Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
As Garage Sale thread followers will already know, I snagged one of these "15-in-1" multi-tools at Jake's Flea Market yesterday during a group picking venture with LesserSon and a long-time GJ lurker. The road trip and the camaraderie apparently brought me good luck. It was the first thing I found in the dark, but the last thing I bought, wearing the seller down on his asking price when we circled back around to him at the end of the morning.
Unless I missed it, it's the only one on GJ so far. GJ searches on "Mathews" and "Never-Stall" turn up one hit: the entry in 4.c's A-Z List of US Mfgrs, as usual. (I hope people realize how valuable this list is and how much work he has put into it.)
The forged-in "PATENTED" marking refers to US Patent 933,860, granted Sep 14, 1909, to Frank Stolle in Fort Thomas, KY.
Interestingly enough, GJ searches on that patent number turn up two hits: the aforementioned "Mathews NEVER-STALL" and "J.H Thomas & Sons," located in Dayton, Ohio, which 4.c's list cross-references.
DATAMP has a good page on this tool, linked here, and that's where I appropriated this patent composite...
...and this 1915 Farm Journal ad.
But DATAMP makes no mention of Mathews or the "NEVER-STALL" brand name. They cite Thomas and a second company, Forshee Mfg Co, both in Dayton, Ohio.
My hunch is Mathews was a third enterprise that tried to make a go of the tool, this time with a catchy name.
Although the name seems to invoke engines, and, for me, automobiles, I found a few references in farm tool clubs that say it was always known colloquially as "the windmill tool." I'm no farm boy, but I can totally see why. Ostensibly because climbing up a windmill ladder with a toolbox or a bag of tools slung over your shoulder was perilous, and once you were at the top, the last thing you wanted to do was have to climb back down to fetch the tool you inevitably forgot. With "the windmill tool" you had the whole toolbox or tool bag in your hand or pocket. Or that was the idea, anyway.
You can all count, you can all see the various tool features (the only thing this thing is missing is a hammer head!) in the trade mag I posted above, but here is a labeled version of the same marketing ad that makes sure nobody misses a proclaimed utility.
Unless I missed it, it's the only one on GJ so far. GJ searches on "Mathews" and "Never-Stall" turn up one hit: the entry in 4.c's A-Z List of US Mfgrs, as usual. (I hope people realize how valuable this list is and how much work he has put into it.)
The forged-in "PATENTED" marking refers to US Patent 933,860, granted Sep 14, 1909, to Frank Stolle in Fort Thomas, KY.
Interestingly enough, GJ searches on that patent number turn up two hits: the aforementioned "Mathews NEVER-STALL" and "J.H Thomas & Sons," located in Dayton, Ohio, which 4.c's list cross-references.
DATAMP has a good page on this tool, linked here, and that's where I appropriated this patent composite...
...and this 1915 Farm Journal ad.
But DATAMP makes no mention of Mathews or the "NEVER-STALL" brand name. They cite Thomas and a second company, Forshee Mfg Co, both in Dayton, Ohio.
My hunch is Mathews was a third enterprise that tried to make a go of the tool, this time with a catchy name.
Although the name seems to invoke engines, and, for me, automobiles, I found a few references in farm tool clubs that say it was always known colloquially as "the windmill tool." I'm no farm boy, but I can totally see why. Ostensibly because climbing up a windmill ladder with a toolbox or a bag of tools slung over your shoulder was perilous, and once you were at the top, the last thing you wanted to do was have to climb back down to fetch the tool you inevitably forgot. With "the windmill tool" you had the whole toolbox or tool bag in your hand or pocket. Or that was the idea, anyway.
You can all count, you can all see the various tool features (the only thing this thing is missing is a hammer head!) in the trade mag I posted above, but here is a labeled version of the same marketing ad that makes sure nobody misses a proclaimed utility.
