Help Identify this Co. please.
- Thread starter tontotheindian9
- Start date
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I would say it's unlikely the "W.S." in "W.S. Co." is Wm. Schollhorn, tonto. For a couple reasons. Schollhorn did make four different variants of gas and burner pliers ("Bernard" with and without cutters, and "Paragon", with and without cutters) early on, but they all had their iconic, patented parallel pressed-steel handles. You can see a few examples on the Schollhorn thread (use A-Z Index in the Sticky) or page through the 1902 catalog in IA/ITCL. While they did make a few completely forged tools later in their production, there are no gas and burner pliers in the 1942 catalog. Secondly, I have never seen a Wm. Schollhorn tool that did not have the full name stamped around the pivot. They were very consistent about that. Anything is possible, and I'm not saying they're not, definitively, but I would say it's unlikely.
four.cycle
Well-known member
Schollhorn's products were usually marked differently; generally with the "Schollhorn" name and a patent date.
The only catalog illustration I have for a pair of Schollhorn gas pliers looks completely different.
Private Lugnutz and I are cross-posting here, but I have to concur with what he's saying there about the manner in which Schollhorn marked their product, and your example doesn't match that pattern.
They appear to be very similar in design to this pair of "PL" marked gas pliers from an early Schwabacher Hardware Co. catalog. (* I have not yet been able to ascertain who "P.L." was.)
It is possible that "W.S. Co." may have been the local gas utility company. It was not all that uncommon for large utility companies to have their moniker stamped on a tool that was used for servicing equipment - in this case a gas stove into which they were feeding the fuel. (That of course is pure speculation.)
1893 Iron Age Schollhorn Bernard gas pliers patent 427220
1903 Schwabacher Hardware Co. catalog pp 201 gas pliers burner pliers horse shoe pincers
I think this might be P Lowentraut Mfg (alloy artifacts)
OP
tontotheindian9
Well-known member
Here's an item with Bernard and W.S. Co.
That whole Schollhorn/Bernard/Sargent collaboration/aquisition thing is confusing.
VTG Bernard 525 6 1/2 end cutters by W.S.Co.( William Schollhorn & Co.) RARE! | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for VTG Bernard 525 6 1/2 end cutters by W.S.Co.( William Schollhorn & Co.) RARE! at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
OP
tontotheindian9
Well-known member
I know this is a Lowentraut item:
Attachments
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Indeed. Very cool! Nice work. It seems like a whole 'nother line that we have NO examples of on the Schollhorn thread, and I am very curious about the production era now. "BERNARD" appears to have been applied with multiple dies, one for each letter, by hand. No patent numbers to help date it as in the other more common examples.
I don't know if Bernard had an actual position with the company, but all of his patents were assigned to Schollhorn. As for Sargent, they bought Schollhorn out in 1948.
four.cycle
Well-known member
excellent. great find. 
Apparantly Bernard did work for Schollhorn
"The Wm. Schollhorn Co., founded in 1870 in New Haven, Connecticut, began the tradition of Sargent Quality Tools. William Bernard, inventor of the Bernard parallel action pliers, sold his idea to the Wm. Schollhorn Co, and over the years Bernard served as an engineer, salesman, and finally partner in the company, having designed a wide variety of pliers, ticket punches, and other related general-purpose tools. About eighty years later, The Sargent Manufacturing Company acquired the Wm. Schollhorn Co., and became known as the Hand Tool Division of Sargent Manufacturing.
https://www.sargenttools.com/About/Our-History/"
PL diamond logo , from CRAFTS "Tool Shed" No.188 June 2017
"The Wm. Schollhorn Co., founded in 1870 in New Haven, Connecticut, began the tradition of Sargent Quality Tools. William Bernard, inventor of the Bernard parallel action pliers, sold his idea to the Wm. Schollhorn Co, and over the years Bernard served as an engineer, salesman, and finally partner in the company, having designed a wide variety of pliers, ticket punches, and other related general-purpose tools. About eighty years later, The Sargent Manufacturing Company acquired the Wm. Schollhorn Co., and became known as the Hand Tool Division of Sargent Manufacturing.
https://www.sargenttools.com/About/Our-History/"
PL diamond logo , from CRAFTS "Tool Shed" No.188 June 2017
OP
tontotheindian9
Well-known member
I got it now...thank you.Apparantly Bernard did work for Schollhorn
"The Wm. Schollhorn Co., founded in 1870 in New Haven, Connecticut, began the tradition of Sargent Quality Tools. William Bernard, inventor of the Bernard parallel action pliers, sold his idea to the Wm. Schollhorn Co, and over the years Bernard served as an engineer, salesman, and finally partner in the company, having designed a wide variety of pliers, ticket punches, and other related general-purpose tools. About eighty years later, The Sargent Manufacturing Company acquired the Wm. Schollhorn Co., and became known as the Hand Tool Division of Sargent Manufacturing.
https://www.sargenttools.com/About/Our-History/"
PL diamond logo , from CRAFTS "Tool Shed" No.188 June 2017