The Trimble and Fink Mfg. co.

[woody 73]

Sometimes lady luck is on your side and all such throws of the dice come out a winner as they say, well, when I spotted just this special screwdriver covered in rust, I knew it was very special.

Trimble and Fink got their start on Dec. 18th, 1925, in Baltimore Md. As far as I could tell it was forfeited 96 years later (not sure when it stopped) I found a snippet reporting that Trimble & Fink were at 927 Linden Ave, Baltimore in 1926 and they were manufacturers of screwdrivers. Then by 1954, they were the makers of screw machine products, dies, jigs, and fixture tools, sometime that summer they had plans to move to a 13,000 sq ft space at Guilford Ave and Chase Street.

This part gets a little tricky, but the screwdriver has a patent date of Nov. 24, 1925, and that is patent no. 1,562,543 (just a guess that they borrowed some of that patent from Seth J. Cox)? Because the very patent for this screwdriver would be patent No. 1,688,181 Feb. 11, 1926, from Charles F. Fink. (Which is not listed on the screwdriver).

No such luck finding any information about either man, because for one thing I do not know the full name of Mr. Trimble and it would seem that Fink is a rather common name, (just too many to pick from).

Although this is such a cool screwdriver it somehow must have locked up some, because after I cleaned it all up some rust must still be inside it not letting me adjust it, still a cool design.

A few links along with some pictures for you on this nice warm winter night in Dec.

US Patent: 1,562,543 - Screw Gripping Screwdriver

US patent 1,562,543 Screw Gripping Screwdriver was issued to Seth J. Cox of Franklin, PA. It was granted on 11/24/1925. This is an improvement to Patent {1412550}, the improvement is the ability of the screw engaging jaws to be moved to a non engaged position, allowing

datamp.org

US1688181A - Screw driver - Google Patents

Trimble & Fink Mfg Co at Baltimore, MD - USA.com™

Environmental profile of Trimble & Fink Mfg Co. Trimble & Fink Mfg Co is located at 1034 Guilford Avenue, Baltimore MD, 21202.

www.usa.com

Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office

www.google.com

Company Search Subscription Service

Professional Company and Officer Search Subscription Service

www.bizapedia.com

Google Patents

Search and read the full text of patents from around the world with Google Patents, and find prior art in our index of non-patent literature.

patents.google.com

 

[RTM]

More info on your gang is located here.

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents

Prior to 1862, when the Department of Agriculture was established, the report on agriculture was prepared and published by the Commissioner of Patents, and forms volume or part of volume, of his annual reports, the first being that of 1840. Cf. Checklist of public documents ... Washington, 1895...

books.google.com

Go to page 522 (printed numbers)
John H Trimble and Charles F Fink, of Baltimore, MD,assigned to
Harry E. Karr

patent 1,326,428

I doubt there were two Trimble & Fink in Baltimore.

the patent is for a calculating machine, Dec 30, v269, p 761 (no idea the references here).

The two search results get you the spelled out names.

 

[four.cycle]

thanks Woody!

interesting design... turning the knurled part of the ferrule moves the shaft up and down, right?

 

[woody 73]

Take the following with a grain of salt...because this is based on the assumption that both men were buried in Baltimore Md. for all I know they could have moved to Florida in their old age or somewhere else??? Many thanks to RTM.

John H. Trimble 1857-May 1932
Charles F. Fink 1886-Nov 7th, 1943

Grave Memorial Records - Find a Grave

The World’s largest gravesite collection. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world. .

www.findagrave.com

Grave Memorial Records - Find a Grave

The World’s largest gravesite collection. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world. .

www.findagrave.com

Four Cycle Hi, I did at last get the collar to move in both directions buit there still must be a tiny amout of rust holding that long pin in place .

Woody

 

[BestOpaEver]

My grandfather was a Trimble and told me a little of the history of Trimble & Fink. I'm sure they started in business prior to 1925, so that date might be when they moved to Baltimore. Possibly they started in Hancock MD. The company was originally founded to make a machine that was a combination of a typewriter and a calculator. The intent was to allow businesses to type up a bill, and then the calculator part would show the total amount of the numbers that had been type in, and the operator could type the calculated total onto the bill. So it was just an adding machine plus a typewriter. They made a prototype which worked properly and then they ordered parts for production. The production machines wouldn't work properly - a problem with tolerances I think. They hired an engineer to solve the problems and he ended up redesigning most of the machine. By the time they got into production with the new design there were other machines on the market and they couldn't make money. I suspect that the patent was issued to the engineer who came up with the new design. After that, they used the machinery and employees they had to make other things, one of which was a screwdriver that would hold the head of the screw while it was being turned. They made some other tools too - mostly hand tools. By the late 40s - early 50s they were making money, some of which ended up paying for my mom to go to college. Eventually they sold the business to a non-family member, who kept the company name. By the 80s they were doing machining, mostly on engine blocks, I think. No - there was not two companies named Trimble & Fink. Charles Fink was definitely involved. Several Trimbles worked for the company, including John. Very cool that you came across that tool!