Vise company manufacturers directory pre 1970's

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ALL: This thread is being designed to be a reference for all vise companies in business prior to 1970's and all their versions and models of vises they made. before posting your vise can you please check to see if one is already posted. If there is already a nice one posted then please post yours over on the vises of garage journal thread, but if there is an unrestored or broken vise posted for lack of a better one and you have a nicer one then please post yours with pictures from all sides.

Also if you are one of the members that has a list of a certain company's entire production line to post please do and i'll put a note of the post next to that company's name in post #2 as well as possibly taking up one of the reserved posts that begin this thread.

if you think we are missing something or can improve to make it better or easier to read please PM me. Since we have a 50 page directory already saved yes we are allowed to discuss vises and other fun stuff because this is for all of us to enjoy.

thanks in advance

Reed 4C: 190 pounds, 6 inch jaws with pipe jaws and a swivel base

Reed 3C: Need specs from member that owns this one.


The Hawk in the picture is real and wild and flew in the kitchen window to have his picture taken on the vise handle.

Reed 1C: need specs from member that owns this one with an amazing paint job. also need more pictures of this vise to post.

With all the posts saved at the beginning, I wonder if you would be better off using 1 post for each letter in the alphabet, may be easier to work with?
HTH, Jim

Jim: good idea and i think with the legend in post #2 and then the 26 following pages A-Z might work. let me do a little more thinking before i start putting that to the pages.

ALL: any other ideas are welcome because this is our vise company thread for company histories, vise models and of course plenty of members and even non-members pictures of the vises.

thanks for all your help

ALL: does any member want to be responsible for researching a vise company's history and all the models they made. if so just say so and i'll put your name alongside the company's name in post #2. volunteers please make a post or PM me.

I do like the idea of all the vise companies in one post and then the next 26 posts having a letter of the alphabet for each post. some of the letters that might have 2 huge companies i might give that letter 2 posts to make more room for the company history and model #'s and information.

also i haven't pulled over all the vise companies from the Vise repair 101 thread and will try to do so this weekend. if we are missing any please let me know. also anybody that knows some of these companies weren't in business prior to 1970 please let me know and somebody else can start a new thread of the newer vise companies if they choose to.

thanks again in advance

Dohm Wilson (may as well start with something obscure)

I honestly don't have any info on this manufacturer, I do however own this very useful vice and also know of two others of different sizes in existence.

Comparison of an older Record 36 and newer Record 36.

The dynamic jaw casting is a slightly different shape at the top.
Old


New


The upper vice in the picture is the newer one, the obvious difference in this photo is the square v's teardrop handle boss, however if you look carefully the vice base is a different shape at it's front.


Side markings are significantly different and you can also see there is more meat to the jaws behind the jaw plates on the newer vice.


Most noticeable difference is seen from underneath, you can see the extra reinforcing at the front of the base, this was obviously a weak spot on the older design and in fact the older one had bent at this point and needed straightening. Also the thickness of the casting sides are thicker on the newer vice. If you look at the rear of the screw you can see a sleeve and a spring that acts as a shock absorber in case you yank the jaw open to quickly, on the newer vice the sleeve has been done away with and the spring is now further forward on the screw and held in place with a pin through the screw.
You can also see the two main mounting holes are now reinforced and there has been a change to the casting at the back of the dynamic jaw slide (far right of photo).


Side markings are different, and the base of the older vice is slightly higher than the new (hard to make out in the photo). Another thing that can be seen is the QR lever of the older vice is more substantial, the reinforcing web of the old QR is on the outside and can be seen in this photo whereas the newer one has it on the inside towards the vice screw.


Having weighed them both the newer style is heavier at 30.3 kg than the older at 29.5kg, I assume this is as a result of the extra reinforcing on the newer style.

Specs from 1964



One last thing the screw holding the jaws on are 5/16 BSW on the old style and 8mm fine pitch (1mm) on the new style (new style I believe came in the late 60's)

Record 48

This is my vice but not my photos, I will update photos for better ones when I get the chance.

I'll add specs when I find them again. However it's an 8" jaw and 240lb

Record 112





Specs

Sevo vices

Measurements to be confirmed.



6"






1"

All: anybody that has some time to change VA's page #'s to post #'s of all the vises he researched please do and they are located on posts #6-10.

or volunteer to take a few pages and let us know which ones because i could use some help.

thanks

CW: nice posts of your cool vises. this thread will have an English vice section and i wonder if you and Fretters and Dutchgrey might want to help with that one and grab other members in your area.

