Railroad Tools Big & Small

[Private Lugnutz]

^ Good to hear, Ben.

Hopefully you can understand that I can only base my impressions on what I have seen on their website - which is Lowell not posting any catalogs or other documents and giving no indication they were even aware of any catalogs, one of which that had been advertised for sale on eBay for several years. You buying it, scanning it, and sending them the scan reveals that they are intimately interested in their history and sitting on a trove of info they have not shared? Again, it's great they posted it (and a copy is now on IA/ITCL as well), and hopefully it will instigate them to share more of this documented knowledge base they ostensibly have.

I know the catalog dates to 1907-08 because of the Multo set.

The catalog dates to at least as late as 1908, as I noted here...

The only facts that we can be sure of with this catalog is that it's not earlier than 1903 and that it's at least as old as 1908.

...and here...

It had to have been published later than 1903, given the reference on page 4 to the "1903 Pattern" (referring to the second Sinclair patent (743,942)) ratchet, and also later than 1908, which is when Lowell introduced the "Multo" kit shown on page 9.

They didn't sell the "Multo" kit for one year only and there is nothing in the text on the "Multo" page that indicates it was just introduced for the first time. In fact, my impression of the way they reference "our Multo wrench" is that it is decidedly not new to their lineup at the time this was published. (Write larger, unless I missed them, there are no indications that any of the tools in the catalog had just been debuted, something we often look for in undated catalogs.)

Without a date or records (or someone analyzing the other tools - 'I.X.L. track drill', 'STD ratchet', etc, for their known production), we don't know when it was published other than no earlier than 1903 and at least as late as 1908 - and I think we can safely add not later than 1916, because that's when they introduced the 1916 Pattern ratchets they advertised as Model 1916's for years after that. Did you or any of the historical experts at Lowell happen to notice and mention no Model 1916's in your collaboration with them?
EDIT: 1908-1916 is already a pretty tight window that maybe you or the historical experts at Lowell can tighten up even more with the other tools.

That's what I meant by interesting exercise in dating now that we have a catalog. A discussion probably best had on the Lowell thread, but I can always cross-link it later.

 

[AntiqueBen]

^ Good to hear, Ben.

Hopefully you can understand that I can only base my impressions on what I have seen on their website - which is Lowell not posting any catalogs or other documents and giving no indication they were even aware of any catalogs, one of which that had been advertised for sale on eBay for several years. You buying it, scanning it, and sending them the scan reveals that they are intimately interested in their history and sitting on a trove of info they have not shared? Again, it's great they posted it (and a copy is now on IA/ITCL as well), and hopefully it will instigate them to share more of this documented knowledge base they ostensibly have.

The catalog dates to at least as late as 1908, as I noted here...

...and here...

They didn't sell the "Multo" kit for one year only and there is nothing in the text on the "Multo" page that indicates it was just introduced for the first time. In fact, my impression of the way they reference "our Multo wrench" is that it is decidedly not new to their lineup at the time this was published. (Write larger, unless I missed them, there are no indications that any of the tools in the catalog had just been debuted, something we often look for in undated catalogs.)

Without a date or records (or someone analyzing the other tools for their known production), we don't know when it was published other than no earlier than 1903 and at least as late as 1908 - and I think we can safely add not later than 1916, because that's when they introduced the 1916 Pattern ratchets they advertised as Model 1916's for years after that.

That's what I meant by interesting exercise in dating now that we have a catalog. A discussion probably best had on the Lowell thread, but I can always cross-link it later.

It will be interesting to see what conversation & opinions will come as people look through this catalog. I'm glad it's up on ITCL too for research purposes. Your mind went were mine did. The 1903 pattern is there & the 1916 patent is not. Then the Multo set is there which came out 1908. These clues quickly gives us a time frame

 

[Private Lugnutz]

^ Roger. But maybe others with more knowledge of the other tools can help confirm or tighten that up.

 

[AntiqueBen]

^ Roger. But maybe others with more knowledge of the other tools can help confirm or tighten that up.

