Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart
I have a couple random Proto tools, but I'm more interested in Plomb which is what Proto used to be called until the late 1940s. Old Plomb tools are relatively common out on the west coast (since they were made in Los Angeles) but are hard to find here in the midwest.
I do have a 1954 Proto catalog as well. 
I think you meant Blue Point is the lower priced line of Snap On...they still are. |
I have a pretty good collection of Plomb tools and their catalogs. It was easy to confuse Plomb with Plumb on the East coast, but they didn't make the same kind of tools as each other until about WWII. Then Plomb expanded and offered some of the same types of tools as Plumb. Plomb had never gotten a copyright on their name, so when Plumb sued them Plumb won. 1948 was a transition year for Plomb's name change, but they still had the Plomb name on their tools. "PROTO TOOLS BY PLOMB TOOL CO." They were sued again and had to remove the Plomb name from their tools all together. Basically 1948 was the only year with both names, so they are typically called transition tools. Counting individual sockets, I have over 2000 pieces of Plomb - including over 200 ratchets. The pictures are some of my 1/4" sets, but I have sizes up to 1" complete sets.
The Firestone sets were made by Plomb in 1948. They also made the Craftsman tools sometime in the 40's. The man in the picture is my Dad. It was taken at an open house at the Plomb Tool Company in 1945. He was a tool designer there.