Help Identifying Craftsman Mach. Chest

[FJ 432]

Greetings,

I'm relatively new here and I was curious if anyone can help me identify an older machinist chest that I've had for a while.

I had this powdercoated a while back (in my researching on this forum some of you believe that this is something you shouldn't do but I wanted to educate myself on the process of powdercoating). In doing a search I found that most of the older cabinets brought up over the past year was made by Kennedy and they use a rectangular finger pull that is still common on their present cabinets. As you can see in the photos the finger pulls are a bit different but I feel they're original based on the way the metal is stamped to accommodate their size. The latches have the name of a company in Connecticut. The lowest drawer on the inside is stamped "Advertising Metal Display Company of Chicago Ill" directly behind the badge. So my first reaction is that it's probably an older chest from the 1950's. What throws me off are the drawers having slides. I would have thought that slides were used in newer cabinets, maybe in the 1970's. Anyways, I thought someone here may fill in some of the blanks I have on this cabinet.

Any help would be appreciated. I tried to search the web and see if I could find a resource on older Craftsman tool catalogs but I haven't found anything yet.

Regards, Randy

 

[MAD]

Rose Antique Tool site has many catalogs you can view and download.
http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id116.html

There is a similar looking one in the 1960 Hand tool catalog, perhaps others as well.

 

[MAD]

The one in the 1949 catalog looks like it may be a match.

 

[Coach James]

I wish Sears still sold these. I love those kind of boxes.

Coach

 

[lauver]

I think the 1949 catalog illustration that MAD posted is a "dead ringer", the drawer layout, drawer pulls, and Craftsman logo style all match your box. That logo was in use from roughly 1945-1959. There is a fair chance that your box was made by Waterloo. They produced a lot of boxes for Sears over the years. If so, there should be a date stamp in the bottom of the top till, front left corner as you face the box. The time to discover this date stamping was when you had the box stripped down for powder coating. It usually shows up when you've got it sanded down to bare metal.

BTW, your box came out nice.

 

[FJ 432]

Thank you all for the quick information. I sanded the entire outside to bare metal but I did not do as thorough of a job on the inside so I didn't see the markings.

Thanks again and I do love how it turned out. The previous owner appears to have taken really good care of it but at some point it looked like kids started scratching expletives on the outside.

 

[Arne73]

Nice job, I like the color choice on the drawers. It's a good looking design too.

 

[Indy_500]

I wish Sears still sold these. I love those kind of boxes.

Coach

x2, i love machinist boxes!

 

[sselander]

Elroy mentioned a patent for these boxes in a thread

Specifically it is:
US Patent 2599240: Cabinet and drawer assembly (June 3, 1952)
Author: Advertising Metal Display Co
Inventor: Ellerson Eli N
Filed Aug. 24, 1948

this matches my Craftsman box I just picked up and the patents show a connection with Waterloo and Snap-On. (they both referenced the patent).

http://news.google.com/patents/about?id=XEZrAAAAEBAJ

 

[RedVise]

FJ that box turned out very nice ! I would be proud to have that sitting in my garage.
If I read this correctly, you had the power coating done, would you ball park a dollar amount ? If not, no prob !

You ended up with a vintage piece that functions, and looks great.

Brian L.