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275552 Kirk Eppler 2022‑05‑09 Kennedy Tool Boxes
All

I've been working on a reference for the different features on a vintage
Kennedy tool box, and the one I recently found gave me an excuse to test it
out.  You can download a copy of the KennedyFeatures pdf at the link below.

https://app.box.com/s/j7mg2nsg2wd5lvbc526i8ghcms345kos

If anyone has some good Kennedy literature or provenance that can help
close gaps, I'd love to hear it.

Anyway, here is a vintage Kennedy box I grabbed from a hoarder's estate
sale. This one dates to pre 1947 (see below), but by my calculations based
on catalog features, it is post 1934, when the oval handles disappeared,
and post 1941, when the seal brown finish was first mentioned, and the
first appearance of the 516 Model (16" wide). I need to dig into the 1942
extension slide stop patent to see if that is applicable (and how to remove
the drawers?). This has the metal looking rectangular pulls, lid stay, and
horizontal ribs on the lid, case mounted lock and latches. ( And the U
shaped handle, not shown)

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-hsmSpdX

I have not cleaned it up enough to see the key number
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-Mhqxrvt

Per Erik's obvious request that I obliviously missed originally, here are
the drawer slide differences between my old one, and a newer 528 with the
clips.

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-8bchT9X

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-Xr8Cfnh

But here is where it gets fun. As the drawers are a bear to remove, (anyone
know how?) I pulled the drawers full forward, and slowly tipped the box
face down. Then looked under the drawers with a flashlight. Lots of paper
jammed behind them, so with a long pair of needlenose and a screwdriver, I
managed to drag the paper out. There is still a lot of crud under there
that I will try to remove once I figure out how to pull the drawers.

The best part of the paper work is a pay stub for Charles A Mittelman, from
2-14-1947, from The Globe Cloak & Suit Co, 942 Market Street, SF. This tied
in nicely with the requisite metal name tag found in almost every tool box
that lived a shop life.

In 1959, Mittelman founded a sewing machine shop, and it lasted 39 years,
at one point employing 9 people. Looked like he was active in certain
millinery trade groups

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-PbNjn6p


-- 
Kirk Eppler, running down stairs between meetings to keep the brain active


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 
275578 Kirk Eppler 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
On Mon, May 9, 2022 at 3:36 PM Kirk Eppler via groups.io  wrote:

>
> Per Erik's obvious request that I obliviously missed originally, here are
> the drawer slide differences between my old one, and a newer 528 with the
> clips.....As the drawers are a bear to remove, (anyone know how?)
>
> https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-8bchT9X
>
> https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-Xr8Cfnh
>
>
>
>
Took a quick look into this.  Some of the Snap-on boxes had a tool for
removing the drawers that allowed the drawer to slide past the stop by
pushing the stop away a bbit.  I tried a tool I've used on the Snap-on box,
and all it did was push the drawer shut.  Looking harder, it appears that
the end of the drawer rail, on the chest frame, is peened over, preventing
further movement.

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-LXWKHWP

I'm not sure if I need to rethink the geometry of the tool, pull harder to
get it to ride over the peen, or just what.

More later.
-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, another wet and cold morning here.


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 
275580 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
Kirk,

Since there is no way that you are the only one with the problem of removing
this variety of Kennedy toolbox drawers, there must be a published solution.

Have you tried calling Kennedy?

Try the various machinist's bulletin boards, such as Practical Machinist.

The solution has probably already been invented. You just have to find it!

John Ruth
275581 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
Kirk,

As an addendum to my previous post, and again at the risk of stating something
obvious to you...

There are three parts to an old-style Kennedy drawer slide: the rails that are
integral to the drawer, the extensible slide, and the rails that are integral to
the cabinet.

You can see that the slide is not coming out of the rails integral to the
cabinet. That's why it is peened over. ( I would have used the word "crimped" )

So, rather than trying to free the slide from the cabinet rails, instead seek to
free the slide from the rails on the drawer.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the drawer comes off of the slide,
rather than the slide come off the cabinet.

