J100 (Model 100) Keychain Screwdriver Types

[Smokeshow69]

This, my first and one and only J100, just came to me in the most memorable, unusual circumstances. It was in a bunch of bric-a-brac my wife thought I "might like". She has been pulling stuff out of her childhood house before it is put on the market. I was thinking it was a fairly typical Type 02, if I'm reading your guide correctly, but it is only 2-3/8" OAL. (The company was located in St. Louis.) Now that I actually have one and I am paying up-close-and-personal attention to it, I am loving the way the diemaker snuck in the "o" in "Los" just above the leg in the uppercase "L" and as a much smaller superscript than the lowercase "s".

No way. That’s awesome that you got a nice Plomb version with some sentimental value attached to it!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yeah. I don't want to muck up SD's thread, but you can imagine me standing there trying to explain the connection to my wife. "Wow. I collect tools made by this company. See the "o" in Plomb? It's early. Later they changed to a plumb bob looking thingie. These were complimentary advertising items. But there's this guy who has some newsletters from the war with employee's sons saying they are actually using them in the field. There's this other guy who has done a whole timeline study of them..." etc etc, when her eyes had glazed over back at "I collect tools made by this company...".

 

[SilverDeck]

This, my first and one and only J100, just came to me in the most memorable, unusual circumstances. It was in a bunch of bric-a-brac my wife thought I "might like". She has been pulling stuff out of her childhood house, which has been the makeshift inventory storage facility for her deceased mother's defunct "antique"/junk shop for many, many years, before it is put on the market. I was thinking it was a fairly typical Type 02, if I'm reading your guide correctly, but it is only 2-3/8" OAL. (EDIT: The supply company was located in St. Louis.) Now that I actually have one and I am paying up-close-and-personal attention to it, I am loving the way the diemaker snuck in the "o" in "Los" just above the leg in the uppercase "L" and as a much smaller superscript than the lowercase "s".

Lugz:

That is a beautiful Type 02 (short variety)! And how cool that it has family ties. Plomb made a size change during Type 02 production and reduced the size from 2.5” plus to somewhere in the 2 3/8” range. J100 lengths varied somewhat during the hand-forging era. Plomb would further tweak things later on and standardize the J100 length at the 2 1/4” that they were for a long long time.

Your observations on the die sinking for the lettering stamp is very observant. That small “O” in Los Angeles was a unique stamp used only on the Type 02s (both long and short varieties). It is a subtle but cool detail. Nicely formed Type 02s with complete front stamps like yours seem to be the exception rather than the rule. The heads were hand-forged and vary greatly in size and shape. Often the front stamp has weak portions in one end or the other. Yours is just a nice, solid piece, and something that you should be very proud to own! Congratulations on the find and I hope that you enjoy it immensely.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The heads were hand force and vary greatly in size and shape.

Hard to believe how thin it is! I haven't mic'd it, but put it this way: I could cut a good steak with it!

 

[SilverDeck]

Hard to believe how thin it is! I haven't mic'd it, but put it this way: I could cut a good steak with it!

Yep, those early ones not only had thin heads but the screwdriver tips were pretty fine as well. All made on a power hammer (like a Little Giant). I would put the date of your Type 02 short variety somewhere in the late 1920s.

I have seen a few early pieces with thin heads where someone had it on a key ring and torqued the driver so hard that they bent the portion of the head above the hanging hole. I bought a Plomb Type 04 like that very cheap once and was able to slowly and carefully remove the bend in the steel.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Yeah. I don't want to muck up SD's thread, but you can imagine me standing there trying to explain the connection to my wife. "Wow. I collect tools made by this company. See the "o" in Plomb? It's early. Later they changed to a plumb bob looking thingie. These were complimentary advertising items. But there's this guy who has some newsletters from the war with employee's sons saying they are actually using them in the field. There's this other guy who has done a whole timeline study of them..." etc etc, when her eyes had glazed over back at "I collect tools made by this company...".

And here I was thinking I was the only one who could cause a spouse’s eyes to glaze over instantly at the mention of gj or our deep dives. Then again, when my wife starts talking house plants, I can’t tell the difference and glaze over quickly

 

[SilverDeck]

Update: Two new Proto-marked J100 types have surfaced among the "Proto" J100s. These have been placed into a revised verion of the Proto types chart in post #3 (above). The next types have been designated as "Proto Type 12" and "Proto Type 16" and the numbering of the other types has been shifted accordingly to accomodate these new additions.

