History of Adamite Wheel & Manufacturing Co.

Hardware and Metal, 11 July 1914

Adamite Wheel & Manufacturing Co. is the only known Canadian manufacturer of concrete tools, including indent roller. Their primary product, which gave the company its name, was grinding wheels made from the mineral adamite. Their address in 1920 was 44 Ferguson Ave., Hamilton, Ontario.

History of C.A. Maynard

C.A. Maynard's Hoe and Shovel Works, of Northampton, Massachusetts, manufactured several styles of brick trowels in the late 1800s, along with agricultural tools. Their output was carried as far west as Simmons Hardware Co. in St. Louis, MO.

The works was on the banks of Mill River, below Paradise Pond. The business was originally Clement, Hawkes & Maynard, making cutlery and hoes. C. A. Maynard was Mr. Clement's son-in-law. Maynard died 1 May, 1922, age 80. His obituary stated that he had retired 3 years before, after 53 years in business.

The caption under the picture below reads:

The engravings on this page... represent what is now one of the picturesque objects in the city — the hoe and shovel works of C. A. Maynard, with a few of its products. This factory was badly injured by fire, in 1886, and will probably never again be built in its old form, but Mr. Maynard’s business is increasing so that enlargement must soon be had on the ground floor. The factory is always running full, turns out the highest priced goods in America, and gives the most value for their cost.

This photograph at Digital Commonwealth shows the back of the works before the 1886 fire.

Picturesque Hampshire by Charles Forbes Warner, 1890

 Clement, Hawkes & Maynard cutlery 1869

History of Martin Maurer of St. Louis

Martin Maurer operated a hardware store and machine shop in St. Louis, Missouri from 1875 to at least 1895. He invented and patented a stamped steel concrete edger and a groover in 1891,  and St. Louis city directories in the early 1890s show that he specialized in masonry tools. Maurer developed and manufactured a line of concrete tools which were still being sold in the 1904 catalog of Walter A. Zelnicker Supply Co., a St. Louis hardware wholesaler.

I have been unable to find this Martin Maurer in US Census records to get his birth date, or to find a death record. There is a mention of  him in the Cassville, MO newspaper 3 Oct. 1895, stating that he was to move to Louisiana. This could mean the state or Louisiana, MO.

Beginning in 1903, a Martin Maurer of Pueblo, Colorado received at least 8 patents for scales and improvements to scales. The first one used one of the same patent attorneys as the concrete tool patents. It may be the same person, but I have no verification of that.

US Patent 460,644  Device for blocking off artificial-stone pavements
US Patent 460,645  Device for rounding and smoothing the edges of artificial-stone gutters

Cassville, MO newspaper, 3 Oct. 1895

Determining the Age of W. Rose Tools

1800s

W. Rose has always stamped their forged tools with variations of the business name, and sometimes an abbreviation of West Philadelphia. However, determining when W. Rose made a particular tool is difficult because of the rarity of catalogs and lack of early advertising with pictures. The only scanned catalog available is 1929. The earliest picture in advertising or a hardware catalog is 1897. Advertising of the period shows that between 1909 and 1916 the firm dropped West Philadelphia as the location from their stamp, so it read "W. ROSE".

Before 1916

1887 Advertisement

Before 1916

Another difference is that earlier tools use a serif style lettering, changing to a sans serif on or before 1916.  On most trowels and leather tools, the lettering is right-side up when the tool is held in the right hand, but a few are reversed. These variations and their approximate dates are:

1902 advertisement (serif style lettering is not accurate)  

W. ROSE
Serif style letters, read with handle on the right or the left
1800s

W. ROSE
PHILAD.
Serif style letters, read with handle on the right
1800s

W. ROSE
WEST PHILA.

1916 advertisement

Serif style letters, read with handle on the right
Before 1916

    W. ROSE
WEST PHILA.
Serif style letters, read with handle on the right
Before 1916

  W. ROSE=
WEST PHILA.
Serif style letters, read with handle on the right
Before 1916

1924 presentation trowel (engraved with date) 

W. ROSE/
Sans serif letters
1924

W. ROSE-
Sans serif letters

W. ROSE U.S.A.
Sans serif letters

In recent decades Rose brick trowel handles were stamped:

U.S.A. version

                  W. ROSE
MADE IN U.S.A. SHARON HILL, PA.

The catalog number and length follow W. ROSE.

1959, stamped handle

The Stone Jack

L.J. Kelly stone jacks

The stone jack was used to push and lift heavy loads in stone quarries, stone cutting sheds, construction sites, foundries, machine shops, and mills. They were designed to be used in a vertical, horizontal, or angled position, and to lift from the top or with a "foot lift" on the back.

The name suggests that they were originally used to lift and push blocks of stone. As industrialization progressed and the size of machinery and boilers increased, stone jacks were used to transfer these from rail car to wagon and into buildings. Stone jacks also found use in in textile mills.

Mechanically, some stone jacks are ratchets, and others use a similar design, a crank-operated rack and pinion with reduction gears. The rack and pinion are enclosed with a wood housing reinforced with iron bands. These are the only jacks made in the late 19th and 20th centuries that are part wood.

Stone jack pushing a crated boiler

E.R. Klemm of Chicago, Illinois was a leading U.S. manufacturer of stone jacks in the early 20th century. A native of Magdelburg, Germany, and a prolific inventor, Emil Richard Klemm (1859-1928) patented a steel stone jack housing that he manufactured. Klemm's business merged with Chicago hardware house J.H. Channon Corp. in 1936. Pages from 2 catalogs showing Klemm's stone jacks are on Archive.org. They are also in the 1937 Brunner & Lay catalog.

Another manufacturer of the day was L.J. Kelly of Albany, New York, who advertised his cast iron iron and steel jacks in "Granite" and other stone trade magazines.

     

Stone jacks made by E.R. Klemm of Chicago, IL, 1917