ALL: i'll gradually get the long list divided into US, English, Canadian, and the rest of the world for vises (vices) and then have sections for blacksmith vises, wood vises, mill and drill press vises too. did i forget any catagories?

I have this Holland's E3 vise, but haven't gotten much information on it, if I do I'll update this thread.

JB: your Holland's vise is one of the more common designs ever made. I think there might be 10 or maybe more manufacturers that make that similar designed vise. if you want to research Holland's just post up all the research and i'll transfer it to one of the first 40 posts that should become sort of a directory. model #'s with specs, catalog pages and any company information would be great.

ALL: so i think this might work best if several vise gurus take on a company and then post up all the information they gather so i can move it to the first 40 pages (Directory). i think it will work best if i use the #2 post for all the companies. then the next 26 to break them down by alphabet and pulling out the big vise companies and giving them their own page like Reed, Parker, Wilton, Prentiss, Rock Island and so on. good idea? anybody want to take on a company just say so like maybe Get taking on Parker since you practically have every vise they made? BB taking on Wilton since you have a huge data base already started? B100 on any one you want or maybe we should have a section for pre 1900's?

Hollands Vise History. This will be info I put together and re-arrange later.

The founder's obituary, Caleb Holland. http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi/http"//</fg.cgi?page=mr&MRid=48638862

"WESTFIELD REPUBLICAN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 1900
C. HOLLANDS DEAD.
A WELL KNOWN MANUFACTURER —PASSES AWAY. Was Formerly a Resident of This Village, Bat Had Resided In Erie For About Twenty Tears.—Was One of The Founders sf The Hollands Manufacturing Co. As the result of an attack of dropsy Caleb Hollands, one of the founders of the Hollands Manufacturing company, died at his home, No. 233 West Eleventh street, Erie,Pa., on Wednesday night, April 18, 1900, aged Nearly 63 years. He had been ill for some time, and while his death was not unexpected it will cause much surprise and regret to a large circle of friends. The deceased was born in Sussex county, England, on August 23, 1837,and was one of a family of six children born to John and Elizabeth (James) Hollands, four of whom were older than himself. With his brother, Jabez, he came to this country and located in this village in 1854, when but 17 years of age. He served an apprenticeship at the molders' trade, and latter took full charge of their on department of the Townsend Lock Co. ,which position he held for 10years. In 1881 he moved to Erie, and entered the employ of" the Jarecki Mfg. Co. After two years he went with the Griswold Mfg. Co., as foreman of the molding department, where he remained for several years, finally branching out with business associates, into the Hollands Mfg. Co., and was President of the company, and was one of the best known manufacturers of that city. Mr, Hollands was twice married. In 1857 he married Miss Elizabeth Strain, and by this union has two children. Sarah E., now Mrs. G. W. Hale, of this place, and John C., traveling salesman of the Griswold Co., of Erie. Mrs. Hollands died seven years ago, and in February, 1898, he married for his second wife Miss Belle Kane, of Erie, who with one son, Edward, survives him. He also leaves two sisters,one in England, and Mrs. S. W. Roads, of this place. The funeral was held on Saturday and the remains were buried in Weetfield cemetery with Masonic ceremonies, by Summit Lodge No. 219, of which Mr. Hollands had been a member since 1864. The lodge marched in funeral procession to the Lake Shore road and received the remains from the 1:03p m. train and took them to Westfield cemetery where the burial took place. The floral offerings were many and of exceptional beauty. —

Added by dusty kennedy on Aug 27, 2015 8:15 PM"

Superintendent Robert B Hough https://books.google.com/books?id=f...AC#v=onepage&q=caleb hollands erie pa&f=false

"Robert B Hough, Erie Pa superintendent of the Hollands Manufacturing Company was born in Brockville Ontario Canada March 22 1858 and is a son of john and Ellen Rogers Hough natives of Canada and England respectively When Robert was 13 years old the family removed to Erie so the greater part of his education was received in his adopted city He learned the trade of machinist at the Erie City Iron Works where he remained six years Entering the employ of the Stearns Manufacturing Company he remained three and one half years when he became chief machinist for the Griswold Manufacturing Company and four years later took the position o superintendent In 1890 he assisted in organizing the Hollands Manufacturing Company of which he is the second largest stock holder. Mr Hough was married May 17 1888 to Miss Kate Anthony of Erie. They have four children Robert Lay deceased, John Kenneth, Richard Caleb and Margaretta Ellen He is a member of the Masonic order is a Republican in his political inclinations and was a member of the Common Council of Erie from 1888 to 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Hough attend St Paul's Episcopal Church."

