Mechanics Tool & Forge Company

[MattT]

the middle one looks pretty old

Yeah that C8 is an older one. That part number is in the 1949 catalog but gone by 1951.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Here is a set of Mac-it hex keys in a cloth roll I picked up today. They were just too cool to pass up. I didn't know there was a Mac-it company but close enough to Mac so I'll post them here. A couple pics. Ed.

 

[Tylermorris]

Mac ridge reamer and some other old Mac stuff

 

[Dibiase77]

Mac ridge reamer and some other old Mac stuff

That acetate handle is pretty cool. What exactly is a ridge reamer if you don't mind me asking?

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[Rileysan]

That acetate handle is pretty cool. What exactly is a ridge reamer if you don't mind me asking?

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A ridge reamer is used to clean up the ridge at the top of a cylinder bore of an internal combustion engine before removing a piston. A ridge of carbon will form right where a piston ring stops, making it difficult to remove the piston without damaging the rings. Most people have never disassembled an engine, let alone rebuilt one, so it's not a commonly used or understood tool.

Brian

 

[Tylermorris]

What he said.... here’s a few more

 

[Dibiase77]

Thanks for helping me learn something new. I disassembled a lawnmower engine in high school but never got very far in reassembly. I'm pretty good mechanically but using a ridge reamer is a little out of my wheelhouse.

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[3baygarage]

Here is a set of Mac-it hex keys in a cloth roll I picked up today. They were just too cool to pass up. I didn't know there was a Mac-it company but close enough to Mac so I'll post them here. A couple pics. Ed.

Those may deserve their own thread. I used to see those wrenches loose quite often because of my habit of reading names on every tool, even allen wrenches. I was never quite sure if they were “MAC” as they were stamped MAC-IT. There is an article in google books if you haven’t seen it yet. Seems like the company had something to do with hex head set screws.

https://books.google.com/books?id=yDBKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=mac+it+tool+company+lancaster+pa&source=bl&ots=jnjotWh9Y8&sig=ACfU3U0JHBsXlWovR-7zlQOckir9EO-HUw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5i5_30M7iAhWSsJ4KHR9xA484ChDoATAJegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=mac%20it%20tool%20company%20lancaster%20pa&f=false

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks for the info 3bay. I did find a Mac-it parts company still in business in Lancaster. I also saw a vintage add showing they made fasteners including socket head set screws. Their website says they've been around for 100 years so it appears they are still in business. https://www.macit.com/ Ed.

 

[DogtownNate]

I live down the road from Sabina. There is a generation in Sabina that has sadly been coming to terms over the last decade. One man I know particularly well, he worked at Mac from the day he graduated until the day the replacement he was training nearly burned a worker alive in a furnace. Bill saved his life by physically restraining the white collar college kid who was trying to fire it up... I'd say took him little more than a backhand... Bills mind is going though, and the doctors don't know why... But I'll tell you this, somewhere in his noggin is the greatest resource for Mac history there is.... I'll tell you some of what he and others around Sabina have told me. I didn't see it posted anywhere but MAC was an acronym for mech. Tool, allied tool and Clinton tool. Most people I have asked seem to agree Clinton was barely a start up and already had inside interests in the formation of MAC. Some of the tools don't say Sabina, because they were made in Washington court house at the Mac facility there.... They would bounce the Hardline stuff there to meet demandnsometime. Also it's inportant to note.... Stanley acquiring Mac tool was a hostile corporate take over. A company that was always tangled up with paper problems finally had the growing corporate climate of the times wrap their greedy claws around what was a family and VERY LOCAL business... One thing you'll notice driving by the old Sabina Mac building is that there was never much of a parking lot. Nearly everyone who worked there walked to work because they lived in the little village of Sabina, often meeting in pairs they grew to larger groups as they reached he plant. Their company days were real... They'd have the driver's they sponsered at the picnics and giveaways they had high dollar values behind them... Some only made for the purpose.... Bill has a shed which contains at least one of every Mac tool made in Sabina from the time he started until he walked out that day.... Anybody wanna know somethibg, I know it's just hearsay as it were, but maybe I could fill you in on some things, as it's been told to me.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for posting, Dogtown Nate. It's always fascinating to hear insight and scuttlebutt from former employees old enough to remember the days before conglomeration.

I didn't see it posted anywhere but MAC was an acronym for mech. Tool, allied tool and Clinton tool.

This is not true. One of those kinds of nifty factoids that seems so obvious and gets told so many times it becomes impossible to reverse. Unfortunately, Alloy Artifacts makes the same assertion, which perpetuates the falsehood. Ironically, even their mistake is a mistake!

