supreme products Corp.

[woody 73]

Supreme Products Corp.

A tip from woody, if you are ever out in the wild as they say and you stumble across anything made by the Supreme Products Corp. buy it as fast as possible.
If you are lucky and you can find their Versamatic Screwdriver or better yet the Versatapper throw your cash down fast before they change their mind.

The Versatapper goes for big dollars on E-bay, expensive and well made. I was very lucky that I found a 1/4 drill chuck with the key for sale yesterday for a $1.00. (very well made).

Information on the web was slow in coming but I think I found a starting date for the company around July 27th, 1951 in Chicago, Ill. The address was 2222 S. Calumet.

I apologize because I could not find who started the company, but I found a few tidbits along the way. The company made Drill chucks and before the cordless drill revolution they invented the Versamitic Screwdriver to handle drilling screws. (Just think how lucky we have it today.) In 1956 the company was sold to American Safety Razor A-S-R. Then it was sold to Phillip Morris in 1960. Sometime in the 1960's the company was sold to Ridgid tools. In 1966 Ridgid was bought by Emerson Electric.

It would seem that they had a few patents starting with the Quick Release Chuck, a Strand Chuck and one for an Electric Hammer.

I found a few good links for you to look over and a few pictures of the Drill chuck that I was able to find, Happy Hunting...

https://www.bizapedia.com/trademarks/versatapper-72161290.html

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3251605A/en

https://archive.org/details/SupremeProductsCorp1959/page/n1/mode/2up

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3163904A/en

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3054464A/en

https://www.bizapedia.com/trademarks/supreme-71617064.html

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=10782&tab=0

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/11/vanished-makes-supreme-products-corp.html

 

[Provincial]

I have at least one Supreme drill chuck. They are of very high quality. I have seen a number of the Rigid Supreme chucks over the years, but not for sale. That tells you something!

 

[woody 73]

I have at least one Supreme drill chuck. They are of very high quality. I have seen a number of the Rigid Supreme chucks over the years, but not for sale. That tells you something!

My research led me last night to my last post about (Craftsman OEM) because this company made a drill chuck for one of the Sears Craftsman Drills.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The versatappers still run 150$ bucks or so on ebay.

 

[Leviton]

As always, thanks for your informative posts Woody.

Someone near me must share your opinion of Supreme chucks. They are currently asking $20 each for these well used chucks (a 6T and a 5B) with no keys.

.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Good info Woody and the attachments were nice too. Supreme does make a nice chuck. This one came with my Hardinge lathe and I still keep it with it. I have one of those versatappers in the packaging somewhere but it didn't jump out and bite me so it didn't make the pics. I keep this other one by the drill press where I can find and use it. Ed.

 

[woody 73]

Very nice hold on to them worth some moolah as they say.

 

[toolchaser]

I just picked up a Supreme 1A Chuck with a 3/8" straight arbor for $2 . Very nicely made, just needed a little clean & lube to bring it back to smooth operations

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Here is a Supreme Versamatic I found yesterday with all of the original packaging intact. Picked up from a coastal Habitat store it does have a slight discoloration on the front of the package from light exposure. Overall though, it is in near pristine condition. Even the instruction sheet survived. Ed.

 

[katsarosm]

Never thought I would see someone mention Supreme Products Corp here. I actually found a Versamitic years ago at a garage sale for $10 and it still runs perfectly. Those things were built to last forever.

 

[RTM]

ere is a Supreme Versamatic I found yesterday with all of the original packaging intact

I have one also, think mine is a Craftsman labeled I think. Finally found directions online
More options for output than I realized.

 

[four.cycle]

1954 Hardware Age Mall Supreme ad pp 849

1963 Hardware Age Supreme ad pp 179