A Schollhorn Tools mystery

[reedydrive]

This is a pair of specialty pliers made by the former W. Schollhorn Tool Co.
They were well known for tools for hand rivets, linemen, leather work, hole punching, and other operations. But these pliers have me baffled...

 

[reedydrive]

I understand if I may have stumped the forum with this pair of pliers.

Some extra information:
*Tool has two secondary tangs. One serves to lock the pliers in the closed position, and the other looks as if it would retain a piece of work material in the depression of one jaw.

*Schollhorn had at different times either been partnered with or succeeded by Sargent Tool and Bernard. I've had scant luck researching either of these toolmakers.

 

[reedydrive]

just checking back to see if anyone has recognized these odd pliers. (I suspect they're for leather work...)

 

[woody 73]

Do they have a pat. # marked on the tool that you can look up online?

 

[sselander]

You need to find an old hardware catalog which may list it.
There are a few floating around the web.
Looks like Sargent acquired the Wm. Schollhorn Co. around 1950

http://www.sargenttools.com/About/Our-History/

 

[reedydrive]

thanks for the tips, fellas. No patent # on the tool. Sadly, the pliers don't appear in any of the Schollhorn-Sargent-Bernard resources that I've seen so far. And while I certainly think that the design is patented, there are no corresponding patents for the pliers through DATAMP or Google patents. My last resort is checking all the Schollhorn patents, one at a time (there's lots of them). If I find out what these pliers are for, I'll post my results...

 

[neophyte]

Sargent, and likely Schollhorn before them, used the parallel jaw plier frames for custom special purpose pliers. Some styles were likely manufactured for outside companies and likely wouldn't have been in Schollhorn catalogs. Other manufacturers may have also used the frames for their own custom purpose pliers. If you think they're for leather work, you might see if you can find old C.S. Osborne catalogs. Osborne used to offer Maun parallel jaw pliers from England. Maybe Schollhorn supplied pliers to them at some point.

 

[carcajou]

Perhaps they are livestock tattoo pliers.

 

[reedydrive]

BINGO! Carcajou, you nailed it. I still don't know who subcontracted the pliers, but research shows that the pliers have all the characteristics of livestock tattoo pliers (including the bottom-jaw recess to hold character dies and the tiny side retainer to keep the die from shifting). I appreciate everyone's input. It has solved a 10 year old mystery...