The little round hole in the front end of the slide may be important. If it did
not serve a purpose, it wouldn't be there.

Shine a light into the gap behind a fully extended drawer. Any hints hiding in
there?

Shine a light lengthwise down the slide. Can you see the catch?

Can you feel anything under the felt on the sides of the drawer?

John Ruth,
Hoping his hasn't written nonsense.
275582 Bill Ghio 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
> On May 9, 2022, at 6:35 PM, Kirk Eppler via groups.io
 wrote:
> 
> All
> 
> I've been working on a reference for the different features on a vintage
> Kennedy tool box, and the one I recently found gave me an excuse to test it
> out.  You can download a copy of the KennedyFeatures pdf at the link below.
> 
> https://app.box.com/s/j7mg2nsg2wd5lvbc526i8ghcms345kos
> 
> If anyone has some good Kennedy literature or provenance that can help
> close gaps, I'd love to hear it.

Kirk,

Can’t help you on the drawer removal issue, but maybe you will find this as an
added data point.

My dad was a machinist working for Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft up till 1943 (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Aircraft ). After his slog thru
France and Germany in 1944-45 he found other employment. Circa 1975 he gave me a
Kennedy tool box and a few machinist tools. I downloaded your chart on the
Kennedy boxes but don’t see where mine fits. The color is definitely green —
Army green I would call it. Is that your Pine Tree of 1930? The box has a
stenciled number on it — B24D — that is clearly not original. The knobs are non-
magnetic so must be brass. Very grungy but probably originally nickel plated.
They are round, neither oval or rectangular. Second pic shows there was a plate
attached to the top that is now missing. Inside the lid is a partial label that
says Kennedy but little is readable. the clasp says Kennedy just like yours
does. I should have taken a better pic of the workbench barely visible behind
the box. It came out of a WWII Navy destroyer that was being broken up in a
shipyard in San Diego and my dad grabbed it. Perhaps the box came from a similar
source, however I suspect it was his workbox c. 1940.

Pics are at https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/72177720299000941

Bill
275583 Mike Rock <mikerock@m...> 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
I have my dad's Dzus wrench, it says Vultee on it.  Cool!

> My dad was a machinist working for Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft up till 1943 (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Aircraft ). After his slog thru
France and Germany in 1944-45 he found other employment. Circa 1975 he gave me a
Kennedy tool box and a few machinist tools. I
The Dzus fastener, also known as a turnlock fastener or quick-action 
panel fastener, is a type of proprietary quarter-turn spiral cam lock 
fastener often used to secure skin panels on aircraft and other 
high-performance vehicles. It is named after its inventor William Dzus.
275585 Kirk Eppler 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
So, John pestered me with his "been invented", so I pulled up the patent

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/34/09/1c/afab0772e145e1/US1984345.pd
f

page 5 lines ~70 to page 6 lines 15 seem to talk about it, and Figs 8 & 9
seem to show it.

With the peen on the cabinet, I am guessing there is a peen on the far end
of the drawer as well. (Turns out I am correct)

To get these out, you must remove the drawer slide from the cabinet first,
then pull the slide off the drawer by coming in from the back of the drawer.

Looking harder into this, I was able to get it out by fiddling with my shim
tool.  I think that the latch spring is stiffer, and sticks out closer to
the rail than on the Snap-on boxes.  I added a second bend, and tapered the
contact end of the shim tool, to allow it to sneak in through the gap a bit
easier.  Using the hanger from a pendaflex file folder to make this.

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-9bh3cKR
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-hnLc5DK
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Tools/Kennedy-Tool-Chests/i-Qx5hcr2

You can see that the latch is about 4" in from the front, and is only in
the center of the H rail

Hope this explains it, with the pix.

Thanks John for the push to go back to the patent.

On Mon, May 16, 2022 at 12:31 PM John Ruth  wrote:

> The solution has probably already been invented. You just have to find it!
>
>

-- 
Kirk Eppler, back to my meeting now.


