American Scissors and Shears: An Antique and Vintage Collectors

American Sciss ors and Shears An Antique and Vintage Collectors’ Guide

Universal-PublishersBoca Raton

Philip R. Pankiewicz

AMERICAN SCISSORS AND SHEARS: AN ANTIQUE AND VINTAGE

COLLECTORS’ GUIDE

Copyright © 2013 Philip R. PankiewiczAll rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitt ed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without

writt en permission from the publisher CIP Data Available from the Library of Congress.

Universal-PublishersBoca Raton, Florida

USA • 2013

Cover design by Kit Oliynyk

ISBN-10: 1-61233-251-XISBN-13: 978-1-61233-251-2

www.universal-publishers.com

Pankiewicz, Philip R., 1943-American scissors and shears : an antique and vintage collectors' guide / Philip R. Pankiewicz. pages cmISBN 978-1-61233-251-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 1-61233-251-X (pbk. : alk. paper)1. Scissors and shears--Collectors and collecting--United States--Catalogs. I. Title.TS381.P36 2013621.9'3--dc23 2013007453

he manufacture of scissors and shears in American was started primarily by Eng-lish and German immigrants who had worked in the cutlery shops of Solingen, Germany and Sheffi eld, England. Upon

their arrival on the Eastern coast, they tended to gravitate toward cities and areas where work was readily available. For a number of reasons, the Naugatuck Valley in Con-necticut and the cities of Newark, New Jersey and Fre-mont, Ohio became the major centers of scissor and shear manufacturing in the United States.

Th e Naugatuck Valley was the site of a goodly supply of water power to help run the cutlery and ‘shear shops’ that would soon dot the countryside. Some of these cutleries made knives and straight razors exclusively; others includ-ed scissors and shears in their repertoire. Th ose that were tabbed ‘shear shops’, like the Lenox Shear Company of Brookfi eld, Connecticut , limited their production exclu-sively to scissors and shears. Th e workers in these shops were primarily immigrants from Sheffi eld, England.

In Newark, it was German immigrants who dominated the burgeoning cutlery industry. They were attracted to the city of Newark because it offered amenities such as a good seaport, a sound rail system, and a well-de-veloped infrastructure. Rochus Heinisch was among the first German immigrants to establish a major shear

shop here. Established in the mid-1800’s, Heinisch scis-sors quickly gained an excellent reputation through-out the New World. His efforts were followed shortly thereafter by Jacob Wiss who built a virtual scissors empire and made Wiss scissors commonplace in homes throughout America and beyond.

Fremont, Ohio, strangely enough, became the largest center for scissor and shear manufacturing in the United States. Th is was the result of the off er of free natural gas to any businesses that would move there. Th is off er led to the establishment and development of the Henkel Company and the Clauss Shear Company, two independent fi rms, they eventually merged to form the largest scissors and shear manufactory in the world.

American Scissors and Shears, presents countless pho-tographic examples of antique and vintage scissors and shears made in the United States circa 1850-1930 to-gether with information on more than the one hundred companies and individuals who made them. Th e deci-sions to exclude surgical scissors, scissors produced by silverware companies, and shears such as pruning, sheep and grass shears were made to help limit the size of the text. Th e many scissor patents granted to individuals were also omitt ed for the same reason. Individuals seeking in-formation on these products can fi nd them via internet researches and at: www.google.com/patents.

INTRODUCTION

An Antique & VintageCollectors’ Guide

American ScissorsShears

2

I N T RO D U CT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1TA B L E O F CO N T E N TS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CONNECTICUT SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Atlas Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Acme Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Joseph Mallinson & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Th e American Engineering Company . . . . . . . 16Butler And Sugden Shear Factory . . . . . . . . . . 17Union Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Renz Shear Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19William Schollhorn Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Clayton Brothers Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Lenox Shear Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32John Ahlbin & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Connecticut Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 37United States Steel Shear Company . . . . . . . . 40Northfi eld Knife Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Florian Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . 44James Frary & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Doolitt le Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . 51Barnard, Son & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Niagara Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Empire Knife Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Holley Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . 61Waterville Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64American Shear And Knife Company . . . . . . . 67Tutt le & Whitt emore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Concannon Shear Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Remington Arms Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Winchester Arms Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76John J. Conway Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Landers, Frary & Clark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

NEW JERSEY SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Transomatic Corporation Of America . . . . . . 92William Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Sayre Scissors And Shear Company . . . . . . . . 94Charles Felder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Rochus Heinisch & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

