The Descendants of John Tyzack (1747-1796), With Their Sheffield Companies

Two of the sons of John Tyzack (1747-1796) were tool and cutlery makers, and they and their descendants founded 5 tool and cutlery companies in and around Sheffield and one in London. With my wife's assistance and information from Tyzack.net and other internet sources, we have created this family tree to show Sheffield's most prominent tool making family. The companies are:

Joseph Tyzack & Son, Ltd.

Needham, Veall & Tyzack, Ltd. (cutlery only)

S. Tyzack & Son (Shoreditch, London)

Tyzack & Holmes Ltd. (measuring tools)

W.A. Tyzack & Co., Ltd.

W. Tyzack, Sons & Turner, Ltd.     

Hand Saws for Stone Cutters and Masons

Hand saws have been used to cut stone since antiquity, and were made as recently as 1940 by Joseph Tyzack, Meersbrook Works, Sheffield. The 2-man saw in the bottom picture is French.

J. Tyzack 1940 Catalogue

Étival Clairefontaine, France

Source: tonton84.centerblog.net  sur centerblog.

This YouTube video shows retired stone cutters demonstrating how limestone blocks were cut in the 1950s.

History of United States Cutlery Co.

United States Cutlery putty knives, 1932

United States Cutlery Company manufactured putty knives, scrapers, cutlery, and a variety of knives. They operated from 2 and 10 Main Street, Belleville, New Jersey, next to Newark, near the Passaic River.

A 1923 announcement in the trade publication Platers' Guide said, "United States Cutlery Co., Belleville. N. J., has been incorporated with capital stock of $300,000 and has purchased the plant, machinery and raw stock of the Knickerbocker Mfg. Co., that city." Knickerbocker also made cutlery.

Elmer Abraham Greenhall (1899-1973) was United States Cutlery's production manager. Mr. Greenhall  was a Stevens Institute of Technology graduate and mechanical engineer from Brooklyn, NY, and lived in Newark, East Orange, and West Orange, NJ.

United States Cutlery Co. was still in business for at least part of 1932, but had closed by 1934, according the the Belleville city directory and other sources. Their major competitor Smith & Hemenway (Red Devil) was only a few miles away in Irvington, NJ. There is an old brick industrial building on the site and Main and Mill streets. It dates to 1940 according to a real estate listing, but could be older.

I found references to an earlier United States Cutlery Company, incorporated in Trenton, NJ, but it appears to be unrelated. It was a trust formed in 1892 by 4 cutlery manufacturers from New York and Connecticut.      

Elmer A. Greenhall, 1920

United States Cutlery putty knife, cocobola handle

History of W.A. Tyzack & Co.

W.A. Tyzack & Co. was a Sheffield, UK manufacturer of crucible steels, scythes, bill hooks, files, chisels, hammers, hand saws, trowels, other tools, and agricultural machine parts.

1951

W.A. Tyzack & Co. originated from the division of the William Tyzack (1781-1858) family tool-manufacturing into 3 competing businesses, following the death of his son Ebenezer Tyzack (1806-1867). Ebenezer's son William Alexander Tyzack (1836-1889) was the founder, with his sons William (1864-unk.), Ebenezer Bernard (1870-1903), and John Stanley Tyzack (1878-1941) following him into the business. William's son William Alec Tyzack (1895-1979) and John's son Donald S. Tyzack (1913-1992) entered the business in time.

Stella Works (picture Don Tyzack)

The firm operated at Stella Works, Hereford Street, Sheffield, initially using water power from Porter Brook. In 1948 they purchased file manufacturer Ibbotson Brothers & Co. and their Green Lane Works on the River Don. They operated both locations until 1986, when they sold Stella Works and moved to Green Lane Works. In 1987, W.A. Tyzack & Co. took control of  rival W. Tyzack, Sons & Turner. A management buy-out in 1989 was followed in just 2 years by receivership, with parts of the business sold internationally.

W.A. Tyzack & Co. gauging trowel

 A 1968 photograph of Stella Works, just north of the St. Mary's roundabout, is at Picture Sheffield. Stella Works was demolished and the streets reconfigured, and there is a car park on the site. To get a sense of how densely Sheffield factories were built, see this Google Street View of Sylvester Gardens, a few blocks away.

Green Lane Works is being preserved. 2012 photographs of Green Lane Works are at Sheffield History.

W.A. Tyzack & Co. Ltd Stella Works, Eyre Lane and environs, Sheffield, 1951. This image has been produced from a print marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing. - Britain from Above

History of Lock Tools, Ltd.

Lock Tools, Ltd. was a secondary brand of William Hunt & Sons, The Brades, Ltd. Lock Tools was incorporated 8 Nov. 1940, with the address of City Road, Brades, Oldbury. It was independent in later years and dissolved in 1982. Their label featured Lock Tools Ltd. in a circle, with City Road Oldbury in large type around the outside of the circle.

Although the office address was City Road, the Brades steel works was southeast of Brades Rd. where it crosses the Birmingham Canal. The area remains industrial today, although the only visibly old structure on the site is the iron fence along Brades Rd. Brades Tavern is just up the road.
   

Lock Tools, Ltd.  brick hammer 

Quote from comments:

This was my family's business started by my grandfather and his business partner. It was not a sub brand of William Hunt and Sons in the latter years being solely owned by my Grandfather Uncle and father. By a quirk of fate I now live near to the factory and the old office block still remains. The business was dissolved in 1982.