Smith, AR (see Ref 5), was definitively Duplex Manufacturing Corporation, located in Sherman, NY, and that's the only name and place of the company we have always associated with these (and other style) Duplex boxes.
But note that reference 1 says the enterprise was previously located in Lakewood, NY.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
But the name of John E. Coe's original company was Duplex Wrench Corporation, believe it or not, and according to the trademark documentation for the Duplex name issued in 1931, with first use in 1928, it was located in Lakewood, NY! See Ref 1. And he advertised his boxes as being made by Duplex Wrench Corporation, in Jamestown, NY in various trade mags through at least 1931.
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That Snap-on box is here: https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:9913b74f-1e63-4a11-9cf3-6a44d078a9f9In Windsor, Ontario. 150 CDN. It's on Fbook Marketplace. Too far for me, plus I'm pretty sure I'd turn up dead if I brought it home. It's beautiful. Must be 40's or 50's.
On the other hand, I scored this lot for 5 bucks. Might be a Kennedy. It's a brutal paint job, I'll dig in and see what I can figure out.
JustVicingIt
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Outlawmws
Well-known member
did you buy it, or is that what a shop wants?
JustVicingIt
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Ended up getting it down to $230 and bought it
Jay__Dub
Well-known member
Could not find it. The only thing is PC, it's stamped everywhere, pre assembly/paint. On the levers, and the steel panels. It's 2 punches, as the letter spacing is never the same. Maybe it's the initials of the worker who assembled it? Not sure.
JustVicingIt
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Alright after digging into the Gerstner, I think it's an 31A Model. Also 1940 or earlier based on no interior stamp and chain stop on top. Very cool. Not sure if I will go for a light refurbishment here at home or send it in for a resto. Either way it goes on the shelf for a bit while other projects are front and center.
I picked up this Snap-on tool cart the other day for $50 on Craigslist. It's been well-loved as you can see - probably was parked right behind the forklift a few times. I'm already really liking having it in the shop, as it lets me keep all the tools and parts for a project in one place. Just need to keep it organized and fight the urge to use it as a catch-all.
Can anyone help me find out about how old it is? There doesn't seem to be any information stamped on it anywhere. I've tried searching and have been unable to find this model. Similar Snap-on carts with the square tubing (and square bends) seem to date from around 1990, but all the pics I found show either two trays or one tray with drawers.
Can anyone help me find out about how old it is? There doesn't seem to be any information stamped on it anywhere. I've tried searching and have been unable to find this model. Similar Snap-on carts with the square tubing (and square bends) seem to date from around 1990, but all the pics I found show either two trays or one tray with drawers.