TABLE OF CONTENTS

H. Boker & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Valley Forge Cutlery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Schnefel Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Jacob Wiss & Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Bontgen & Storsberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128W.H. Compton Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . 129Anvil Cutlery Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Friedman & Lauterjung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139C.S. Osborne Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Peter Bauer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

MICHIGAN SCISSORS AND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Berridge Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146E.E. Morris Manufacturing Company . . . . . . 150Michigan Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Hatch Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

NEW YORK SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Company . . . . . . . 158Th e Pinking Shear Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . 159Hardened Copper Cutlery Incorporated . . . 163Henry Seymour & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Robeson Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Fabyan Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Herman Wendt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Geneva Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Marx Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . 177Adolph Kastor & Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Bmc Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Judson Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Breeden & Nelke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Graef & Schmidt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187C. Klauberg & Bros. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Cling Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189John Rowe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191August Eickhoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Catt araugus Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Davies Automatic Shear Company . . . . . . . . 198Griff on Cutlery Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Twix Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . 204

PENNSYLVANIA SCISSORS AND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

National Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

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C.Platt s & Sons Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . 209W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company . . . . . . 210Clarenbach & Herder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Queen Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Disston Saw Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Frederick C. Leypoldt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

OHIO SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Maher & Grosh Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Ohio Cooperative Shear Company . . . . . . . . 225Philip Emrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Ridgeley Trimmer Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Clauss Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229Henkel Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Jackson Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Th omas Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . 236

INDIANA SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Haynes International Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Schimkat Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

MASSACHUSETTS SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

I.P. Hyde Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . 244Martin Bradford & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

RHODE ISLAND SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Walcott Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

KENTUCKY SCISSORS AND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

W.C. Heimerdinger Cutlery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing Company . . . 257

ILLINOIS SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Chicago Mail Order Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Henry Sears & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261W.L.W. Grinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262And Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company . . . . 264Rudolph Sevic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266W.C. Hocking & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Sheer Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

MISSOURI SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Simmons-Keen Kutt er-ShapleighHardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Macon Shear Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

IOWA SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Davenport Cutlery Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

ARKANSAS SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Solid Steel Scissors Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

WISCONSIN SCISSORS AND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

American Metal Products Company (Ampco) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

NEBRASKA SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Paxton & Gallagher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

COLORADO SCISSORSAND SHEARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Western States CutleryAnd Manufacturing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

B A L L B E A R I N G /F O L D I N G S C I S S O R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300F O L D I N G S C I S S O R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301PINKING SH E A R S/WICK CU TTINGS C I S S O R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302MYSTERY SCISSOR S (CANDIDATESFOR FURTHER R ESE A RCH) . . . . . . . . . 303A C K N O W L E D G E M E N TS . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

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THE ATLAS SHEAR COMPANY

itt le is known about this company that was located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. One clue is the March 1906 advertise-ment in the Hardware Dealers’ Maga-zine that displayed one of the company’s

shears with the patent date of January 9, 1900. Th at pat-ent design, (No. 32,084), was awarded to J.J. Alvord, of Bridgeport. A later 1911 advertisement refers to another Alvord patent, (No. 918,942).

Research revealed that John Jay Alvord, who was born July 15, 1858 in Green Farms, Connecticut was both owner and manager of the company.

The 1906 advertisement stated that Atlas brands ‘em-body all the essential features required in a good run-ning shear, with an exceptionally fine cutting edge’

and that a catalog was avail-able for their cast shears, scissors and tin snips. The 1911 advertisement pro-claimed Atlas shears to be ‘The Premium That Sells’. Perhaps so, but at some point the company was bought out by Acme Shear Company, a larger firm also operating in Bridgeport. At that time, John Alvord and Frank Karsitz were creating new designs and assigning new patents to Acme. An

Acme report in 1936 showed that Acme was ‘operat-ing under four different names’, including Atlas Shear Company.

In 1911 the Iron Age Directory listed the Company as producers of ‘shears and scissors, barbers’ shears, paper-hangers’ and bankers’ shears.

BRIGEPORT

7

he Acme Shear Company traces its roots back to 1867 when Leo Renz set up the Renz Shear Shop in Naugatuck, Con-necticut to produce cast iron scissors and shears. Aft er his death in 1878 Mitchell

Renz took control of the company and moved operations to Fairfi eld, Connecticut. Two years later (c1880) the company was incorporated as the Acme Shear Company. Th e hand-writt en 'Articles of Association' contain the fol-lowing excerpts.

