History of Joseph Tyzack & Son, Ltd.

Meersbrook Works, 1940 catalogue

Joseph Tyzack & Son, Ltd., with its distinctive three-leg logo, was one of the most recognized Sheffield Tool manufacturers. Its good reputation has ensured the survival of its name to today, after many corporate mergers. As an independent firm, its product line was as broad as any tool and cutlery manufacturer, worldwide. I have been fortunate to recently purchase and scan a complete 1940 J. Tyzack & Son catalogue. The links are on the right side of this page. Following are key dates in the company's history:

1837 – Joseph Tyzack (1813-1891) started in business. After Thomas Tyzack (1842-1923) joined his father, it was renamed Joseph Tyzack & Son. "Thomas married and had three daughters, Cassandra, Minnie and Rose, and two sons, George and Clement. Clement (1877-1918) took over from his father and was succeeded by joint managing directors, Minnie (1879-1970) and Rose (born 1882).” (WK Fine Tools, a site no longer on the web)

1876 – Thomas Tyzack built Meersbrook Works, Valley Road, Heeley, later part of Sheffield. Parts of Meersbrook Works survives today.

1942 – Joseph Tyzack & Son joined Isaac Nash of Wollaston Mills, Stourbridge, Worcestershire to form Nash Tyzack Industries Ltd.

June 1951 letter confirming merger

1951 – Nash Tyzack Industries combined with William Hunt and Sons, The Brades, Ltd. to become Brades and Nash Tyzack Industries of Stourbridge.

1960 – Brades and Nash Tyzack Industries was acquired by Spear and Jackson, which kept its name.

1962 – Brades and Nash Tyzack Industries merged with C.T. Skelton and Co. of Sheffield to form Brades, Skelton and Tyzack, also called the BST Group.

1967 – Brades, Skelton and Tyzack became part of Spearwell Tools of Wednesbury, Staffordshire, with the following amalgamated firms: Brades and Nash Tyzack Industries Ltd., Edward Elwell Ltd., Edward and William Lucas Ltd., Isaac Nash & Sons Ltd., C.T. Skelton & Co. Ltd., Spear & Jackson Ltd., Thomas Staniforth & Co. Ltd.

J. Tyzack  & Son Centenary double hang finishing trowel

J. Tyzack & Son Canadian pattern brick trowel

J. Tyzack tuck iron

J. Tyzack & Son stainless steel pointing trowel

J. Tyzack & Son 4½ inch brick bolster

Harmon S. Palmer, Concrete Block Machine Inventor

Harmon S. Palmer 1905

Harmon Sylvanus Palmer is the American inventor credited with the concrete block machine. Palmer patented a concrete block mold in 1887, his first block machine in 1899, a concrete block wall with rectangular voids in 1901, another machine in 1903, and other patents followed. However, Palmer lost his technological advantage by being overly controlling with his inventions. He failed to realize that there were many possible designs for block machines and many entrepreneurs ready to make them, some of which predated his patents. He also restricted his customer's sales territories, a tactic that concrete trade publications editorialized against. Another self-inflicted problem was that his blocks were too large and heavy for one man to carry and lay. Palmer blocks were 24 or 32 inches long, 9 inches high, and 4 to 16 inches wide.

An exponential annual increase in cement demand and production after 1890 ensured a ready market for block machines. In response to many competing machines flooding the market, Palmer aggressively protected his patents, suing anyone infringing on them. Many Harmon S. Palmer Hollow Building Block Co. advertisements threatened competing manufacturers, their customers, and even the owners of buildings built with other block machines. It appears that he moved to Washington DC to better prosecute his legal claims. When he won a key lawsuit, he was unprepared to meet anticipated demand and contracted with another machine manufacturer in 1906. Later the same year, he lost on appeal because other designs existed before his. He never regained his initial lead with block machines.

Harmon S. Palmer was born 9 Mar. 1843 in Michigan, and died 1 Mar. 1931 in Washington DC. He and his wife Nellie E. had sons Floyd and Clyde. The sons lived with their parents, didn't marry, and worked for the business. In 1910 Palmer lived at 1450 Girard St., originally named  Binney St. While that house is gone, across the street a stately double house is built with his blocks.

