Plomb-Thorsen connection

[johnsironsanctuary]

I was cruising AA and found this tidbit.

 The California Tool Company (CTC) is a tool distributor and manufacturer with an interesting connection to one of the founders of Plomb Tool. California Tool was formed by S.C. Miller in 1927 when he acquired the A. Plomb Tool Company, a maker of automotive and specialty tools founded by Alphonse Plomb. Readers familiar with the Plomb Tool Company will recall that Alphonse Plomb was one of the founders of that company, and when he left Plomb Tool around 1917, he started the A. Plomb Tool Company business.

California Tool continued to manufacture the A. Plomb line of tools for some years, and the tools were typically marked with both "Calif-Tool" and "A. Plomb" stamped markings. The "A. Plomb" marking was probably intended to show continuity with the older business and its customers; as far as is known, Alphonse Plomb retired after selling his business and had no further involvement with CTC.

By the 1930s California Tool had also became a distributor for other companies, notably Thorsen Manufacturing and Plomb Tool (later Proto). The Thorsen tools sold by California Tool are believed to have been privately branded for CTC, thereby blurring the lines between distributor and manufacturer.

[OilyRascal]

I'm also of the belief that Thorsen privately branded tools for "E. A. Boyd", "General Tool", and "Old Forge" or "Old Forge PA".  I'll stress belief, and that I've been unable to confirm.

[kxxr]

Further on in the same AA article cited by johnsironsanctuary,  "EA Boyd", "General" and "Old Forge" are all mentioned, along with "Quality Tools Corporation"; under the section headed "New Ownership". Who made what for whom is unclear, though (to me anyway).
I would love to see a 'Family Tree' style illustration, or maybe a 'timeline' created by someone that has the skills necessary to unravel all of the various facts, connections and speculations about our beloved USA tool makers. I have no idea who should be the Grandaddy of them all but it seems if you look hard enough, they are all connected somehow.
If you've ever heard of the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game, I bet it might only be 3 or 4 degress to connect everything in the tool world; but I don't know who would be Kevin Bacon. Any ideas? Now there's a thread idea!

[kxxr]

While doing a little Thorsen research myself, I found this recent article for Mr Lawton Shurtleff, one of the principals in the Thorsen company over the years. It sounds like he accomplished much good in his life, including 2 books. Now, I'll bet he knew a thing or two about those early Thorsen years, parts of his Family History book are available on Google Books (Thorsen history starts on page 439). And, you could have asked him yourself up until just 3 months ago. He was 97 years old last April when he passed.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=lawton-shurtleff&pid=156861693

[kxxr]

The Lawton Shurtleff book has quite a bit more detail about his involvement in Thorsen than is mentioned on AA. For example, during the war years when he landed the government contracts that brought the company back to life, he also landed "one large contract to produce wrenches for Indian motorcycles". If I ever saw any mention of that connection in any of the Indian wrench discussions, I don't recall it. Another connection.

[Branson]

I'm still trying to find out about "Thorsen International" which is stamped on a pair of chromed needle nose pliers, along with "Sheffield."

[rusty]

GC Thorsen Intl, Ltd. 

Thorsen Tools, Inc. (Delaware) 

... subsidiaries of Katy Industries, Inc...

Katy International, Inc. (British Virgin Islands)

http://www.secinfo.com/dS9Jj.4C5.d.htm

always follow the money -P