Recognize this tool, or logo?

[Leviton]

Anyone know what this is - or recognize the logo?

It's 17.3 inches long.
It has a keystone logo with what looks like a diamond inside. (See thumbnails).

 

[Wrench97]

Looks like a tire iron from the days of split rims/wheels

 

[OldnSlo]

+1 on the tire iron.

 

[DetailSeeker]

Anyone know what this is - or recognize the logo?

It's 17.3 inches long.
It has a keystone logo with what looks like a diamond inside. (See thumbnails).

I think that might be the Keystone Forging Co logo, found in the Custom Forging Capability Chart on Google Books.


Founded in 1893 and still going, it looks like.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Keystone Drop Forge of Northumberland, PA had a different logo:

Keystone Drop Forge Works, Northumberland, PA 1910 Logo

Keystone Drop Forge Works at International Tool Catalog Library

 

[DetailSeeker]

^ Keystone Drop Forge of Northumberland, PA had a different logo:

Keystone Drop Forge Works, Northumberland, PA 1910 Logo

Keystone Drop Forge Works at International Tool Catalog Library

Isn't that Chester PA, not Northumberland? I was thinking "Keystone Drop Forge" and "Keystone Forging Co" were two different companies.

ETA: This 1899 ad and 1902 stock certificate put Keystone Drop Forge in Pennsylvania, but both that 1910 catalog and this 1935 obituary refer to it as being in Chester. Which is fine - companies can move - but I can't find mention of them being in Northumberland.

 

[four.cycle]

It is.

Keystone Drop Forge was located in Chester in 1910 when the catalog now at ITCL was published, but they have since relocated to Northumberland

I don't have a "Keystone Forging Company" listed...

In 1874, this firm—variously named Key Stone Forge Co., Keystone Forge Co., or Keystone Portable Forge Co.—was active and making forges and blowers for blacksmithing. There was a Keystone Forge in Reading, Pa. (which may be related to Gray Iron Foundry & Manufacturing Co., Inc.), and we are uncertain whether the two businesses related.

Keystone / Keystone Brass & Rubber Co., 811-815 Chestnut St., Philadelphia PA / ca. 1939 / insulated screwdriver /

Keystone / "Keystone Dehorner", "Improved Keystone" dehorner / see A.C. Brosius, Cochranville, PA; see M.T. Phillips, Pomeroy, PA /

Keystone / Keystone Drop Forge Co., Northumberland, PA / http://www.keystoneforging.com / http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=2263 /

Keystone / Keystone Farm Machine Works, York, PA / implement wrench /

Keystone / Keystone Grinder & Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh, PA / bench grinder /

Keystone / Ellis Keystone Agricultural Works, Pottstown, PA / implement wrenches /

Keystone / Keystone Mfg., 41-63 Chandler St., Buffalo, NY / http://alloy-artifacts.org/keystone-manufacturing.html / "Westcott" "Keyco" "Weston" / patent 288098 Nov 6 1883 & 446073 Feb 10 1891 Charles H. Myers & 1534537 Apr 21 1925 Edwin S. Miller & 1696444 Dec 25 1928 Edwin S. Miller et al /

Keystone / Keystone Reamer & Tool Co., Millersburg, PA / taps & dies, reamers / http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=11678 /

Keystone / Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel & File Works see Henry Disston & Sons /

Keystone / Keystone Vise see Hollands Mfg. Co., Erie, PA /

 

[DetailSeeker]

I mean, maybe they just did custom forging? I was thinking of them as more like Moore than a tool manufacturer, per se.

They're also mentioned in this post on the Eugene Cornwell thread:

Ok folks, I must retract my above connection. Even though I still believe Isaac and Eugene contributed only their "Cornwell Process" to the Cornwell Quality Tool Co. and made their initial tools, the catalog above is the wrong Keystone. This catalog is for Keystone Drop Forge Works in Chester, PA. Isaac ran Keystone Forging Co. in Northumberland, PA.

 

[four.cycle]

^ If you read through the text on the VintageMachinery.org site, you will see that the two companies Todd was referring to were actually one and the same company - they just moved from Chester to Northumberland.

 

[DetailSeeker]

I'm sorry, this might be a super obvious thing like "Galt is now part of Cambridge", but I'm remaining confused, even looking at VintageMachinery.org .

