Screw starters...

[d42jeep]

Wait. What?!

First on the thread and all of GJ (where it was spelled out, anyway) according to the Search function. You actually found one back in 2020 (see post #13) but named it merely as a "Stanley".

What's interesting to me is that it looks and appears to function exactly like a HOLD-E-ZEE (Upson Brothers 1791771 / 1927 and 1841307 / 1929). Even the syntax of the branding (all caps, hyphenated three-part term) is similar: HOLD-E-ZEE and SPEE-D-GRIP.

Without doing a lick of research yet, I am wondering if the SPEE-D-GRIP was...
(a) Stanley's branding of a licensed use of the Upson Bros product
(b) Upson Bros production for Stanley
(c) a blatant rip-off, or
(d) did Stanley buy them out?

I hate to be the pessimistic cynic, but I am eliminating (d), because I am pretty sure Upson Bros continued with their cash cow right through the 60's if not longer and Stanley almost assuredly would've just kept the extremely successful HOLD-E-ZEE name, no?, hoping for (a) or (b), yet thinking (c)!

Is there a patent or any other info on it?

Here you go. Pat. Pend.
And Made in U.S.A.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Pat. Pend.

Thanks, Don.

It's odd this has never come up on the thread before.

I couldn't find a patent for a screw-starter or holder in DATAMP or in the even longer list of Stanley patents at vintagemachinery.org.

I checked Stanely catalogs on IA/TICL based on their TM (1953, first use in 1951), also no dice on a patent number. The earliest catalog closest to 1951 on IA/ITCL is the 1953 edition, it includes the SPEE-D-GRIP, but it does not mention a patent. The description does not indicate that it is newly introduced, so maybe a 1951 or 1952 edition would. I browsed several other 50's and 60's catalogs, no mention of a patent.

The last recourse would be to go through the Smithsonian archives of the USPTO reports from 1951-1953 or so, but the premise of that is the usual suspects (GJ, DATAMP, VM) missed it, and it's a more protracted endeavor.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I just went through the annual USPTO reports for 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954.

Stanley was issued nineteen (19) patents in those years - none of them were for a screw starter/holder. Only a few of them were tools related.

There was a total of twenty-three (23) patents issued for screw starters, screw holders, screwdrivers with the screw holder attachments, and the like - some of them quite interesting, but none of them assigned to Stanley Works.

If there was a patent awarded for the HOLD-E-ZEE look-a-like SPEE-D-GRIP design, I can't find it.

Maybe someone else will have better results.

 

[d42jeep]

Found these Quick-Wedge screw starters at a Carson City garage sale last Saturday. They didn’t look much better after cleanup.
-Don

 

[Stubby1743]

This is probably a bit too new for a vintage thread but it is interesting I think. Full 1000V VDE. Presumably for use in live electrical cabinets.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a Great Neck screw starter I found at a sale recently.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

I brought this SURE-HOLD screwdriver home yesterday, thinking there'd SURE-LY be one in this thread already; but, apparently not. PAT PEND'G. Google doesn't bring up another one, so maybe there weren't many made. I wonder if they ever got the patent. I can do okay searching actual patent numbers or dates, but pending examples are harder.







Tom

EDIT-- overall length is 10"

 

[Private Lugnutz]

First thought: very similar (though not identical) in design to the Grasp-It!

That's going to be tough to search. "Sure-Hold" turns up in all kinds of sectors in Google Books. It was used for Ford transmission band linings and hose couplings by two different companies and a third company making brooms in the 20's, and later trademarked by a Nashua, NH company of the same name in 1932, but not for tools, bands for hats, shirts, hosiery, handkerchiefs and the like.

If you had a date or even a date range, you could go through the USPTO gazettes in the Smithsonian (or Hathi Trust) for each year, looking at screwdrivers, screw starters, screw holders, etc. I've done it, successfully, but not twenty or thirty years (gazettes). That's laborious. You have to jot all the potential numbers down, sometimes several each year, then look them up in the USPTO database.