Vice President Edwin S Rockafeller. https://books.google.com/books?id=f...AC#v=onepage&q=caleb hollands erie pa&f=false
"Edwin S Rockafellar vice president and general manager of the Hollands Manufacturing Comany Erie Pa was born in Mechanicsburg Pa April 8 1856 and is a son of John M and Sarah Hoffman Rockafellar natives of Cumberland and Lancaster counties Pennsylvania and of earl Holland ancestry His father a printer by trade and later a real estate agent reared a family of eleven children five of whom are living and of whom Edwin S is the second He received his early education in the public schools of his native city and at the age of 16 found employment in a hardware store where he remained five years He then took a course in Eastman's Commerclal College after which he secured a position as bookkeeper in Pittsbur remaining five years ln the meantime he had ecome interested in the firm of John B Harker 8 Co jobbers in hollow ware and also ept the books of that concern In 1881 Mr Harker and he came to Erie and took full control of the hollow ware department of the Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Companz After one year Mr Harker withdrew and Mr Ilockafellar continued the business alone In 1887 he began the manufacture and sale of natural gas burners which were made by contract with the Griswold Manufacturing Company In 1890 the Hollands Manufacturing Com any was incor 0rateil with Caleb Hollands presi ent ES Roc afellar treasurer and general manager HL McWhorter secretar and treasurer and RB Hough superintendent Fhe plant is located at 325 est Twelfth street and is 150x200 feet Besides the natural gas burners the now manufacture vises and plumbers machines an tools Mr Rockafellar was married September 15 1875 to Miss Mary A Boileau of Harrisburr Pa They have one child Lawrence S Mr Roc afellar isa Republican in his political views and was elected a member of the Common Council in 1890 serving until 1894 when he was elected a member of the Select Council In I892 he was chosen president of the Common Council which position he held for one year. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Elks and the A.O.U.W."

Brief company history https://books.google.com/books?id=f...AC#v=onepage&q=caleb hollands erie pa&f=false
"Hollands Manufacturing Co. natural gas burners, vises, machinists and plumbers tools. Twelfth street between Myrtle and Chestnut. Caleb Hollands President, H.L. McWhorter Secretary, E.S. Rockafeller Manager, R. B. Hough Superintendent. Established in 1890."

Things so far I have found that Hollands Mfg Co made
Bench Vises
Pipe Vises
Cast iron ladle for lead
Cast iron pot for melting lead or solder
Adjustable Wrench
Pipe thread cutter
Steam Pipe wrench
Pipe wrench with screw adjuster
Pipe cutter
Pipe reamer brace bit
Waffle irons

Added info: According to this advertisement from Hollands it started in 1887. http://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/umsl/islandora/object/umsl:36815/datastream/PDF/view

One more piece of the puzzle, this obituary for Emily Louise Rilling Wright, she was first treasurer for Hollands and then a director for Reed. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/er...x?n=emily-louise-rilling-wright&pid=109590962

And more info, Hollands made 9" vises! From 1915 Mill Supplies book.

The Hollands Manufacturing Co Erie Pa has added to its line of machinists vises a 9 inch size that is the jaw is 9 inches wide They are made in both stationary and swivel base types following the same lines as the other sizes of Hollands vises but much more massive The company has also added to its products a line of pressed steel solder and babbitt metal ladles with electric spot welded flexible steel handles The company states that joining the handle of the bowl to the ladle by this process obviates the difficulties which have usually been experienced with steel ladles through the rivets becoming loose by expansion and contraction

https://books.google.com/books?id=3...ollands manufacturing co erie closing&f=false

And more Holland news from the same book.
October Was a Banner Month October is reported as having been the largest in its history by the Hollands Manufacturing Co Erie Pa manufacturer of machinists and pipe vises tools etc

And a blurp from post #130 on this thread.

October 20, 1942
• VICTORY •
25
New industry advisory committees
The Division of Industry Advisory
Committees, WPB, has announced the
formation of the following new committees

MACHINIST AND BENCH VISES
Hollands Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pa.; E. L. Rilling, president

Yes I know the name is misspelled, that is how the digital copy shows it. 1942 is the latest date I have found for Hollands being in business.

Edit: Found the correct spelling, E.L. Rilling, which led to more information!

Hollands Manufacturing Co Erie Pa has been reorganized with the following officers: President, John S. Rilling; treasurer and general manager, E.L. Rilling; secretary and sales manager, L. Rockefeller; and superintendent S. R. Ritler. The reorganization was made necessary by the demise of E. S. Rockefeller last May who was one of the founders of the company and up to the time of his death its president and general manager. The company will continue to manufacture the same lines of tools as heretofore .

