Seymour Smith Snap-Lock Pliers

[tooljunkie4]

I've not had much luck in my search for information on these. Alloy Artifacts doesn't have an an entry for this Mfg. What do you folks know about Seymour Smith Snap-Lock pliers?

 

[twertsy]

Here you go, this article is from May, 1930.

EDIT: looks like they were purchased by Vermont American in 1985

 

[Plombob]

I was going to do a post on these pliers, but you beat me to it. I inherited a nice pair in the 1980's. I hadn't seen another pair anywhere until last year. I found a smaller version at an estate sale. They are great pliers, so pick them up when you find them!

Thanks for posting the info on the company, Twertsy!

 

[bareass172]

What do you folks know about Seymour Smith Snap-Lock pliers?

Now that I've seen them I know they're pretty awesome! Thanks for sharing them, never seen those before.

 

[elidas]

The old Seymour Smith factory is about a 1000 feet from where I work. In Oakville Connecticut. Oakville is outside of Waterbury and is a section of Watertown. Their main product was garden tools with Snap Cut being the name of their clippers. The pliers are common around here. I was told at one point the owner insisted on replaceable jaws. I find the pivoting jaw makes them awkward

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found a pair of these Seymour Smith “Snap-Lock” No. 2610’s at the flea market on Friday. A little research and reading revealed a first patent (2,478,696) in August 1949, for the pivoting jaw and the locking lever, and a second (2,598,650) in May 1952 for the jaw capacity setting scale on the handle and the quick-release lever. This example has those features but it’s marked PATENTS PENDING, so I’m postulating that it was made between 1949 and 1952.

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Here is the first patent on USPTO.

Here is the second patent on USPTO.

It’s amazing how many variations of locking-type pliers there are out there not named Petersen Vise-Grip!

Several threads on the subject of B.M.C. (Botnick Motor Company) plier wrenches have been started. Here are a few:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294670&highlight=Botnick+Motor
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281760&highlight=Botnick
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74953&highlight=Botnick

And Twertsy found a Samson Lever-Jaw and posted them here.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the H.R. Basford GRIPSO or the Lang Sure-Grip, but they’re out there somewhere.

 

[tombell572]

I still use my dad's Seymour Smith lopping shears and pole saw probably from the 1940-50's--great old yard tools. Never knew they built products outside of the yard/garden tool realm.

Tom B.

 

[four.cycle]

Seymour Smith & Son Inc.

900 Main St., Oakville, CT / est. 1850 / "Snap Cut" "Snap-Lock" / patent 1831609 Nov 10 1931 W. Schroder & 2514130 Jul 4 1950 H.T. Jones & 2598650 May 27 1952 J.L. Smith & L.H. Eriksen / acquired by Gilmour Div., Vermont-American, 1985 / http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2015/02/seymour-smith-snap-cut-secateurs-snap.html / http://www.sydnassloot.com/Brace/Seymour.htm / http://toolarchives.com/index.php/node/305 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=356558 /

additional information at:

http://www.mattatuckcollections.org/artist-maker/info/1610
https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Seymour_Smith_&_Son,_Inc.
http://www.watertownct.org/content/10339/6913/7102/default.aspx
https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/wetrt/article/1966apr42.pdf

Stan Schulz (MVWC)(datamp.org) describes the details of the Jones Patent used for the Seymour Smith ("Snap Lock") pliers and other locking pliers made by Petersen Mfg. Co. ("Vise Grip") and H.R. Basford Co. ("Gripso").





(* Ladies Snap-Lock photos courtesy George Roberts https://www.ebay.com/usr/groberts1 *)

 

[Mark Stansbury]

Catalogs & an ad on the International Tool Catalog Library.

 

[RTM]

Interesting. I have a Seymour Smith spokeshave from aways back, & according to this source, (quoting from a book I own) they are the same company.

Seymour Smith & Son worked in Worcester MA from 1850 to 1856 and in Sharon CT from 1856 to 1866. They finally ended up in Oakville, CT and were in business from 1866 to 1966. They made at least 6 different styles of all metal spokeshaves. They often supplied spokeshaves to Sargent the planemakers though Sargent mostly supplied their own blades. 3 of the 6 styles of Smith shaves were copies of Batchelder designs.

For further information and a complete rundown read:

Manufactured and Patented Spokeshave & Similar Tools by Thomas Lamond.
(Copied from post #4)
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?103152-Smith-amp-Son-Spokeshave&p=1038642#post1038642

And a bit from DAT, looks like they missed the MA connection: Tools AXES,SAW TOOLS,SHAVES,OTHER
Smith was issued a 4 Oct. 1854 patent in Sharon, CT, and a 7 March 1876 patent in Oakville. He may have worked alone before adding the "& Son", but is not known to have made tools in Sharon. His products included spoke shaves, ice axes, saw sets, and pruning shears.

 

[genog]

Found a pair of Seymour Smith Snap-Locks at a sale
With a pivoting jaw, this darn tool just may come in handy....



Good info on Seymour Smith here in this thread, so I am going to bump it....