Montgomery & Co., 105-107 Fulton St. - 62 Ann St., New York, NY (* NOT Montgomery Ward! *)

[four.cycle]

Montgomery & Co., 105-107 Fulton St. - 62 Ann St., New York, New York

Wholesale hardware and tool distributor offering both "Fulton" and "Eclipse" private-label branded products.

(Not to be confused with the Fulton brand that Sears, Roebuck & Co. was selling, or the "Eclipse" levels from Baker McMillen Co., or the "Eclipse" pipe wrench from Hilts Wrench & Mfg. Co., or the various "Eclipse" branded products sold by Montgomery Ward, or the "Eclipse Counterbore Co." of Detroit, or the "Eclipse Tool Works" of Newark. I probably don't even need to mention that it is in no way related to the "Eclipse Office Furniture Co. Ltd." of Ottawa, or the "Eclipse" branded tools marketed by James Neill & Co. Ltd. of Sheffield.

Montgomery also produced machinery with their name clearly forged into the products, so they either had their own forging facilities or were sub-contracting the work out.

Montgomery & Co., 105-107 Fulton St. - 62 Ann St., New York, NY / "Fulton" "Eclipse" / wholesale hardware distributor / patent 341867 May 18 1886 Lee W. Andrews & 688653 Dec 10 1901 Frank Lambert / http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=10794&tab=0 /



"Fulton" branded Speed Indicator


"Clipper Knife and Scissors Grinder" (patent 341867 May 18 1886 Lee W. Andrews)

1894 Montgomery & Co. "Fulton" brand Hack Saw Blade advertisement

1890 Montgomery & Co. invoice
1890 Montgomery & Co. catalog front cover

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Acme Carew Starrett ad pp 451

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog bare steel plated caliper ad pp 182

 

[four.cycle]

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Baxter Boardman Eclipse Gem ad pp 674

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog bench & post drills ad pp 230

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog bench & post drills ad pp 231

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog bench & post drills ad pp 232

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog bench & post drills ad pp 233

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Chace ad pp 431

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Fulton ad pp 171

 

[four.cycle]

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Fulton Lippincott Robertson Thompson ad pp 350

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog German Goods anvil vise ad pp 102

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog hand drill ad pp 248

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog Millers Falls Moffett anvil drill vise ad pp 247

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog oilers ad pp 432

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog post drills ad pp 228

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog post drills ad pp 228

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog post drills ad pp 229

1897 Montgomery & Co. catalog wrenches ad pp 683

In addition to printing their own catalog, they also bought ad space in publications:

1901 Scientific American Montgomery & Co. ad pp 365

 

[RTM]

Purely as a point of reference: Lots of those tools looked outsource, the hand drills look like a known shape,(GP or Stanley), some tools look Sargent, etc. won't take time to look either. Gotta get out some non vintage tools shortly for a project around the house.

 

[four.cycle]

Lots of those tools looked outsource, the hand drills look like a known shape,(GP or Stanley)

Exactly.
I think, like most of the other major tool/hardware wholesalers of the era, they outsourced most of their stuff.
The name forged into the frame of the lathe, however, indicates they either had off-site forging facilities or were sub-contracting their private-label stuff (which seems far more likely.)
The physical street address is at the bottom end of Manhattan Island, and the building itself (below) most certainly doesn't look like any sort of manufacturing facility.

As for trying to identify individual items and figuring out which manufacturers they came from - you can spend all day and all night trying to figure those out. I've spent as much time on that one as I care to - when I got to all those various calipers and dividers I gave up.

 

[WisJim]

Here's a photo of some of my Montgomery & Co catalogs, brown one is a reprint of a 1892 catalog and the largest hardcover is the newest from around 1927. I'll see if I can get some scans of interesting parts. Most of the catalogs are paperback pocket book sized, with a few pamphlets and pricelists, and a couple of hardcovers.

 

[four.cycle]

^ It would be fabulous if you could get scans and post them (or forward them to @Mark Stansbury at ITCL

I just noticed something a couple nights ago but forgot to mention it here:

In my post above - post #2 - on page 431 of the Montgomery catalog, they offer "Chace Patent" OIlers.
I looked high and low for a "Chace" patent, and I found no such thing.
There was, however, a Frederick S. Chase, who was issued patents 537888 (Apr 23 1895) and D26871 (Apr 6 1897) for "oil can" and "pocket oil can" (respectively), the former assigned to the Waterbury Mfg. Co. of Waterbury, Connecticut (later Waterbury Lock & Specialty Co., Milford, CT)
I believe more than a few of us own a copy of the venerable "Chase Pocket Oiler".

I only mention this because it was the second typographical error that sent me down a rabbit hole this week on a wild goose chase.

 

[d42jeep]

^ It would be fabulous if you could get scans and post them (or forward them to @Mark Stansbury at ITCL

I just noticed something a couple nights ago but forgot to mention it here:

In my post above - post #2 - on page 431 of the Montgomery catalog, they offer "Chace Patent" OIlers.
I looked high and low for a "Chace" patent, and I found no such thing.
There was, however, a Frederick S. Chase, who was issued patents 537888 (Apr 23 1895) and D26871 (Apr 6 1897) for "oil can" and "pocket oil can" (respectively), the former assigned to the Waterbury Mfg. Co. of Waterbury, Connecticut (later Waterbury Lock & Specialty Co., Milford, CT)
I believe more than a few of us own a copy of the venerable "Chase Pocket Oiler".

Here is mine.
-Don

 

[The Bean]

The old Montgomery bldg

Renovated before 1923.


Fulton St NYC. 105-107 would have been just to the right out of frame.

 

[jkm1980]

This is amazing! Thank you all for sharing about Montgomery & Co. My great great grandfather was George T. Montgomery, founder and president of the company.