 

[Oregon Dave]

I brought this SURE-HOLD screwdriver home yesterday, thinking there'd SURE-LY be one in this thread already; but, apparently not. PAT PEND'G. Google doesn't bring up another one, so maybe there weren't many made. I wonder if they ever got the patent. I can do okay searching actual patent numbers or dates, but pending examples are harder.







Tom

EDIT-- overall length is 10"

The first spring type screwholding screwdriver; Rudolph J. Velepec of Rochester NY was granted patent 1,641,307, in 1927, but it didn’t go into any serious production until much later, ultimately by Upson Brothers, Incorporated, also of Rochester.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The first spring type screwholding screwdriver; Rudolph J. Velepec of Rochester NY was granted patent 1,641,307, in 1927,

That's inaccurate, Dave. The Velepec/Upson Bros HOLD-E-ZEE is arguably the most well-known by our generation, probably the most common, and the design is fairly old, but not the first spring mechansim. The Campbell Driver, patented (703,638) on July 1, 1902, by J.D. Campbell uses a spring. See post #6. So does the Grasp-It (also posted in post #6), also posted in its own thread here, patented in 1917, and advertised as early as 1916, and much less ungainly than the Campbell. Hiding the spring in a low-profile tube was clever of Velepec, whereas it's exposed in the Campbell, Grasp-It, and the SURE-HOLD Tom just found.

EDIT: Gun to my head, I'd say the SURE-HOLD was also older.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Tom (@Mintgrun),

I was finally able to find some periodicals mentioning your SURE-HOLD screwdriver in Google Books by separating the words "screw" and "driver" in my search - and it suddenly makes a lot of sense why you found the first (and, so far, the only!). The first address the Sure-Hold Screw Driver Company listed was Seattle.

The earliest Salesmen Wanted classifieds I found were January 1926. The Eagle (see example below) was a local Seattle magazine, but the extent of the aspirations was clear. They also ran the same ad in How to Sell, a national magazine, and by 1927, they were running them in Popular Mechanics (see example below) and Popular Science. Note that the address is an office, which was typically done when the inventor and maybe a business partner tries to make a go of it himself and has not gone into even limited production. Judging by the 1927 McRae's Blue Book, linked here, it looks like they found a company, Valley Machine & Tool Works, in Stockton, CA, to make it for them, or buy them out, and according to this Snippet-Only view of the Conover-Mast Purchasing Directory, they were still making them as late as 1949.

I did not find any ads for the actual screwdrivers. And I did not look for the patent. But if a patent was granted, we have a much narrower range (1925-1929-ish) to search now.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I updated our running list of A-Z Brand Names.

 

[Mintgrun]

Amazing research, Lugz! I just spent some time looking at old photographs of 3rd and Jefferson in Seattle and reading a bit about its history. This photo is older than the screwdriver's timeframe, but does show a hardware store.



The building behind the Hair Store is the Katzenjammer Castle, which was demolished in 1909 and they moved the City Hall to a new location.



The triangular Hair Store building turned into the Triangular Pub, which is still there today; although they've added onto the building.



(I'm easily distracted).

Tom

Edit, I'm also easily lost. See 4.cycle's posts below.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...but does show a hardware store.

That's promising!

(I'm easily distracted).

Aren't we all?

We had a more severe triangular store where I grew up, in Palmerton, PA. Throughout my childhood it was the home of Krex's, a general store, where we bought candy and comic books. Naturally, everyone called it Krex's Corner, due to the shape of the building and the alliteration. The shape was necessitated by the tracks of the Chestnut Ridge Railway, which ran between the East and West Plants of the Gulf & Western Zinc Company that was the foundation of the town and by far its largest employer. I talked about it before, along with my maternal grandfather, who was the foreman of the track gang, on the Railroad Tools thread starting here.

But you can't miss the building in this Google earth photo!

 

[Oregon Dave]

That's inaccurate, Dave. The Velepec/Upson Bros HOLD-E-ZEE is arguably the most well-known by our generation, probably the most common, and the design is fairly old, but not the first spring mechansim. The Campbell Driver, patented (703,638) on July 1, 1902, by J.D. Campbell uses a spring. See post #6. So does the Grasp-It (also posted in post #6), also posted in its own thread here, patented in 1917, and advertised as early as 1916, and much less ungainly than the Campbell. Hiding the spring in a low-profile tube was clever of Velepec, whereas it's exposed in the Campbell, Grasp-It, and the SURE-HOLD Tom just found.