• 1911 book A History of Bristol Borough in the County of Bucks, State of Pennsylvania, by Doron Green. "Stimulated by the large profits of the Bristol Forge and Iron Company during the brief period of its prosperity, a second organization was formed under the name and title of the Keystone Forge Company, with a capital of $87,000. An extensive plant was erected on the eastern side of the old railroad, south of Mill Street, but too late to receive any profitable business. Losses thus incurred absorbed nearly the whole capital..."
  As far as I can tell, that book is dated 1911, but it's referring to older events. It seems to be online at this page; I've marked the quote from the bullet with bolded text:
  

  ​ CHAPTER X. THE TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH OF BRISTOL.​ [ ... ] In 1852 a stock company, with a capital of twelve thousand dollars, built the Bristol forge for the manufacture of heavy shafting and other large pieces of wrought iron. [...] The large amount of iron-working machinery put into operation all over the country during the war, and the sudden withdrawal of demand for the products consequent upon its termination, created a depression in the business from which this company never recovered. The plant has since been entirely removed. Stimulated by the large profits of the Bristol Forge & Iron Company during the brief period of its prosperity, a second organization was formed under the name and title of the Keystone Forge Company, with a capital of eighty-seven thousand dollars. An extensive plant was erected, but too late to receive any profitable business. Losses thus incurred absorbed nearly the whole capital. The Bristol Woolen Mill Company was organized in 1864 with a capital of sixty thousand dollars [...] The Livingston mills were built in 1868 by Messrs. Charles W. and Joshua Pierce [...]

  
  That section of the book, listing the forges and mills, seems to be running in chronological order. So it's talking about the Keystone Forge Company in Bristol (which is near Chester), which was founded after 1852 but before 1865 (during the "brief period of prosperity", which I understand to mean "between Bristol Forge & Iron's founding in 1952 and the end of the Civil War").
  That is decades before the Keystone Forge/Forging Co, currently in Northumberland, was founded. So I am inclined to think of the one mentioned in that bullet and the one that had the "K in a diamond in a keystone logo" that was founded in 1893 as two different companies.
• 1911 book Genealogical and Biographical Annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. That year (1895) the Van Alen Company purchased the plant of the Keystone Forge Company, located at Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., Pa., and moved it to Northumberland; this plant is now owned by the members of the Van Alen Company, Isaac Cornwall and J. D. Weekes. In 1908 the Van Alen Company devoted the entire mill to forge work and the manufacture of nail products, in which they give employment to about one hundred and fifty men. This establishment has been one of the thriving interests of Northumberland throughout its existence, bringing prosperity to owners and employees alike."
• 1916-02-24 The Iron Trade review. "Northumberland, Pa.—The Keystone Forge Co. contemplates the erection of a 2-story forge shop addition.

If KFC was in Northumberland in 1895, 1908, and 1916 (from the last two bullets above) and presently, and KDF was in Chester in 1906 (from this photo), 1910 (from the catalog) and 1935 (from this obituary), how are they not different companies?

 

[DetailSeeker]

Alright. I need to stop now, but as early as the 14th edition (which if they were doing a volume a year was in 1906) and as late as the 1925 edition of the Hendricks' commercial register of the United States for buyers and sellers, Keystone Drop Forge Works of Chester, PA and Keystone Forging Co of Northumberland, PA were two separate companies.


One edition of the Custom Forging Capabilities book shows the K-in-a-diamond-in-a-keystone logo for "Keystone Forging Co" current as of 1996; the one I linked upthread shows it current as of 1991. (That is a fairly useless span, and I don't know when they started using the logo; all I can say is that it doesn't seem to have appeared on their website since 2002.) But a Keystone Forging Co from Northumberland has been manufacturing car stuff (highly technical term, I know) since 1899 (bottom right corner, the highlighting is weird), so the idea that a tire iron with that logo is from them does not seem unreasonable to me.

(As someone who realized yesterday that a certain duty does not appear in the written job description I have been working with for over six years, I will say this is absolutely the kind of thing I can see missing.)

 

[Wrench97]

Isn't that Chester PA, not Northumberland? I was thinking "Keystone Drop Forge" and "Keystone Forging Co" were two different companies.

ETA: This 1899 ad and 1902 stock certificate put Keystone Drop Forge in Pennsylvania, but both that 1910 catalog and this 1935 obituary refer to it as being in Chester. Which is fine - companies can move - but I can't find mention of them being in Northumberland.

The stock cert is made out to John Crozer(1793-1866) was from the Upland Pa which is across the street from Chester but the only address I can find the for Keystone Drop Forge is in Philly. There are references to Keystone Drop Forge in Chester but no addresses.
JP Crozer was pretty influential in the area owning several fabric mills and other business so he may have bought up stock and moved the company to Chester.
Even the Old Chester Pa web site has no info on them so that would make me believe they folded before 1900.



19th and Clearfield today is pretty much a empty lot.

