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

History of Wheelbarrows Used in Masonry Work

Chattanooga contractor's wheelbarrow 1922

Wheelbarrows, or barrows as they were once called, carts, buggies, sleds, and rollers have been used to carry brick, stone, mortar, and concrete for centuries. They were used to move material around construction sites, stone quarries, brickyards, and onto and off wagons, railroad cars, and ships.

While I am not aware of any wheelbarrow collectors, there is an active market for old wheelbarrow manufacturer's catalogs on US eBay. Some US manufacturers include these companies:

Brick or tile barrows 1902

Akron Barrow Co., Akron, Ohio

American Steel Scraper Co., Sidney, Ohio

Bryan Manufacturing Co., Bryan, Ohio

Buckeye Products Co., Cincinnati, Ohio

Bull Frog, made by Toledo Wheelbarrow Co., Toledo, Ohio

Chattanooga Wheelbarrow Co., Chattanooga, Tennessee

The Fairbanks Co., Rome, Georgia

Gar-Bro Manufacturing Co., Los Angeles, California; Heber Springs, Arkansas

General wheelbarrow by Dico Co., Des Moines, Iowa

Jackson Manufacturing Co., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing Co., Columbus, Ohio (history)

Lansing Wheelbarrow Co., Lansing, Michigan

McWhinnie Wheelbarrows, Poughkeepsie, New York

Nason Manufacturing Co., New York City, New York

Sidney Steel Scraper Co., Sidney, Ohio

Sterling Wheelbarrow Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Western Iron Works, Sims & Morris, San Francisco, California

Western Wheelbarrow and Manufacturing Co., Kansas City, Missouri

Wood Shovel & Tool Co., Piqua, Ohio

Stone barrow from S.D. Kimbark's Illustrated Catalogue, 1876

Sims & Morris wheelbarrow, 1888

Sterling Wheelbarrow Co., photo credit Daniel Pawlik

Determining the Age of a Marshalltown Brick Trowel

The earliest Marshalltown advertisement found is for a plasterer's trowel in 1899:

Marshalltown Evening Times Republican, 13 Oct 1899

Marshalltown introduced their brick trowel in 1908, as this press release in The Iron Age announced:

Their advertisements for Marshalltown's brick trowels show "THE MARSHALLTOWN" stamped in a curve on the blade. This design appeared in ads from 1908 to 1910.

Hardware Dealers Magazine, Vol. 33, 1910

In 1911, the design changed to what appears to be an etching with larger letters, "MARSHALLTOWN" in a straight line. The company used this at least through 1921. After 1921, US copyright law makes finding advertisements much more difficult. 

  

The Bricklayer, Mason and Plasterer, Oct. 1911

Marshalltown's Catalog No. 27 from 1927 shows an etching with large "M" and 2 rings on wood handles. This etching also appears in Catalog No. 45 (date unknown). Trowels from this time also include the product number below U.S.A., but this information is not on the catalog images.  

MARSHALLTOWN

IOWA

U.S.A.

MARSHALLTOWN

IOWA

U.S.A.

No. 19W

The etching above was replaced with a "MARSHALLTOWN" stamp, also with 2 rings on wood handles. Another version includes "USA":

MARSHALLTOWN stamp

MARSHALLTOWN USA stamp

It appears that product number was added next, and earlier ones have 2 rings on wood handles:

19-10

MARSHALLTOWN

USA

By 1974, pictures show the same stamp, and with plain wood handles:

19-10

MARSHALLTOWN

USA

Catalog pictures are not always a good indicator of when tools changed. Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers sometimes used old printer's blocks or plates to save the cost of preparing new ones.

Printer's block for Marshalltown brick trowel

   

Unknown Tool Made by W.H. Anderson of Detroit

Unknown tool by W.H. Anderson

We are asking for your help identifying this tool made by W.H. Anderson of Detroit, Michigan, who made tools for stone and concrete, as well as having a large retail and industrial hardware business. These pictures were sent to me by a reader, and one of these tools also sold on eBay in 2016. Another one was on a Facebook group about the same time.

It may be a type of brick axe or scutch.

You comments and emails are welcomed.

Union Tool Company of Union, New York

Union Tool Co. identification

Union Tool Company of Union, New York, manufactured a line of cast iron concrete tools in the early 20th century. Their tools sell occasionally on eBay and other outlets, but I have been unable to locate any other documentation about the business. Union is a town in Broome County, west of Binghamton. The only similar business there was Union Forging Co., which operated in Union and Endicott from 1883 to 1995.

Part of the difficulty in researching this company is that Union was a very popular name for tool manufacturers. In addition to other variations of the name, "Union Tool Company" was used by businesses in these cities and possibly more:

Augusta, Maine
Boston, Massachusetts
Goshen, Massachusetts
Torrances, California
Orange, Massachusetts
Providence, Rhode Island
Rochester, New York
St. Louis, Missouri

Union Tool Co. was also a brand name of American Fork and Hoe Co. So far as I can determine, none of these other companies made concrete tools.

Union Tool Co. No. 38 curb tool 

Union Tool Co. No. 29 narrow groover