EDIT: Gun to my head, I'd say the SURE-HOLD was also older.

Good point Private Lugz, no excuse, was in a hurry; should have included a ‘qualifier’ (normally I do) - currently, as far as I know etc.

Did read your post #6, dated May 30, 2020; great research, thanks for sharing - am more tool educated now.

 

[Beerhippie]

Good point Private Lugz, no excuse, was in a hurry; should have included a ‘qualifier’ (normally I do) - currently, as far as I know etc.

Did read your post #6, dated May 30, 2020; great research, thanks for sharing - am more tool educated now.

"Allegedly".

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...no excuse,...

None needed! We're an easy-going bunch, except when we're arguing.

...should have included a ‘qualifier’ (normally I do) - currently, as far as I know etc.

GJ is a funny site to get used to at first. Because it's forum-based, everything tends to come off like a fresh conversation, but the collective knowledge base has now reached such a stage of encyclopedic information on so many topics, I tend to avoid declarative mode without searching and re-reading and double-checking myself. Otherwise, yeah, the trusty "as far as I recall."

 

[four.cycle]

The Triangle Pub was down on First Avenue (553 1st Ave S), and is now closed. That is the Alaskan Way Viaduct in the background in those two photos @Mintgrun posted above (post #213), which was demolished several years ago. It was a blight on the cityscape of Seattle when viewed from Elliot Bay - similar to the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco. Only after it literally started dropping chunks of concrete on vehicles and passersby below did the City finally have epiphany and had it demolished.

Following @Mintgrun's lead, I poked around with "Google Street View" to see if I could figure out where "Sure-Hold" had their "office".


This is where the intersection of "Third and Jefferson" would be in downtown Seattle.
The view is looking straight up what would be Jefferson, but it isn't a street there - it is "City Hall Park", home to a large homeless encampment. View is looking east, up Jefferson. The King County Courthouse (far left) was opened in 1916.

Looking west, this is the intersection of "Third and Jefferson". That's the Morrison Hotel, which was built in 1908. On the left you will see there is more park (where presumably Jefferson Street continued down to Second Avenue.)

My best guess: "Sure-Hold" was using the Morrison Hotel as their base of operations.

Not to be outdone as far as "triangle buildings" go, Tacoma has a rather unique one down at the intersection of South 9th & Broadway, where Broadway and St. Helens converge at 9th. It was formerly the home of Gunderson Jewelers (where I opened my first charge account at age 16), but has since become a trendy coffee shop.



ADDENDUM:
RE: @Mintgrun's archival photos of the City of Seattle posted above (post #213):
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest those photo images are from days prior to the "Denny Regrade", when the hills of what is now downtown Seattle were sluiced down, and the earth transported via wagons to what became "Harbor Island" at the south end of Elliott Bay. The topography today is not at all what it was in 1900.

ADDENDUM #2:

I tend to avoid declarative mode without searching and re-reading and double-checking myself.

I wish I could say the same.
That empty space across from City Hall Park was puzzling me, so I went to USGS to check.
I was having trouble finding the usual 7.5 topos I would normally use, but did find a 1949 USGS map, which shows Jefferson continuing straight through between First Avenue and Fourth Avenue, so it would be more than reasonable to assume there were building(s) where that "City Hall Park" is located, as well as the flower stand immediately south of the Morrison Hotel.


1949 USGS map - Intersection of Third and Jefferson indicated with arrow.

 

[Oregon Dave]

None needed! We're an easy-going bunch, except when we're arguing.

GJ is a funny site to get used to at first. Because it's forum-based, everything tends to come off like a fresh conversation, but the collective knowledge base has now reached such a stage of encyclopedic information on so many topics, I tend to avoid declarative mode without searching and re-reading and double-checking myself. Otherwise, yeah, the trusty "as far as I recall."

