Hand Tools in History
Tool Information Files

The revolutionary impact of the internet now allows the construction of a detailed electronic encyclopedia of New England's most important toolmakers.  This task is an essential component of constructing an archaeology of tools of the maritime culture of Maine.  Visitors to this website can be extremely helpful by providing us citations of publications and website links pertaining to the many 18th and 19th century tool manufacturers and toolmakers who created the hand tools that helped build America.

Important Toolmakers not Located in Maine

18th Century American Toolmakers

The artisans of the maritime culture of Maine not only made their own tools but utilized a vast array of hand tools manufactured in southern New England.  Only 18th century toolmakers in the Museum collection are listed in this section.

Joseph Fuller (Fuller tools in the museum collection)
Luther Metcalf
Francis Nicholson
Nathaniel Potter
Ebenezer Seymour

19th Century American Toolmakers

The following listing of New England's most important toolmakers, including those of the classic period of American machinist's tools, may include some important toolmakers that we do not have in the museum collection.

List of New England Machinist Tool Manufacturers

Almond Mfg. Co., Fitchburg, MA
Ames Shovel Co., Easton, MA
Atha Tool Co., Newark, NJ
Auburn Tool Co., Auburn, NY
A.B. Allen & Co., New York, NY
Wm Beatty & Son, Chester, PA
Leonard Bailey, Boston, MA
J & E. R. Barbour, Portland, ME
David R. Barton Tool Co., Rochester, NY
Belden Machine Co., New Haven, CT
Billings & Spencer Co., Hartford, CT
Brown & Sharpe Small Tools, Providence, RI
Buck Brothers, Millbury, MA
Buff & Buff Mfg. Co., Jamaica Plain, MA (Buff and Berger) (C L Berger & Sons Manufacturing Co.)
WM. H. Carr & Co., Philadelphia, PA
Chandler & Farquhar, Boston, MA
Chapin-Stevens Co. Union Factory, Riverton and Pine Meadow, CT
Hermon Chapin, New Hartford and Pine Meadow, CT
Henry Cheney Hamer Co., Little Falls, NY
L. & A. G. Coes wrenches (Coes tools in the museum collection)
Collins & Co., Collinsville and Canton, CT
Connecticut Valley Manufacturing Co., Centerbrook, CT
Leonard L. Davis (Davis Level & Tool Co.) Davis levels, planes, gauges, screwdrivers, hacksaws, drills, calipers
Henry Disston & Sons, Inc., Philadelphia, PA
Douglas Axe Manufacturing Co., Douglas, MA
C. Drew & Co.  (Drew tools in the Museum collection)
Eagle Square Co., Shaftsbury, VT
I.B. Farrington, Brooklyn, NY
Folding Sawing Machine Co., Chicago IL and Essex Center, Ontario
Josiah Fowler, New Brunswick, Canada (ship's carpenter's adzes)
Gage Tool Co., Vineland, NJ
Goldblatt Tool Co. Kansas City, KS
Goodnow & Wightman, Boston, MA
Goodell-Pratt Company, Greenfield, MA
Greenfield Tool Co., Greenfield, MA
Greenlee Bros./Greenlee Tools, Chicago and Rockford, IL
Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co., New York, NY
H.H. Harvey & Co., Augusta, ME and Boston, MA
Heebner & Sons, Worcester and Lansdale, PA
R. Hoe & Co., New York, NY and Boston, MA
Hoole Machine and Engraving Works, Brooklyn and New York, NY
Heller & Bros., Newark, NJ
Hope & Co., Providence, RI
Hynson Tool & Supply Co., St. Louis, MO
S. Robert Jackson, Watertown, NY
Jackson & Tyler, Baltimore, MD
C.E. Jennings & Co., New York, NY (also Yalesville, CT, Port Jervis, NY and New Haven, CT)
Solomon A. Jones & Co., Hartford, CT
James Kellogg, Amherst, MA
Caleb Jewett Kimball, Bennington, NH
Lang & Jacobs, Boston, MA
The Lufkin Rule Co., Cleveland, OH and Saginaw, MI
Machinists Tool Co., Providence, RI
David W. Mann Co., Lincoln, MA
Millers Falls Company (Millers Falls Co. tools in the Museum collection)
Morse Twist Drill & Machine Co., New Bedford, MA
Nicholson Files and Rasps Co., Providence, RI
North Bros. Mfg. Co., "Yankee Tools", Philadelphia, PA
North Wayne Tool Co., Hallowell, ME and Oakland, ME
Joshua Oldham, New York, NY
Ohio Tool Co., Columbus, OH and Auburn, NY
O.S. Rixford, East Highgate, VT
Charles Samuel Osborne Co., Newark, NJ
The Peavey Tool Co./Peavey Mfg. Co., Bangor, Oakland and Edington, ME
Peck Stow & Wilcox Co., Southington, CT
Fayette R. Plumb , Philadelphia, PA
A.H. Pomeroy, Hartford, CT
Pratt & Whitney Co., West Hartford, CT
William Rowland & Co., Philadelphia, PA
John Russell & Co., Greenfield and Deerfield, MA
Sandusky Tool Co., Sandusky, OH
Sargent & Co., Leicester, MA and New Haven, CT
Sawyer Tool Mfg. Co., Fitchburg, MA
Seth Savage Co.
Seymour & Churchill
H. B. Smith Machine Co., Smithville, NJ
Southington Cutlery Co. of Southington, CT
Stanley Tool and Level Co. of New Britain, CT (Stanley tools in the Museum collection)
Star Tool Co., Middletown, CT
Stratton Brothers, Greenfield, MA
Starrett Tool Co., Athol, MA
The James Swan Company, Seymour, CT
Willis Thrall & Son, Hartford, CT
Underhill Edge Tool Co.,
Underhill & Brown, Auburn, NH
Union Mfg. Co., New Britain, CT
William P. Walter's Sons, Philadelphia, PA
Walworth Mfg. Co., Boston, MA (Stilson wrenches)
Joseph Watts, Boston, MA
Wheeler, Madden & Bakewells, New York, NY and Middleton, NY
Whitman & Barnes, Mfg. Co., Akron, OH and Philadelphia, PA
A.J. Wilkinson, Boston, MA
Winchester Arms Co., New Haven, CT
Thomas H. Witherby, Witherby Tool Co., Winstead Edge Tool Works, Millbury, MA and Winsted, CT
William T. Wood, Arlington, MA
Amos Whittemore & Co. Bennington, NH
Otto Young & Co., Chicago, IL
Zenith Tools (Marshall Wells Hdwe. Co.), Duluth, MN