Harmon S. Palmer advertisement, 1904

US cement production 1890-1908 

Early Twentieth Century Concrete Block Molds and Machines

Simple block mold

This site usually includes hand tools and not machinery. However, early concrete block molds and single-block machines were important in popularizing the use of concrete a century ago, and they were also hand-powered and portable. Advertisements for molds and machines to make building blocks, fence posts, silo staves, and other objects were common in trade publications of the day. Some manufacturers of molds and small machines include:

Anchor Concrete Machinery Co., Columbus, OH and Adrian, MI
Ashland Steel Range & Manufacturing Co., Ashland, OH
Australia Concrete Machinery and Engineering Co., Ltd., London, UK
Hercules by Century Cement Machine Co., Rochester, NY
Diamond Block Machine Co., Bristol, VA, sold by Montgomery Ward
W.E. Dunn Manufacturing Co., Chicago, IL
Panama by J. B. Foote Foundry, Fredericktown, OH
Francis Machinery Co., St. Louis, MO
Knox, Triumph, and Wizard, made in Ohio for Sears, Roebuck & Co.
London Concrete Machinery Co., London, Ontario
Multiplex Concrete Machinery Co., Elmore, OH
Miracle Pressed Stone Co., Minneapolis, MN
United Cement Machinery Co., Plain City and Columbus, OH

The primary source today of information about these molds and machines is from Concrete Machinery, catalogs issued in the early 1900s by Sears, Roebuck & Co. of Chicago. I have scanned one of these, and there are 3 more with a lower resolution on Archive.org. Sears sold the 3 machines listed above, all shipped from an undisclosed location in central Ohio. In addition to the machines, they sold many accessories and additional molds for making decorative and structural blocks. The catalogs are well-illustrated and a fascinating look at building technology over 100 years ago. The back cover shows houses, silos, and commercial buildings built with machines sold by Sears. I have located several of those buildings on Google Street View. 

Concrete block mold, cast iron, USA 

Sears Concrete Machinery, high resolution
Sears Block Machine Instructions, Archive.org
Sears Concrete Machinery 1915, Archive.org
Sears Concrete Machinery 1925, Archive.org
Sears Concrete Machinery 1928, Archive.org
Concrete Block Machines in US in 1909
1905 Francis Machinery on YouTube
1906 Sears Roebuck Machine on YouTube

Using the Australia Concrete Block Machine in 1920

The molds and machines are very rare today. This 2013 article describes how Justin Grow of Portland, Oregon borrowed a block machine from a local museum and made his own rock-faced blocks for a restoration project. As of this date there is a rock-faced block mold for sale on US eBay with a $399.00 starting bid.

For more information about early manufactured concrete block and many pictures of its uses, see Straub Cinder Building Blocks on Archive.org.

Concrete block machines in Britain, 1921

Century Cement Machine Co., 1907

W.E. Dunn Manufacturing Co.

Sears Concrete Machinery 

Sears Concrete Machinery

One of 2 houses built by C.W. Ward, Savona, NY

Concrete block house near Eureka, IL

For more information about larger equipment in the United States, see the Historical Construction Equipment Association, of  Bowling Green, Ohio.

History of FIBCO, F.I. Blake Co.

FIBCO finishing trowel, 11.5" x 4.5"

The F.I. Blake Company, of Worcester in central Massachusetts, was one of the United States's least known finishing trowel manufacturers. Their primary products were inside and outside calipers, dividers, drawing compasses, scribers, screw gauges, putty knives, and wall scrapers.

Frederick I. Blake founded the company with his name between 1910 and 1918. He was born in early 1868 in Maine, and worked as a machinist and superintendent of a machine shop. This experience apparently led him to begin manufacturing machinist's small tools, sharing a building at 24 Washington Square, Worcester in 1918.

After Blake's death 18 July 1930, his daughter Ruth took over the business and ran it until at least 1962. This makes her one of a very few women known to have managed a tool manufacturer.

Ruth Alice Blake was born 7 Apr 1892 in Worcester, and married John H. Beck. In May 1935 Ruth Beck began using the brand name FIBCO, and she applied for a trademark 29 Nov. 1945. By 1941, the operation had moved to 31 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, where they remained. Ms. Beck was manufacturing finishing trowels for concrete and plaster by 1958. It's unknown when the F.I. Blake Co. went out of business, but it appears to be in the early 1960s. The center of Wooster has been extensively redeveloped, and no old buildings remain at either of F.I. Blake Co.'s addresses. Frank Blake and Ruth and John Beck were living at 9 Winslow St. in 1920, and the Becks were still there in 1940.

Popular Mechanics 1953

FIBCO Multiple Gage Plate

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.