. . . Because it's forum-based, everything tends to come off like a fresh conversation, but the collective knowledge base has now reached such a stage of encyclopedic information on so many topics . . . is an excellent encapsulation; the information is likely in here all ready.

 

[four.cycle]

So.... did anyone come up with a patent number?

 

[four.cycle]

the information is likely in here all ready.

^ Provided one is able to find it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

So.... did anyone come up with a patent number?

I didn't look yet. I'm engrossed in a new project.

^ Provided one is able to find it.

@Oregon Dave - Pay no attention to our stubborn, pessimistic resident Old Dog whose bad experiences with Search and refusal to learn how to use the New Tricks in Advanced Search have turned him into a naysayer. Between the A-Z Index of Threads and his own A-Z Mfgrs List in the Sticky, GJ is well-organized (in refutation of its chronological descendency) for general finding, and Search/Advanced Search are pretty darn good for needle-nosed finding. (He knows I am teasing him.)

 

[four.cycle]

^

I hope there is never money involved if I am challenged to find anything on this site... I'll be in deep debt!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Well, six pages is actually not that long for a cursory review, but here is a search using the Search tool set to 'This thread' on the search term "Velepec."

Search results for query: Velepec

www.garagejournal.com

And here is one set to 'This thread' on the search term "oldest".

Search results for query: oldest

www.garagejournal.com

And again, on "earliest."

Search results for query: earliest

www.garagejournal.com

 

[four.cycle]

^ I use that "this thread" search feature all the time now. That's not what I meant at all.
I was talking about:
"What was that widget that guy brought in two years ago we struggled to identify? Because somebody else just showed up with one today! Now how do I find the first one?"

^ this sort of thing, which I run into now and then, but am usually able to chase it down because I will remember one particular word used in the discussion and work from that. (e.g. "purloined" - one of your own terms)

 

[Oregon Dave]

^

I hope there is never money involved if I am challenged to find anything on this site... I'll be in deep debt!

For me, you have a huge amount of credit from your work on creating and maintaining/updating the Manufacturers and Brands of Mechanics Hand Tools list and all your other contributions to the G.J. forum.

Developing search skills here as well as Google Books; brings a remembrance of learning to ride a bike, was uncomfortable, at least for me, at first - later, with use and experience, worked out pretty well.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I will remember one particular word used in the discussion and work from that. (e.g. "purloined" - one of your own terms)

You can leave breadcrumbs for yourself, too. Post "#[NameofWidget]Finder4C" at the bottom of a reply. At least until its linked. But yeah, no tool will help you remember a name without a hint.

Developing search skills here as well as Google Books; brings a remembrance of learning to ride a bike, was uncomfortable, at least for me, at first - later, with use and experience, worked out pretty well.

That's a good analogy. Training wheels to unsteady to steady to trick riding to 6 stitches on the chin after taking a header off the WWII Memorial Howitzer steps...., oh wait, sorry, I veered into Real Life there.

 

[RTM]

You can leave breadcrumbs for yourself, too. Post "#[NameofWidget]Finder4C" at the bottom of a reply

"Not found in DATAMP" is one I leave a lot.

Using Whatzit4c as a single word might be another for you. I'm not sure how the search engine might respond if there is not a space between Widget and Finder in Lugz' example quoted, I'd test drive it before getting too committed.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

^ I use that "this thread" search feature all the time now. That's not what I meant at all.
I was talking about:
"What was that widget that guy brought in two years ago we struggled to identify? Because somebody else just showed up with one today! Now how do I find the first one?"

^ this sort of thing, which I run into now and then, but am usually able to chase it down because I will remember one particular word used in the discussion and work from that. (e.g. "purloined" - one of your own terms)

Where is the gum wall? 15 years ago we had to drive 1200 miles to stick our gum on that wall. After my daughter knocked on Aron Rogers home door in a gaited community. In Green Bay.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I am still searching for a web link to "The Shoe Tree" which is located somewhere between Gold Beach and Grants Pass. Must be 500 pairs of shoes tangled up in that tree, and I just happened to drive by on the one day when I only had one pair of shoes with me.

