SilverDeck
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2016
- Messages
- 481
The J100 Keychain Screwdriver Project
The information that will be posted to this thread has been many years in the making. Many of you have waited very patiently for the results of this research to be released. I have chosen to publish the research here, on the Garage Journal forum, because the people of this community have contributed so much to this effort.
This thread is my attempt to document the major types of what are generally referred to as the model J100 (also known as the Model No. 100) keychain screwdrivers. These keychain screwdrivers were initially produced by the Plomb Tool Company as far back at the mid 1920s, and production continuing more or less uninterrupted up until recent times. These pieces were used for promotional and marketing purposes by tool company salesmen, employees, distributors, and others. J100s were also available for sale to the general public as a catalog item.
No research effort is conducted in an informational vacuum, and others (most notably Travis Raynes aka. "Conductor562" and his blog post of 9/14/2014 titled “Revival of the Proto J100” https://toolsinaction.com/revival-of-the-proto-j100/ ) have already laid the groundwork for this effort. I have simply attempted to build on this beginning as a means to identify the major J100 keychain screwdriver types. For the purpose of this research, I have defined a J100 “type” as a distinctive version of a front stamp marking on a particular style or shape of J100. The shapes of J100s, and the production methods by which they were made, changed over the years.
The following is a list of the companies whose names, logos, and markings appear as “front stamps” on J100 keychain screwdrivers. A front stamp is the marking that was intended for the front side of the screwdriver. All are the products of Plomb Tool Company and is successors (Pendleton Tool Industries, Ingersoll-Rand, and Stanley):
Plomb Tool Company
Proto
I-R Proto (Ingersoll-Rand / Proto)
Proto Canada
Proto Hencho en Mexico (made in Mexico, aka “Proto Mex”)
P&C Tool Company (Peterson & Carlborg)
Pendleton Tool Industries Inc.
Pendleton Tool Industries, Intl. (International)
Stanley Proto Industrial Tools
Challenger by Proto
There are countless other names of individuals, businesses, and company logos that appear as back stamps on J100s. This identification effort makes no attempt to catalog all of the hundreds (if not thousands) of varieties of back stamps that appear on J100s. Occasionally, J100s from the post-1949 time period are seen with only a company name or logo on one side and nothing on the other side (blank). Pieces of this type appear to have been specifically produced like this (by Proto) at the specific request of the client. Their shape, finish, and overall appearance make them recognizable as Proto products, despite the fact that they lack any Proto markings.
The J100 types are broken down by front stamp name category (Plomb, Proto, Proto Canada, P&C, etc) in order to keep file sizes of the PDFs manageable and easily downloadable. This identification effort is a work in progress, and undoubtedly new types may come to light after the initial release of this research. To accommodate that, I have added a “version number” and date to each of the PDFs. If additional types are identified, a new version of the PDF will be posted to this thread and the type numbers within that documetn will be shifted to accommodate the new discovery in its proper chronology.
I will also post some additional information about the J100 production process that was obtained through oral interview with Al Albertson, who began working at the Proto P&C facility in Milwaukie, Oregon, in the mid 1960s (where the lion’s share of J100 production took place between the mid 1940s and the closure of that plant by Stanley in 1990). Al eventually worked his way up to become production manager of the Milwaukie plant. I first got connected with Al in December 2020, just months before he passed away from renal failure, and was fortunate to spend a great deal of time visiting with him by phone about J100 production. He walked me through process (from raw material to finished product) and I carefully recorded each of the production steps in a document that I will post to this thread. My understanding of J100s was heavily influenced by Al, and I can’t thank him enough for freely sharing his knowledge.
So without further adieu, I share with you the results of my J100 research. This is (and always will be) a work in progress. Please check back frequently for updates and new additions. I welcome all questions, as well as any contributions, from the readers of this thread.
The information that will be posted to this thread has been many years in the making. Many of you have waited very patiently for the results of this research to be released. I have chosen to publish the research here, on the Garage Journal forum, because the people of this community have contributed so much to this effort.
This thread is my attempt to document the major types of what are generally referred to as the model J100 (also known as the Model No. 100) keychain screwdrivers. These keychain screwdrivers were initially produced by the Plomb Tool Company as far back at the mid 1920s, and production continuing more or less uninterrupted up until recent times. These pieces were used for promotional and marketing purposes by tool company salesmen, employees, distributors, and others. J100s were also available for sale to the general public as a catalog item.
No research effort is conducted in an informational vacuum, and others (most notably Travis Raynes aka. "Conductor562" and his blog post of 9/14/2014 titled “Revival of the Proto J100” https://toolsinaction.com/revival-of-the-proto-j100/ ) have already laid the groundwork for this effort. I have simply attempted to build on this beginning as a means to identify the major J100 keychain screwdriver types. For the purpose of this research, I have defined a J100 “type” as a distinctive version of a front stamp marking on a particular style or shape of J100. The shapes of J100s, and the production methods by which they were made, changed over the years.
The following is a list of the companies whose names, logos, and markings appear as “front stamps” on J100 keychain screwdrivers. A front stamp is the marking that was intended for the front side of the screwdriver. All are the products of Plomb Tool Company and is successors (Pendleton Tool Industries, Ingersoll-Rand, and Stanley):
Plomb Tool Company
Proto
I-R Proto (Ingersoll-Rand / Proto)
Proto Canada
Proto Hencho en Mexico (made in Mexico, aka “Proto Mex”)
P&C Tool Company (Peterson & Carlborg)
Pendleton Tool Industries Inc.
Pendleton Tool Industries, Intl. (International)
Stanley Proto Industrial Tools
Challenger by Proto
There are countless other names of individuals, businesses, and company logos that appear as back stamps on J100s. This identification effort makes no attempt to catalog all of the hundreds (if not thousands) of varieties of back stamps that appear on J100s. Occasionally, J100s from the post-1949 time period are seen with only a company name or logo on one side and nothing on the other side (blank). Pieces of this type appear to have been specifically produced like this (by Proto) at the specific request of the client. Their shape, finish, and overall appearance make them recognizable as Proto products, despite the fact that they lack any Proto markings.
The J100 types are broken down by front stamp name category (Plomb, Proto, Proto Canada, P&C, etc) in order to keep file sizes of the PDFs manageable and easily downloadable. This identification effort is a work in progress, and undoubtedly new types may come to light after the initial release of this research. To accommodate that, I have added a “version number” and date to each of the PDFs. If additional types are identified, a new version of the PDF will be posted to this thread and the type numbers within that documetn will be shifted to accommodate the new discovery in its proper chronology.
I will also post some additional information about the J100 production process that was obtained through oral interview with Al Albertson, who began working at the Proto P&C facility in Milwaukie, Oregon, in the mid 1960s (where the lion’s share of J100 production took place between the mid 1940s and the closure of that plant by Stanley in 1990). Al eventually worked his way up to become production manager of the Milwaukie plant. I first got connected with Al in December 2020, just months before he passed away from renal failure, and was fortunate to spend a great deal of time visiting with him by phone about J100 production. He walked me through process (from raw material to finished product) and I carefully recorded each of the production steps in a document that I will post to this thread. My understanding of J100s was heavily influenced by Al, and I can’t thank him enough for freely sharing his knowledge.
So without further adieu, I share with you the results of my J100 research. This is (and always will be) a work in progress. Please check back frequently for updates and new additions. I welcome all questions, as well as any contributions, from the readers of this thread.
Last edited:
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. (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".
