OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

274561 gary allan may 2021‑09‑13 Re: Twix Manufacturing Company
Kirk, and GGs; 
  
I have several---and have seen several more---of the bent steel block planes,
but I can't recall ever having seen a 'Twix' logo on a tool, nor have I seen any
of the other tools linked in your post---this is pretty cool stuff, and we
should all be thanking you for a great introduction.

  I really want the bevel tool, and I'll start asking for it by name, next time
I meet up with the tool hounds of the PNTC. Of course, EVERYONE wants the nail
clipper!

                      thanks sincerely; gam in OlyWA/USA


 

    On Monday, September 13, 2021, 11:40:48 AM PDT, Kirk Eppler via groups.io
 wrote:
 
 All

You may recall Bill Ghio had a shop smalls clean out a few weeks back.

https://swingleydev.com/ot/get/274479/thread/#274479

I grabbed the small dog leg bevel he had, knowing how convenient I've found
the regular small bevels vs the bigger 6-12" ones.  When it arrived, I was
surprised to see it was a Twix brand bevel. Having never heard of them
before, I immediately googled here and other spots , and found a few
squares and other goodies that have shown up over the years but not much
info on the company itself. So away I went to see if I could dig up more
info.

So far, what I see is they were formed prior to 1942, and maybe dissolved
by 1974.

There is a NYTimes article 4/30/1924 in Archive.org (95 total articles),
with Twix Manufacturing in the article, but it has been taken down, and
their Paywall is in the way of getting it directly? (Linked activities,
nah?) Suspect it might be an article entitled BID AND ASKED QUOTATIONS. The
clip shows the 40-09 part of their address from below, so guessing they did
not move.

1941-06-25 has them listed in American Machinist magazine, with just text
listings of name and address, saying they do Contract Work, 40-09 21st
Street, Long Island City, NY,

Their name shows up in a few 1942? Naval Hearings. This wanders through
some other territory, as they were involved in some hearings, probably
about improper behavior, but snippet view keeps things short and guessing.,
so not including it here.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Investigation_of_the_Naval_Defense_Progr/Up
96EYv8sFwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=twix+mfg+company+tool+-candy&pg=PA1316&printsec=front
cover

Then things went quiet until November 1945, when they started showing up in
Hardware Age at 40-09 21st Street, Long Island City 1, NY, advertising a
combination square, with Level and Scriber!
https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1945-11-22_156_11/page/186/mode/1up

Next up is a nail clipper, then back to the combo square every other issue
(2 weeks)

Sept 12 issue pops up with a full page ad, with my bevel top left (F)
sliding bevel B-105

https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1946-09-12_158_6/page/n30/mode/1up

They alternate between full page and half page ads for the next few issues,
then went to half page

https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1946-12-05_158_12/page/n47/mode/1up

In 1947, they had a presence at the National Hardware Show

In 1946 they may have unionized, but can't see the details, probably AFL
from Snippet view.

In 1947 they were listed as having a work stoppage in Work Stoppages in New
York State, not sure if Aug 1946 or 47.

Sept 1947 they featured a mitre box, vise type
https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1947-09-11_160_6/page/126/mode/1up

Nov 1947 they featured a favorite tool of mine, a universal measuring tool,
great for depth, quick set measurements, and the skinny rule makes it much
more useful than a combination square.
https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1947-11-06_160_10/page/212/mode/1up

End of Feb 1948 featured an adjustable Bench Level
https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1948-02-26_161_5/page/68/mode/1up

Late March featured a block plane
https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1948-03-25_161_7/page/90/mode/1up

Finally getting featured in Feb 1949, a cool twisty drill for fitting in
small spots. It had shown up in the half page general ads for a while.

https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1949-02-10_163_3/page/212/mode/1up

In 1953, they start advertising in Aviation Week, showing lots of bigger
tools, now calling it tooling
https://archive.org/details/sim_aviation-week-space-
technology_1953-04-27_58_17/page/23/mode/1up

In mid 1953, they started advertising their take down square, claiming the
Only 2 Piece Easy Carrying Square, "Take Down" Rafter and Framing Square,
but I swear they were made much earlier by Eagle, I'll check later.

https://archive.org/details/sim_hardware-age-home-improvement-
market_1953-06-25_171_13/page/109/mode/1up

Undated Eagle Catalog
https://archive.org/details/EagleCarpentersSquares/page/n9/mode/2up

1914 patent
https://datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=1107516&id=12207&set=34

Their last Archive.org listing is in April 1961, a listing in Automotive
News Almanac (They'd advertised there prior, but its a text only listing,
kinda boring)

In 1966, they were listed in Queens in a Industrial Directory of New York
State , guess Long Island City is in Queens.