Thanks for that BlueBolt, I'd forgotten all about this thread until you posed that info for me.
JB

I've posted excerpts from various publications containing lists of vise manufacturers, including different variations / uses of vises here: http://toolarchives.com/node/41

I found some history of the Smart's Manufacturing Co. that made a little of everything including vises.---I have included 2 examples of the Smart vises.


The founder and namesake of the James Smart Manufacturing Company had a remarkable career. Born in Scotland in 1819, his family emigrated to Canada when he was 15 years old. The family began farming and logging near Ottawa, while James set out to apprentice as a tanner in Brockville. He moved to Kingston to practice this trade, meeting a newly arrived Scotsman named Alexander McKenzie. McKenzie ended up in Sarnia, where James joined him in founding a tannery. McKenzie went on to eventually become Prime Minister. James married a London girl, but shortly thereafter his tannery was expropriated by the Grand Trunk Railway. James set out on his own to California, founding another tannery until the great fire of 1850. After that, he went into the lumber trade, but his health was poor so he tried gold mining in the mountains for several years. He managed to make some money at this, and returned to Canada in 1854, purchasing the old Gilmour Foundry on the waterfront in Brockville and establishing the Brockville Novelty Works. He began turning out a variety of foundry items, with the American Civil War helping business immensely. The business turned down during the great depression which began in 1872. At the same time, his nephews operated a rival business, Smart & Shepherd, which specialized in the production of a solid-chisel mortise. In 1886, their company was acquired by Smart. In 1891, the company was renamed the James Smart Manufacturing Company. In 1893 they took over the Chowan and Cunningham foundry in Kingston, moving the equipment to Brockville. By 1895 the plant covered 2-1/2 acres and the company was employing around 300 workers and operating 7 days a week. Their product offerings were very wide: stoves, ranges, and furnaces, lawn mowers, steel butts, carriage and cabinet makers' hardware, iron castings, pumps, hollow ware, house furnishings, to name a few. Around this time Smart took on some business partners, and there is some indication that he was forced out of the business by them, making it necessary for him to take other employment as the Sheriff of the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville. He died in 1906. Around 1910, the company was acquired by Canada Foundries and Forgings Ltd.


Canadian Machinery, 1921

In 1920 the plant covered 7 acres and the company offered a number of product lines: the stove and furnace department included a full line of cooking and heating stoves and ranges, warm air furnaces and registers; the general hardware department offered builders and house furnishing, cabinet and carriage makers hardware in cast, wrought iron and brass, pumps and plumbers goods, wrought steel butts and hinges, warm air registers, lawn mowers and rollers, jack screws, vises, warehouse trucks, copying presses, and many lines of labor saving tools and machines. In the tool department you could find cast steel hammers, hatches, sledges and axes. In 1965, Brock Engineering of Montreal purchased the firm, closing the Brockville plant two years later and moving what was left to Montreal.





The above information was summarized from two excellent on-line Ontario history pages: The Collector's Shop and Owen Bosma's Home Page.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KRaZSvbVWfU/UPH1kEdgrjI/AAAAAAAAKkE/ni0ySTgznME/s640/James+Smart+Plant.JPG

ALL: thanks to all the members that have found old vise company history and information and posted it here or given links to the information. it's not at all easy to find some of this stuff and really appreciate you all sharing so maybe all of us can someday just click on this thread and not spend a sleepless night looking on the internet or at a library trying to find some information.

any more vise history information to post please do no matter how small the vise company is or when it was in business. and not just US companies in case those of you that want to post up vise history on your favorite companies in your country or a favorite vise.

thanks

PRENTISS INFORMATION

Here is an excerpt from a chapter of a book on the history of Watertown, NY. It's about a company in Watertown that made Prentiss vises under contract with them.

Through Eleven Decades of History
Watertown
A History from 1800 to 1912 With Illustrations and Many Incidents
By Joel H. Monroe
Nineteen Hundred and Twelve
Pg. 250

The Bagley & Sewall Company, whose plant is located partly on Sewall Island and partly on the north band of Black River at the intersection of Pearl and Moulton streets, was founded September 1, 1853, by the co-partnership of George A. Bagley, who is still the president of the company, with George Goulding and Edmund Q. Sewall, under the firm name of Goulding, Bagley & Sewall.