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 
275590 Kirk Eppler 2022‑05‑16 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
Bill

I may have the brother box to yours.   In the first pic, you can see there
is a plastic clear plate on top.  When posted for sale on CL, there was a
name there.  The seller removed the name, but left the plastic.  I didn't
think to grab it to research his name, service record, etc.  The label
under the lid says it is part of the Bighorn Series. The brown one I
started with is a 516, the green is a different style, and does not have
the half width drawers on top.  Like the 620 pictured here, listed as dark
green color, not pine green.
https://archive.org/details/KennedyMfgCoNov1945/page/n1/mode/1up

https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-LRsJckM

Mine also has two round knobs on each drawer.  I wonder if that was a
downgrade for military users from the rectangular pulls, or just the line
feature. Mine seem like stamped tin or aluminum
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Woodworking-Tools/i-Hn56HG7

I will add a pic of the label and other features, and put it in my Kennedy
folder.

I should have clarified that I was only looking at the 5 series boxes in my
features study.  Will update for the next revision.

Thanks for the time points, I will notate more as I go forward.

And those Dzus tools were also called Snoopy tools (as others have told me)

Kirk in Half Moon Bay, Ca, still hazy, but no longer as damp.

On Mon, May 16, 2022 at 1:35 PM Bill Ghio  wrote:

>
>
> > On May 9, 2022, at 6:35 PM, Kirk Eppler via groups.io  gene.com@g...> wrote:
> >
> > All
> >
> > I've been working on a reference for the different features on a vintage
> > Kennedy tool box, and the one I recently found gave me an excuse to test
> it
> > out.  You can download a copy of the KennedyFeatures pdf at the link
> below.
> >
> > https://app.box.com/s/j7mg2nsg2wd5lvbc526i8ghcms345kos
> >
> > If anyone has some good Kennedy literature or provenance that can help
> > close gaps, I'd love to hear it.
>
> Kirk,
>
> Can’t help you on the drawer removal issue, but maybe you will find this
> as an added data point.
>
> My dad was a machinist working for Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft up till
> 1943 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Aircraft ). After his
> slog thru France and Germany in 1944-45 he found other employment. Circa
> 1975 he gave me a Kennedy tool box and a few machinist tools. I downloaded
> your chart on the Kennedy boxes but don’t see where mine fits. The color is
> definitely green — Army green I would call it. Is that your Pine Tree of
> 1930? The box has a stenciled number on it — B24D — that is clearly not
> original. The knobs are non-magnetic so must be brass. Very grungy but
> probably originally nickel plated. They are round, neither oval or
> rectangular. Second pic shows there was a plate attached to the top that is
> now missing. Inside the lid is a partial label that says Kennedy but little
> is readable. the clasp says Kennedy just like yours does. I should have
> taken a better pic of the workbench barely visible behind the box. It came
> out of a WWII Navy destroyer that was being broken up in a shipyard in San
> Diego and my dad grabbed it. Perhaps the box came from a similar source,
> however I suspect it was his workbox c. 1940.
>
> Pics are at
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../albums/72177720299000941
>
> Bill


-- 
Kirk Eppler in Half Moon Bay, CA 
275594 Erik Levin 2022‑05‑17 Re: Kennedy Tool Boxes
Thanks for the information so far.


Kirk wrote:
>When posted for sale on CL, there was a name there.  The seller removed the
name, but
>left the plastic.  I didn't think to grab it to research his name, service
record, etc.

This breaks my heart (ok, not quite, but is sad to me). With two exceptions, I
have a full history on nearly every chest I own, and part of the fun has been
tracking down the details. The exceptions are the garbage picked Snap-on chest
(I'd LOVE to know the history on this, due to the damage and prior repairs....)
and one of my for-parts Kennedy 26" 11 drawer units, that eventually got
repaired to service (courtesy of an even more for-parts 20" that eventually went
to a friend's kid in serviceable trim due to another parts unit). The rest? die
maker from American Can, Toolmaker from Trenton (several employers. A Ford guy,
based on the customization), and so on.

A lovely chest, and I am sure it will be given the respect it deserves.

Thanks for sharing



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