I'll explain.

The source of the claim is almost certainly page 2 of the 1951 catalog.

As you can see, the "A" in MAC is attributed to the "A" in MAC of MAC Allied Tools Corporation, not the "A" in Allied of MAC Allied Tools Corporation.

Regardless of that, and regardless of how apparent this acronym may seem to work out, it was a post facto marketing ploy. A handy and coincidental bit of wordplay to bind the companies together on paper.

The facts do not support it.

The Mechanics Tool & Forge Company was established in 1938 by Ralph McPherson. When "MAC" was formally registered as a trademark (#439,367) on July 22, 1948, their trademark application, which can be read on the USPTO site by clicking on this link here, stated that the "MAC" name had been "continuously used and applied to said goods in applicant's business in interstate commerce since January of 1939."

Since Clinton Tools and MAC Allied Tools were not formed until the mid 1940's, the name "MAC" cannot have been invented as an acronym from their names.

Todd and I believe "MAC" was probably derived from Ralph McPherson's last name, as a nickname ("Mac"), a common practice.

Yet another key trademark application that Alloy Artifacts did not pay enough attention to the details, looking strictly at the registration date, not the first use claim date, and efforts to correct them have gone unanswered.

Bill has a shed which contains at least one of every Mac tool made in Sabina from the time he started until he walked out that day....

What is the address?

 

[Tylermorris]

My Mac toolbox, anyone have idea of age?

 

[r_olson_06]

Found this nice old Leatherette today with all the orginal punches. Some have seen better days but couldn't pass on this vintage Leatherette. Check the name after cleaning it up! I am super green on this topic but anyone have an age of this? I read through Woody's orginal post which narrows it down a bit.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's the style and marking of the leatherette roll-ups for all the tools in the 1946 catalog, Roy. Those are very early. Nice snag.

 

[r_olson_06]

Re: Mechanics Tool & Forge Company

That's the style and marking of the leatherette roll-ups for all the tools in the 1946 catalog, Roy. Those are very early. Nice snag.

Thanks for the info. Can't leave a leatherette behind. I maybe addicted to them after find that pair of Plombs.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[outofbounds]

Has anyone seen this Mis-strike before? SABNIA, rather than SABINA? I'm guessing a Friday wrench, and someone looking for a new job on Monday.

 

[Username already in use]

I was pleasantly surprised to run across this Mechanics Tool & Forge leatherette full of DOE wrenches today at the flea. D1 through D9 and only missing the D2!

Originally posted on page 2 of this thread from June of 2018, I've had an alert set on the auction site since that time, as well as the near weekly hunt at the flea. The missing D2 finally popped up late last week. So, I've finally completed this set.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That is a beautiful sight!

 

[Username already in use]

That is a beautiful sight!

Thanks Lugz!

 

[Outlawmws]

UAIU, was it at a flea or 'that auction site"?

Congrats!

 

[Username already in use]

UAIU, was it at a flea or 'that auction site"?

Congrats!

Thanks Outlaw! It came from the auction site. I’m happy with what I paid for it though. And the finish matches spot on so likely from the same era.

 

[MShaw]

Just for the gee whiz I had a MAC Z4R 3/4"drive long arm ratchet that I bought from New Britain when I worked there in the early 1970s. I would include a picture but I gave all my 3/4" drive stuff to my son a year ago.

 

[bmwrd0]

Lugz had asked for extra pics of this old girl, so, without further ado

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice handle

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Wow. That's a beaut! And they put the 'Sabina, O.' on it just like the wrenches. Those are the kind of finds that make really nice accent pieces in a box or display.

 

[outofbounds]

Some finds out of a random box of very clean wrenches acquired yesterday.

Old line wrench (and a half) and an early Monogram logo combination wrench.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Spoke Wrench


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[d42jeep]

Probably a brake adjusting wrench. Here is my Cornwell version for adjusting my Jeep’s brakes.
-Don

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Mechanics Tool & Forge Company

Yep!...I just assumed it was a spoke wrench, just now looked it up. Now it makes sense that it has engraving on it related to a military unit.


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[Ton ton]

I was pleasantly surprised to run across this Mechanics Tool & Forge leatherette full of DOE wrenches today at the flea. D1 through D9 and only missing the D2!

Beautiful wrenches.

 

[Username already in use]

Beautiful wrenches.

Thanks @Ton ton !