George Goulding had conducted a small machine shop on Sewall Island for about twenty years prior, and purchased his castings from a foundry on the island owned by the late Abel Davis, which foundry the firm of Goulding, Bagley, & Sewall immediately proceed to buy out, as Mr. Bagley was a practical foundry-man, having had charge of the Hoard Foundry for two years prior to the formation of the partnership above mentioned.

The concern began business manufacturing central discharge water wheels, boilers and engines, saw mills and general foundry work, and this continued for nine years until 1862, when George Goulding left the concern, his interest being purchased by Messrs. Bagley & Sewall, and the concern was known as Bagley and Sewall until the incorporation of the present company in 1882.

Messrs. Bagley & Sewall increased the lines of their business and began building engines and boilers on a large scale for those times, and in fact became the best known engine concern in Northern New York. Mowing machines was added to the list, with plows and other agricultural machinery, then a line of pumping machinery, the celebrated Green rotary pump being among their outfit. Later, somewhat before the incorporation of the company, they started building iron workers’ and wood workers’ vises for the Prentiss Vise Company of New York, which business, small at first, has grown into a large department of the present Bagley and Sewall Company, and the contract with the Prentiss Vise Company is in its thirty-sixth year of existence.

ADDENDUM: See post #80 for more information about B&S and Prentiss

Walworth Vise

Here is another historical vise. It’s a Walworth vise. I found a drawing of it in an 1878 Walworth catalog. A bench vise is listed in their 1870 catalog but there were no illustrations. I also found a lot of information about the company James Jones Walworth founded in 1852. It began as a furnace and heating company. Walworth Co. may have been the first heating contractor in the U.S. They actually installed the first heating system in the White House. Amazingly they are still in business. One of their employees, a guy named Stillson, obtained a patent for an improved pipe wrench. I’m not a wrench collector, but apparently those who are know about Stillson’s wrench. It was manufactured by Walworth. Apparently James Walworth had to trick the guy into retaining the patent rights and collecting royalties. It made him wealthy.

Incidentally, Walworth’s 1878 catalog also had a Smith’s patent vise and a combination vise by some guy named Parker.

For those of you who are wrench collectors. This picture is not a Stillson wrench. It is a picture of Mr. Stillson's personal wrench.

H.B. SMITH VISE

Here is yet another old vise. This one from the H.B. Smith Co.of Westfield, Mass. Amazingly, they are still in business but they only do HVAC now. The catalog ad is on the same page as the Walworth that is posted above this one. The patent drawing was for a patent given to H.B. Dart, an employee of H.B. Smith. I have other information about this company so I'll update this post as I locate it.

CHENEY ANVIL AND VISE

Here is an anvil and vise combination that was made by the Cheney Anvil and Vise Co. of Detroit, MI. Notice that it is a swivel jaw vise. The swivel is held in by a long slim horizontal tapered pin. The lettering is hard to make out but it says: CHENEY ANVIL & VISE CO. PAT N_V 18 1879 NO 20 DETROIT MICH. I’ve included an early ad, two patent drawings from the 1879 patent awarded to James Cheney, and a drawing of the Fulton Iron & Engine Works. Incidentally, the spot where that building stood would now be in the lobby of General Motors World headquarters.

Thanks CRS.---Very good stuff.

VA: Thanks, I enjoy collecting these kinds of tidbits. I also enjoyed reading your post about James Smart. I live fairly near Sarnia and I live VERY near what used to be Grand Trunk Railroad. The trains often wake me up especially that 3:30 a.m. freight train. On a more cultural note, a prehistoric head-banger Detroit band got it's name from that rail line. Can you guess which one? For all of you who are not from around here I want to make clear that when you said that James married a London girl, she was a London, Ontario girl. It's just a drive down the 402 from Sarnia. Thanks again.

I dig the advertising stuff very much. Good reading fellas!

CRS, I got all their albums.---There's never been three musicians that could be so versatile and get so much out of three instruments. ---Was my favorite group.---Hated the breakup and the way they broke up.---Always wondered how they got the name.

1894 VISE & DRILL COMBO: I'm going to post this here because it is old. It is an excerpt from the 1894 Illustrated Catalogue Of Railway and Machinists Tools and Supplies. I'm also going to post it on the repair thread and the main vise thread. I remember that a few times members have posted pictures of vises with extra holes. This is one explanation for that.

PRENTISS - BAGLEY & SEWALL cont. Here is some further information about Bagley & Sewall who manufactured vises for Prentiss (see post #71 ). GETRIDAONE found this in a 1908 report of the New York Teachers Association. It states that B&S made 225 vises a day.