1974 had them on a list of suppliers, previous number 06709, looked like
they lost their number, suspect they were long gone by then.


They do have one entry in the ITCL, loaded April of this year, but its jsut
a copy of the half page magazine ad.

https://archive.org/details/twix-mfg-hdwe-age-vol-160-no-2-1947-07-17-pg-1014

In April 1953, a patent was issued to Saul Shaler for a Method of Making
Pinking Shears Cutters (2,636,402) and a second (2,676,401, April 54) for
Self Adjusting Pinking Shears. Twix Manufacturing made a Peerless Pinker
based on these two patents. Rumored to be from the early 50's, and a high
and pinking shear. But why does this matter to us?

The next dive was into DATAMP, which revealed one patent for Twix, issued
to S Shaler, Jackson Heights, NY, 2,512,177, Jun 20, 1950, prior to the
Peerless Pinker patent. This was for the Take Down rafter square mentioned
above.

https://datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=2512177&id=65901&set=1

This is Saul's only patent in DATAMP, which is a bit of a shame, as he has
several others, (including Canadian duplicates).  I sent a note to DATAMP
staff, but they are buried right now, and could use extra Data Stewards.

https://patents.google.com/?inventor=saul+shaler&oq=saul+shaler

including what looks like the nifty drill I noted above

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2546655A/en?inventor=saul+shaler&oq=saul+sha
ler

And an adjustable Level Patent, which may be related to the one above

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2439698A/en?inventor=saul+shaler&oq=saul+sha
ler

I think this is an untapped vein of knowledge.  There is some prior history
of Saul, but his cohorts from below don't seem to have much name presence
on the internet.  Saul was part of a court case in 1919 or so, and it talks
about subcontracting military work, not digging in there now.

My next data foray took me to the 1958 Industrial Directory of New York
State, Dept of Commerce. The copy from Google Books was snippet view, and
quite fuzzy, so I got lucky and found another copy in the Hathi Trust
library, the full book, searchable. There were 6 hits in the google books
version, pages 139, 438, 587, 609, 637 & ??, but they don't quite line up
with the 3 in Hathi, but they mostly point to this listing, their big
listing, with officers, addresses product lines etc.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018443799&view=1up&seq=663&skin=
2021&q1=twix

Short version here for those who don't want to open the whole book, added
other data like first names from other sources.
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Mechanic-Tools/Misc-Goodies/Misc-Junk/i-xf9LkFT

President Morris S Gipstein (1944 - 1961)
VP Daniel J O’Brien
Sales Mgr Joseph Albert (President 1962-63)
Chief Engr Saul Shaler (from above)
Purchasing Agent B Pilmer (VP 1962-63)

Twix Mfg Co, Inc, MO & P 40-09 21 St Long Island City 1, See 3543a

Street view at the address gives a 5 story building undergoing
refurbishment (left Twix). The plant address, about 0.8 miles away, 37-25
33 St L.I.C (right Twix) looks like a recent construction site, so I didn't
bother posting pics

Oh yeah, and here is my new to me tool, the Bevel, 6" Overall length,
marked out 0-4" on the one face, and 30, 45, 60 & 90° angles on the
opposite.
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Measuring/i-Rw567tb

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Measuring/i-CLgQjvz

And while not quite as sleek and well made as a Starrett #47 Universal
Bevel, it seems pretty decent so far.  (BTW, Starrett 47s come in two
different body thicknesses.  Never had them together until I started
writing this.)

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Measuring/i-LncbT6B

Thanks again to Bill for the fun tool.
-- 
Kirk Eppler, killing time between conference call meetings, would rather be
in the garage, but not enough time for that.

Recent Bios FAQ