History of Orr & Lockett Hardware Co.

Cement and Engineering News, Vol. 18 ,1906

Orr & Lockett Hardware Co. of Chicago, IL, manufactured door and window hardware, knives, and hardware specialties around the turn of the 19th century. Their products included a complete line of cement tools as well as asphalt paving tools, which they advertised to the contractor trade from 1901 to 1906 and possibly longer.

Orr & Lockett was founded in 1872, with offices at 14-16 West State St., and its longstanding president was Oswald Lockett. His sons Harold and Kenneth were active in the business by 1916. When both young men were called to active military duty that year as the nation prepared for the World War, the company decided to liquidate.

Their building hardware was used in structures designed by noted Chicago architects Burnham and Root, including the famous Rookery Building.

Orr & Lockett cast iron groover

The American Artisan, Vol. 72, 1 July 1916

The Goldblatt No Turn Handle

US Patent 2,076,836

An old and very worn plastering trowel found at a flea market, after cleaning, was revealed as a Goldblatt No Turn Handle. Louis I. Goldblatt was granted US Patent 2076836 on 13 April, 1937, for an innovation in plastering trowel handles. His design turned the aluminum handle mount into a fin, cast integral with the rib and post. The wood handle had a slot cut into the top to receive the fin. The patent drawing shows a small wood screw through the end of the fin and into the wood. As manufactured, the wood screw was replaced by a machine screw completely through the wood, countersunk at its end. Lettering cast into the rib on both sides identifies the trowel:

GOLDBLATT NO TURN HANDLE STREAMLINE PATENTED PATENT NO. 2,076,836

MANUFACTURED BY Goldblatt Tool Co. KANSAS CITY MO USA LAST WORD IN FINE TROWELS

Goldblatt No Turn Handle plastering trowel

Early Safety Equipment in the Masonry Trades

The Granite Cutters' Journal, 1909

Safety equipment is often an afterthought, but by the late 1800s increasing mechanization in all industries made safety equipment more necessary. Trades which had been performed by households or small groups using hand tools were now done by many people at greater speed with machines. This greatly increased the incidence of injuries and the motivation to reduce them. In the bricklaying, quarrying, stone masonry, tile, and foundry molding trades, common injuries were to eyes, lungs, hands, knees, feet, and from falls. Responding to demand, in the late 1800 businesses began to make safety goggles and dust masks. Later products included knee pads and steel-toed shoes.

A Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, 1910

The earliest reference I found to stone cutter's safety goggles is 1886. These safety goggles had lenses made of mica (isinglass), which would not shatter like glass, and 360-degree side shields. Lenses had to be replaced frequently because of scratching. Early safety spectacles had thick glass lenses. Walter King of Julius King Optical Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, developed tempered glass lenses in the 1910s. Other early US safety glasses manufacturers included American Optical, Bausch & Lomb, Duralite, NASO, and Willson.

Early protective gear also included bricklayer's finger tape and leather knee pads, both sold by Goldblatt Tool Co.

King safety glasses

Duralite safety goggles

Goldblatt leather knee pads, felt lined

Keen Kutter and Other E.C. Simmons and Shapleigh Hardware Masonry Tools

Tools sold by E.C. Simmons Hardware Co. and Shapleigh Hardware Co., both of St. Louis, MO, are some of the most collectible tools in the United States.

Edward C. Simmons entered the hardware business as an apprentice at age 16, and after 7 years at 2 firms, he was made a partner in 1863. A year later the business reorganized as Waters, Simmons & Co., and in 1870 Isaac W. Morton replaced Mr. Waters, and the name changed to E. C. Simmons & Co. The company grew rapidly, based on an ambitiously wide distribution area and house brands to fix the company’s identity in the customer’s mind. According to one account, Simmons was the first nationwide hardware brand based on a catalog, the "Hardware Encyclopedia", with thousands of illustrated pages. Simmons established warehouses in Sioux City, IA, Wichita, KS, Minneapolis, MN, Toledo, OH, New York City, and Ogden, UT.

E.C. Simmons warehouses

Simmons’s many brands included Keen Kutter, Enders, Oak Leaf, Chipaway, Polly Prim, Run Easy, Blue Brand,  Delmar, Sterling, American, Delft, Van Dyke, and Wonder. Wikipedia states that Keen Kutter was first used by Simmons in 1866, adopted as a trademark in 1870, and was used on their highest quality tools and cutlery.

Keen Kutter pointing trowel

By 1929, Simmons Hardware was over-extended and began selling some of its assets, and by 1939 it was in bankruptcy. In 1940, rival Shapleigh Hardware Co. purchased Simmons. Shapleigh continued to use the Keen Kutter trademark, modifying it by replacing "E.C. Simmons" at the top of the logo with “Shapleigh”. Shapleigh continued to use Keen Kutter on products until they also went out of business in 1960. Val-Test Distributors of Chicago, IL, a wholesale hardware buyers group, bought the Keen Kutter trademark and used it on a limited number of products until the 1990s.

Keen Kutter and Shapleigh edgers

The Keen Kutter brand was used on brick, pointing, and finishing trowels, cement tools, and putty knives. Oak Leaf and Chipaway were also used on some masonry tools. One distinguishing characteristic of Keen Kutter and other Simmons brands is that the logo was usually etched or cast into the item, and were more durable than the paper labels and decals used by other wholesalers and retailers. Shapleigh’s brands before 1940 included Diamond Edge, Bridge Tool Co., Columbia, Longwear, and Mizzou. Bridge Tool and Shapleigh were used on masonry tools. Here are pages with masonry tools from these catalogs:

Simmons Keen Kutter Catalogue No. 776

Bridge Tool Co. edger (Shapleigh)

Simmons Keen Kutter 1939 Catalog
Shapleigh Hardware 1959 Catalog

Keen Kutter products are popular enough to have been faked, and fakes are common at antique shops. Although I have not seen fake masonry tools, this article is worth reading:

Keen Kutter Fakes and Reproductions, by Mark Chervenka

Disston Molder's Tools

Henry Disston & Sons of Philadelphia made foundry molder's tools until the early 1900s. They appear in a 28-page pocket catalog printed in 1890, Specialties in Tools Manufactured by Henry Disston & Sons. In addition to molder's tools, the catalog included a tree planter, post hole digger, Little Giant pruning hook and saw, several brick trowels, steel rules, marking gauges, steel gauges, steel and combination squares, levels, screw drivers, and Excelsior combination wrench and screwdriver.

Seeger and Guernsey's Cyclopaedia, 1890 

Disston levels and squares had previously been made as Disston & Morss (also spelled Morse), and it's possible that the molder's tools were originally marked as Disston & Morss. The last mention I found of Disston molder's tools was in 1916.

The Automobile Trade Directory, Vol. 8, 1910