Can't wait to see where it all leads

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Can't wait to see where it all leads

Both ideas and research will lead to some interesting progress. Thanks.

 

[AntiqueBen]

Here is another example of a Lowell catalog. It dates to 1931. I was going to buy this one too, but I let it go. I'm more interested in earlier Lowell catalogs. Here are some pics of a few pages & the covers. Notice this catalog is no. 30.

 

[DetailSeeker]

Lowell did have "some" internal information about the catalog. They just don't posses an actual copy.

(I will note, bitterly, that P.L. Robertson Mfg. Co. has "some" internal information about their screwdriver sizing and it is documentably inaccurate, don't mind me. )

That said: I would bet a small but reasonable amount that that catalog in question was published in spitting distance of June 1909; the American Engineer and Railroad Journal had a "Catalogs" section, and that month said section contained:


(While I'm not claiming the Journal was exhaustive, I can confirm that there is no mention of Lowell putting out a catalog in 1907 or 1908.)

 

[AntiqueBen]

(I will note, bitterly, that P.L. Robertson Mfg. Co. has "some" internal information about their screwdriver sizing and it is documentably inaccurate, don't mind me. )

That said: I would bet a small but reasonable amount that that catalog in question was published in spitting distance of June 1909; the American Engineer and Railroad Journal had a "Catalogs" section, and that month said section contained:


(While I'm not claiming the Journal was exhaustive, I can confirm that there is no mention of Lowell putting out a catalog in 1907 or 1908.)

That's some good detective work
Couldn't be coincidence they say the leaflet gives illustrations, description & pricing of Reversible Ratchet Wrenches. It's as though they are describing my catalog to the T.

 

[four.cycle]

(While I'm not claiming the Journal was exhaustive, I can confirm that there is no mention of Lowell putting out a catalog in 1907 or 1908.)

^ I wouldn't give that one much weight in respect to the "no mention" part - may have been just a simple oversight - may have been a case where the publisher just didn't include that one in the list that month.

I was actually kind of surprised when I saw that Lowell had uploaded the catalog onto their website, so I followed up by sending them all of the catalog/magazine ads I have on the brand, over half of which were published prior to 1930.

The "first catalog" claim seems a bit dubious.

 

[DetailSeeker]

^ I wouldn't give that one much weight in respect to the "no mention" part - may have been just a simple oversight - may have been a case where the publisher just didn't include that one in the list that month.

I do understand that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I am actually trying to get together the wherewithal to write to the Davis Press (now Davis Publications, Inc.) - I cannot for love blood or money find any other publications of theirs which have that logo (although I admit I have been focussing on 1900-1930s), or any record of it with image search, WIPO, or the USPTO. They're just the Davis Press, almost always with "Worcester", often with assorted spellings of Massachusetts. (If you go back to 1900 or earlier, it's the "G. G. Davis Press" or "Gilbert G. Davis Press".)

It is honestly kind of fascinating that Davis Press did the catalog at all! They pretty much published two things: papers and newsletters for the American Antiquarian Society, and educational art materials. (It wasn't just visual arts; I found titles on copper work and basket weaving, for example.) I'm wondering if it was a case of a special project - someone at Lowell knew someone at Davis and the end result was a beautiful collection of illustrations by the staff of the latter which was also a catalog of the products of the former.

Frances

 

[four.cycle]

^ I'd posit the latter.

Some of these players had their fingers in all kinds of different pies.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this large 18” rusty Diamond auto wrench at an estate sale yesterday. Before putting it into the evaporust I used a hand wire brush to remove some of the worst rust. I noticed these additional markings on the wrench. From the research I did (some from years ago on the GJ) the setters stand for Southern Pacific Transportation Company/St. Louis Southwestern Railway
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Sometimes the evaporust makes for an amazing transformation.

-Don

 

[AreBeeBee]

Looks great, Don! The jaws appear to meet parallel and unsprained, as are so many auto wrenches,

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks! For how rusty it was, it came out surprisingly well. It originally wouldn’t close all the way until I finished cleaning it but it finally freed up.


-Don