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This is the second best "MAC" related find I have ever had, behind the 3/8-inch drive socket set in post #34 on page 1. Ironically, and perhaps tellingly, it also came in a cardboard box. Two related Mac Allied Tool Corporation USS re-threader sets, 1/4" to 5/8", one NC, and the other NF. They were so grungy I couldn't even identify the mfgr when I was standing there at the flea market. Only when I got home and inspected the tan colored box more carefully did I discover the branding.





The holders are just blocks of stained red wood inside cardboard boxes.



The chasers are not marked. But from the markings on the box that I can make out, and my familiarity with NF and NC re-threaders, they appear to be NC 3/8"-11, 9/16"-12, 1/2"-13, 7/16"-14, 3/8"-16, 5/8"-18, and 1/4"-20, and NF 5/8"-18, 9/16"-18, 1/2"-20, 7/16"-20, 3/8"-24, 5/16"-24, and 1/4"-28.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I gingerly cleaned the best box with a soft pad sopped in warm water and Dawn, which reads better on an angle like this...



See that red marking on the bottom? It reads: "MAC" Mac Allied Tools Corp. Tallmadge, Ohio, U.S.A. "MAC"

Here's a better look...



But the most interesting marking is probably on the bottom of the box, explaining that the boxes and rethreaders are color coded! The "blued" re-threaders (in the blue box!) are NF. The copper-coated re-threaders (in the copper-colored box!) are NC.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They've got to be from 1946 to 1961, and I am guessing based on their appearance, the packaging, and the "Tallmadge" address (which appears on a 1947 catalog, "Akron" appears on the 1948 catalog), that they are pretty early. Unfortunately, I could not find them in any of the catalogs on IA/ITCL.

 

[Provincial]

The NC rethreaders are labelled "USS" which is the effectively the same thing. This is another indication of earlier production.

I believe that these rethreader dies were supplied by a vendor, rather than made by MAC. I know Snap-On and others also sold identical tools, but in different packaging. I found a website that probably identifies this source:

https://jawco.com/pages/about

JAW Manufacturing Co. has been a manufacturer and distributor of thread-restoring files and special automotive non-powered hand tools for over 70 years. Products include thread-restoring files and nut-sized hex rethreading dies and low-cost rethreading taps in both NC-USS, NF-SAE, and metric sizes from 8 to 32 threads per inch and 0.80mm to 3.00mm pitch. JAW Mfg. invented the nut-sized rethreading dies in 1951 and the low-cost rethreading taps a few years later. Rethreading dies range from 1/4 inch to 1-3/8 inch (6mm to 24mm) and taps from 1/4 inch to 9/16 inch (6mm to 14mm). Other special automotive repair hand tools were added later: flexible-shaft tools, including flexible-shaft hex keys, extensions, and screwdrivers, and impact drivers, carburetor-adjusting tools, metric files and tools, tri-square wrenches, brake spring compressors, tire valve tools, internal rethreading tools, and diesel head alignment repair tools.​

JAW Manufacturing Co. was founded and incorporated in Reading, Pennsylvania, in August 1950 by James A. Williamson (1916–2001) and has been headed by his son, James A. Williamson, Jr., since 1990. We are proud of our long history of quality tool making and of our longtime dedicated and hard-working employees, upon which our good reputation for quality tools and your satisfaction depends.​

Also note that these tools are really not dies, but "thread forming" tools that force the material of the bolt/stud into the form of a thread, rather than cutting threads by removing material. This returns the thread to its original form, with all the metal remaining in use. This is much stronger than cutting away the distorted thread material, which leaves a weakened thread.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I believe that these rethreader dies were supplied by a vendor, rather than made by MAC.

Definitely. That's precisely what the Mac Allied Tools Corp was set up for in the triumvirate between Mechanics Tool & Forge, Mac Allied Tools and Clinton. It operated sort of like Motor Tools Specialty Corp did for Snap-on in the very early years. Leading directly to MATCO.

 

[Ton ton]

I gingerly cleaned the best box with a soft pad sopped in warm water and Dawn, which reads better on an angle like this...



See that red marking on the bottom? It reads: "MAC" Mac Allied Tools Corp. Tallmadge, Ohio, U.S.A. "MAC"

Here's a better look...



But the most interesting marking is probably on the bottom of the box, explaining that the boxes and rethreaders are color coded! The "blued" re-threaders (in the blue box!) are NF. The copper-coated re-threaders (in the copper-colored box!) are NC.

Nice threader set.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Ton ton.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I just posted a comment on this in the "tap and die" thread HERE

 

[Oldtuleguy]

An old combo set. Thought it was interesting the smaller wrenches are 6 point