 

[Beerhippie]

^ I am still searching for a web link to "The Shoe Tree" which is located somewhere between Gold Beach and Grants Pass. Must be 500 pairs of shoes tangled up in that tree, and I just happened to drive by on the one day when I only had one pair of shoes with me.

Well, there's that one about a half-mile down Sheep Crick grade headin' towards Imnaha....

 

[four.cycle]

^ No.... this "shoe tree" was way up in the mountains above the Rogue - somewhere between Gold Beach and Grants Pass. In the area burned over by the Biscuit Fire a year prior to my being there. Most of the landscape looked like the moon. Dust clear up to the axles on the Ranger - made it a bit sketchy trying to keep all four wheels on the road prism. I've tried to Google search it several times but came up short.

 

[Beerhippie]

^ No.... this "shoe tree" was way up in the mountains above the Rogue - somewhere between Gold Beach and Grants Pass. In the area burned over by the Biscuit Fire a year prior to my being there. Most of the landscape looked like the moon. Dust clear up to the axles on the Ranger - made it a bit sketchy trying to keep all four wheels on the road prism. I've tried to Google search it several times but came up short.

Just kiddin'. There are "shoe trees" all over the country. The one there by Sheep Crick (if creek is pronounced crick, shouldn't sheep be pronounced ship?) only has a hundred pairs or so, but that's probably about as many shoes as there are in Imnaha, anyways.

 

[four.cycle]

^ That there are hundreds of "shoe trees" all over the planet is what made trying to find it on the web impossible!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Cross-linking a very interesting example that @Fred Knox posted on the 'Woodie screwdriver' thread here..

Let's show our wood (screwdrivers)

Is this a Pexto? Only marking is a "2"

www.garagejournal.com

We should discuss it here on this thread., though. The placement of the "PAT. PENDING" marking suggests it's for the starter/holder.

Fred,

I'm assuming there's a spring inside the tube. The spring in the antique spring-fed grabbers (Campbell, Grasp-It, and Sure-Hold) was exposed. Velepec/Upson put it inside a tube (HOLD-E-ZEE), but it was hex-shaped, wrapped around their hex-shaped shanks. Their pre-patent marking was "PAT. PEND." Much later Stanley took advantage of the Upson patent expiring and called theirs the SPEE-D-GRIP. Also hex tube on hex shank.

I don't recall ever seeing a round tube on a round shank with a wooden handle. Also, and this is really different, the grabbers are part of the tube itself!

 

[Fred Knox]

Thanks @Private Lugnutz . Your “intro” to my last post is so good, I may have to intentionally pause the next time I need to repost to see if you’ll get it started for me again!

Here is my post and photos from the wood screwdriver’s thread, and Yes, the slot-tip inside the sleeve is spring-loaded (see new photo):

“I can’t figure this one out. A couple months ago, I picked up this wood handled 10 1/2" slotted screwdriver with holding sleeve (only marking is a “PAT PENDING”). The wood handle is five-sided and has a comfortable grip pattern (see photos). I have tried Google Lens and AI, but have not figured out the patent nor the patent-holder. Any ideas?”

 

[Oregon Dave]

Thanks @Private Lugnutz . Your “intro” to my last post is so good, I may have to intentionally pause the next time I need to repost to see if you’ll get it started for me again!

Here is my post and photos from the wood screwdriver’s thread, and Yes, the slot-tip inside the sleeve is spring-loaded (see new photo):

“I can’t figure this one out. A couple months ago, I picked up this wood handled 10 1/2" slotted screwdriver with holding sleeve (only marking is a “PAT PENDING”). The wood handle is five-sided and has a comfortable grip pattern (see photos). I have tried Google Lens and AI, but have not figured out the patent or patent-holder. Any ideas?”

I like the design; wouldn't take much to make those.

 

[four.cycle]

@Fred Knox -

.... and no markings visible on it anywhere other than the "PAT PENDING"?

 

[Fred Knox]

No, nothing. That’s why I was also focusing on the unusual five-sided handle, in case someone recognized its manufacturer.

 

[four.cycle]

^ the photos and description were sent to somebody who might be able to offer some insight on this one.