Steve asks:
>When did the Ohio Tool Co cease production at their Sciotio (sp?) prison
works?
While I do not know the exact answer to this question, below is some info
that might help.
I do know that Ohio Tool Co. did use prison labor between 1841 and 1880. As
to their Scioto Prison Works, I do not believe that the Scioto Works was a
"Prison" works. Here is a little history on Ohio Tool Company that I do
know.
The factory in Columbus was located on the Scioto River and Ohio Tool
Company used the Scioto name on their "Second Grade". The 1910 Catalog
states the following:
"GRADES. Our regular beechwood Bench Planes are made in two grades of
timber, viz:
Ohio or First Grade.
Scioto or Second Grade."
According to the catalog, the only difference between the two grades was in
the quality of the wood used. It states that "Exactly the same grade of
Plane Iron is used in both Scioto and Ohio Planes".
According to "A Guide to American Wooden Planes" (Third Edition) by Emil and
Martyl Pollak, Ohio Tool Company began using the "Scioto Works" mark in
1893, which was the same year that Ohio Tool Company merged with the Auburn
Tool Company. Some of the Scioto Works marks also indicate that the Scioto
Works planes were made in New York, which is where the Auburn Tool Co.
Factory existed. While I have no proof of it, I would suspect that when
Ohio took over Auburn, they used the old Auburn plant to make the Scioto
planes (along with the "Ohio Grade" planes).
Auburn Tool Company also used prison labor to make planes but only between
the years of 1864-1865 and again between 1874-1877.
If the Scioto Works mark was not used before 1893 and Ohio stopped using
prison labor in 1880 and Auburn stopped in 1877, chances are that Scioto
Works line was never actually made by prison labor.
I am not sure when Ohio Tool Company quit using the Scioto mark. According
to Pollak, Scioto Works ceased in 1907 but my Circa 1910 catalog still
refers to the Scioto grade. Ohio Tool Company went out of business in 1920.
Being one who collects Ohio Tool Co. moulding planes, I have tried to find
out as much info about the company as possible. Unfortunately, there seems
to have been little written on the subject. Here is excerpts from two
sources that do provide a little info. If you know of any other sources of
info on Ohio Tool Co., I would be very interested in seeing them:
Keith Rucker
Tifton, GA
_____________________
Historical Summary of the Ohio Tool Co.
1823-The Ohio Tool Company started operations in Columbus, Ohio.
1841 to 1880-The firm made use of Prison Contract Labor from the nearby Ohio
State Penitentiary.
1851-The company was incorporated with a capital stock of $190,000. It
employed about 200 and was frequently called "The Plane Factory" since
carpenters' planes were the chief article of manufacture.
1858-The Ohio Tool Co. officers this year were George Gere, President; A.
Thomas, Secretary and Treasurer; and C. H. Clark, Superintendent.
1865-Patents issued in this year for mortising machines used in cutting
plane stocks helped to speed production.
1887-The Ohio Tool Co. employed 70 hands.
1893-The Auburn Tool Co. and the Ohio Tool Co. merged with offices in New
York and factories in Auburn, N.Y. and Columbus, Ohio.
1900-The Ohio Tool Co. received the highest award given on carpenter's tools
at the Paris Exposition.
1903-The Business Directory of Columbus lists the company at 63 North Scioto
Street which was close to the Scioto River. "Scioto" was marked on their
second grade planes.
1913-The factory was probably washed away by the great flood of this year.
1914-The Company moved to a new plant at Charleston, West Virginia.
(Perhaps, because of the flood.)
1920-The Ohio Tool Company ceased operations.
Source: Ohio Tool Company Catalog No. 23 (Ca. 1910) Reprint by Mid-West
Tool Collectors Association.
OHIO TOOL CO.
A major plane manufacturing company in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It
was incorporated in Columbus, OH, in 1851 by Peter Hayden (see P. Hayden &
Co.) and others, and had a tradition of periodically utilizing prison labor.
The first president was George Gere, a hardware dealer (see Gere, Abbott &
Co.). In 1851 the company was reported employing 200 hands, with carpenter's
planes as the mainline. By the 1870's and 1880's, the ready acceptance of
metal and transitional planes, and other compeition, was increasingly felt.
In 1887 the company employed only 70 hands (the use of prison labor having
ceased in 1880) and in 1893 Ohio Tool merged with Auburn Tool Co. (w.s.),
with Ohio Tool the survivor. In 1913 the Ohio factory was destroyed by a
flood and in 1914 manufacturing was re-established in a new plant in
Charlestown, WV. Operations ceased in 1920. The 1910 price list still
offered an extensive line of wooden planes.
Source: A Guide to American Wooden Planes (Third Edition) by Emil and Martyl
Pollak. Page 281.
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