 

[DetailSeeker]

The stock cert is made out to John Crozer(1793-1866) was from the Upland Pa which is across the street from Chester but the only address I can find the for Keystone Drop Forge is in Philly. There are references to Keystone Drop Forge in Chester but no addresses.
JP Crozer was pretty influential in the area owning several fabric mills and other business so he may have bought up stock and moved the company to Chester.
Even the Old Chester Pa web site has no info on them so that would make me believe they folded before 1900.

The front cover of the 1910 catalog has the Keystone Drop Forge Works at the intersection of Central and Delaware avenues in Chester, PA. And the Hendrick's I linked a couple of posts up doesn't have an address beyond "Chester", but was printed in 1925.

 

[Wrench97]

The front cover of the 1910 catalog has the Keystone Drop Forge Works at the intersection of Central and Delaware avenues in Chester, PA. And the Hendrick's I linked a couple of posts up doesn't have an address beyond "Chester", but was printed in 1925.

Central and Delaware Ave is river front, and where the infamous Wade waste dump fire was in 1978, burned out of control for several days.
Long term health issues for a lot of first responders. I worked about 5 blocks from there at the time.

Established in 1886 on the catalog puts this company after John P Crozers death though.

 

[DetailSeeker]

Central and Delaware Ave is river front, and where the infamous Wade waste dump fire was in 1978, burned out of control for several days.
Long term health issues for a lot of first responders. I worked about 5 blocks from there at the time.

Related-but-not-quite: I saw a government report in passing that seemed to mention Keystone Forging Co as one of the three worst polluters in Northumberland (it was a search result summary and I didn't click through).

Established in 1886 on the catalog puts this company after John P Crozers death though.

Maybe a descendant or just a different Crozer, I guess? It's dated 1902, and it's not his estate or anything.

Frances

 

[Wrench97]

Related-but-not-quite: I saw a government report in passing that seemed to mention Keystone Forging Co as one of the three worst polluters in Northumberland (it was a search result summary and I didn't click through).


Maybe a descendant or just a different Crozer, I guess? It's dated 1902, and it's not his estate or anything.

Frances

I missed the date so a grandson or great grandson.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I'm confused.
You've got a Keystone Drop Forge Company advertisement from 1892
and a Keystone Drop Forge Works stock certificate from 1902
and ITCL has a 1910 Keystrone Drop Forge Works catalog on the site.

So.... which company is which? You've got two different company names:

 

[DetailSeeker]

^ I'm confused.
You've got a Keystone Drop Forge Company advertisement from 1892
and a Keystone Drop Forge Works stock certificate from 1902
and ITCL has a 1910 Keystrone Drop Forge Works catalog on the site.

So.... which company is which? You've got two different company names:

Two companies, three or four names.

I think that Keystone Drop Forge Works and Keystone Drop Forge Co are the same company - one that was in Philadelphia (at 19th and Clearfield) in 1892 and 1897 and 1901 and 1902, and in Chester as of 1906. References to it seem to stop by the 1930s. I cannot, as of yet, find any evidence that a company called "Keystone Drop Forge Works" or "Keystone Drop Forge Co" existed past then, or that it ever moved anywhere after it was in Chester, PA. This was the company that had a P-in-a-keystone trademark.

In support of the idea that they are the same, I offer a 1909 catalogue page that shows something that appears to be the same as the connecting link from the 1892 ad above. If KDF Works and KDF Co are not the same company, then I feel they are so close as to suggest that the company dragged itself down an alley, turned itself inside out, and came back out wearing its own coat.


And there is a second company, which never had "Drop" in the name. That is the Keystone Forging (or Forge) Co. This is the one referenced in the VM bullet:

That year (1895) the Van Alen Company purchased the plant of the Keystone Forge Company, located at Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., Pa., and moved it to Northumberland [...]. In 1908 the Van Alen Company devoted the entire mill to forge work and the manufacture of nail products [...]. This establishment has been one of the thriving interests of Northumberland throughout its existence, bringing prosperity to owners and employees alike.

According to a 1903 source, the company works in Elizabethtown were bought and named the "Keystone Forging Co" in 1893. In 1895, they incorporated and moved to Northumberland, and the company has been in Northumberland from 1895 until the present day.
The name "Keystone Forge Co" appears to be an error that pops up now and then until 1911, which is when the cited bullet was written, but 1895 references to them as a new company (presumably due to incorporation) use the word Forging, and it's the current name. And this is the company that as late as 1996 was using the K-in-a-diamond-in-a-keystone logo.

The two companies - KDF and KFC, for simplicity's sake - are two different companies. They existed at the same time for a while, as seen here, but they are distinct, and while they both existed they had about half a state between them.