 

[SilverDeck]

Update: New versions of Plomb Types (see Version 1.1 in post #2) and Proto Types (see Version 1.2 in post #3) uploaded today. Each update incorporates new varieties and/or images.

 

[ecotec]

There are Urrea Mexico ones by the cash register at a local store (Wholesale Tool in Warren). I had zero interest. Mexico is not my brand. If they were Proto… I would have one.

 

[MR.X]

I may have missed it, but....walk me thru how a company would end up with their name on a Plomb keychain screwdriver. So Plomb rep's would pass them out as promotional items for Plomb but also distribute them as promotional items that companies could use to promote themselves as well? Did the company give Plomb the design / font idea for Plomb to stamp? What would the lot size need to be for the effort? Also, are there examples of advertising on the very first types? if not, what is the first known example of outside advertising on a Plomb keychain screwdriver? Thanks.

 

[MR.X]

BTW, here’s one with a funky letter “P” stamp different from what I usually see.

 

[SilverDeck]

Mr. X:

Did you read the post at the start of this thread? Plomb keychain screwdrivers were available two ways: free to Plomb Tool execs and tool reps (in a cetain quantity every so often) and also available for sale to other companies who wished to have their imprint stamp on them. The company placing an order for J100s would supply Plomb with the information that they wanted to appear. These were usually names of businesses but sometimes a company logo would appear. Plomb made up the stamping dies for these in-house.

Al Alberston, who was plant manager at the factory in Milwaukie, Oregon, where J100s were produced from the 1940s until the tooling was moved to Texas in the 1990s, told me that when they woudl gear up to do a production run of J100s, the minimum run size was 4,000 pieces. Later this was rasied to 15,000 pieces. Now remember that the J100s would be forged and trimmed and then placed into stock as "X100" blanks. Later, when an order would come in, they would pull the needed quantity from stock, stamp the markings, then harden them and apply the finishes. At that point they went from being X100s to J100s. I don't know what the minimum size required for stamping an order would be, but I suspect that it was several hundred pieces minimum.

Al told me that for Plomb/Proto tool execs and sales reps would be furnished 300 pieces every 3 months to give out during their sales calls. Typically these had the name of the exec or sales rep on the back of the J100.

I have not seen examples of advertising on the backs of any Plomb Type 01s. From Plomb Type 02 onward, advertising names on the backs were commonplace. So the earliest known examples of names or advertising on the backs were Plomb Type 02 Model 100s/J100s produced in the mid 1920s.

Your J100 with the "funky letter P" looks pretty normal to me. It may be a littel distorted from the stamping, but the P has the slanted loop on it that was part of the trademark logo from Plomb and later Proto.

Hope this helps.

SilverDeck

 

[MR.X]

Mr. X:

Did you read the post at the start of this thread? Plomb keychain screwdrivers were available two ways: free to Plomb Tool execs and tool reps (in a cetain quantity every so often) and also available for sale to other companies who wished to have their imprint stamp on them. The company placing an order for J100s would supply Plomb with the information that they wanted to appear. These were usually names of businesses but sometimes a company logo would appear. Plomb made up the stamping dies for these in-house.

Al Alberston, who was plant manager at the factory in Milwaukie, Oregon, where J100s were produced from the 1940s until the tooling was moved to Texas in the 1990s, told me that when they woudl gear up to do a production run of J100s, the minimum run size was 4,000 pieces. Later this was rasied to 15,000 pieces. Now remember that the J100s would be forged and trimmed and then placed into stock as "X100" blanks. Later, when an order would come in, they would pull the needed quantity from stock, stamp the markings, then harden them and apply the finishes. At that point they went from being X100s to J100s. I don't know what the minimum size required for stamping an order would be, but I suspect that it was several hundred pieces minimum.

Al told me that for Plomb/Proto tool execs and sales reps would be furnished 300 pieces every 3 months to give out during their sales calls. Typically these had the name of the exec or sales rep on the back of the J100.

I have not seen examples of advertising on the backs of any Plomb Type 01s. From Plomb Type 02 onward, advertising names on the backs were commonplace. So the earliest known examples of names or advertising on the backs were Plomb Type 02 Model 100s/J100s produced in the mid 1920s.

Your J100 with the "funky letter P" looks pretty normal to me. It may be a littel distorted from the stamping, but the P has the slanted loop on it that was part of the trademark logo from Plomb and later Proto.

Hope this helps.

SilverDeck

Thanks. I notice in your type 1 column, one of the bullet points is "early to mid 1920's" I'm assuming this is a best guess from available evidence? so in all probability the company's namesake was long gone ( as in not with Plomb Tool Co.) before J100s were first being produced?