'We the undersigned hereby associate ourselves in a joint stock corporation under the statute laws of this state'... 'our name will be the Acme Shear Company and its stated pur-pose is to manufacture, buy, sell, own and deal in shears, scissors, cutlery, and hardware.'

Th e amount of its capital was $5,000 divided into 200 shares valued at $25 each and the original stockholders were Lizzie Renz (100 shares), C. Andrew Morehouse (50 shares) Stephen Maney (25 shares) and Adorno Whitman (25 shares).

Th e fi rst stockholders’ meeting was held September 10, 1883. Dwight Wheeler was elected President; David C. Wheeler, Secretary and Treasurer, and it was voted to 'hire the 2nd fl oor of a factory at 275 Barnum Street together with engine, boiler, petroleum engine and steam pipes for one year'.

THE ACME SHEAR COMPANY

In a subsequent meeting on November 5, 1885, it was not-ed that ' the corporation will purchase of Mrs. May, … at a sum not to exceed eight hun-dred dollars, the lot of ground situated on the southeast corner of Hicks and Knowl-ton Streets and that Dwight Wheeler will be the agent of this corporation to execute all contracts in pursuant thereof '. On December 10, 1885, the new plant was begun and the fi rst meeting held in the new location (Knowlton & Hicks Streets, Bridgeport, Connecticut) was on April 5, 1886.

What occurred in the following years (up to the year 1970) was made available from a 22 page fi le titled 'Th e Acme History'. Th e following is a condensed version of some signifi cant events:

1888 Th e Company added to its factory by purchasing 'the spoon plant' from the estate of E.C. Maltby.

1891 Plans were developed to explore the foreign ex-port market and to add steel scissors and shears.Th ese were to be purchased initially from the (Lenox?)Shear Co. with the possibility of manu-facturing their own in the future

BRIDGEPORT

8

1902 Th e Company considers the purchase of Lenox Shear Company but without results

1906 It was resolved to 'proceed at onceto construct an addition to the factory'

1907 In February the company hit a new high in monthly sales

1908 Acme starts acquiring additional property at a great rate

1909 A new steel and brick building was completed and more property purchased

1910 Acme completes an addition to the foundry. Daily production of 175 gross of shears

1912 Th e introduction of electricity to power the machinery

1913 Th e Company purchases the scissor and shear division of the Bridgeport Hardware Company


9

1917 Companypurchases $100,000 worthof Liberty Bonds for the War Effort

1918 Unfulfi lled orders amount to over 14,000 gross of shears and scissors and Victor shears

1928 Th e death of President Dwight Wheeler is noted. He had served as an offi cer since 1883. David C. Wheeler is elected President

1936 Th e Company was now doing business under four diff erent names: Acme Shear Co., Atlas Shear Company, Th e Bridgeport Shear Co., and the Eversharp Shear Company

1942 Acme convertsto war work. At least a dozen employees enlistor are draft ed. A nursery is established to att ractmothers into employment

1943 'Th e Clipper', an in-house monthly publication isinitiated


10


1949 A slow year for business, exceptfor heavy demand for the newPinking Shears

1950 Slow business,but many improvements and refurbishing done

1953 408 workers on the payroll

1958 Continued improvements made to the plant and offi ce

1960 Acme acquires interest in Surmanco, Ltd.,of Sheffi eld, England, mfrs of scissors, clippers, etc.

1963 Acme purchases the Seneca Novelty Company of Seneca Falls, NY. Company now in the wooden ruler and yardstick business

1966 The Company has 416 employ-ees. Purchases Waterbury plant & enters 'fastener'business.

1968 Fastener business sold due to lack of sales

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1967 Acme closes out the year with 495 employees. Second shift added to the foundry

1970 Acme acquires Westcott Rule Company of Sen-eca Falls, NY

1971 Acme Shear Company renamed Acme United Corporation

1980 Loss of business from American Hospital Supply

1990 Acquisition of Emil Schlemper G.m.b.H., leading West German maker of scissors, shears etc.

1991 Acquisition of Peter Altenbach & Sons, Germany’s third largest maker of knives& scissors

1992 Problems with Altenbach acquisition

1993 Stock price plummets

1995 Walter C. Johnson, age 44, replaces Dwight Wheeleras CEO. Westcott plant closed

12

1997 Acquisition of Rotex Division of Esselte Canada. Offi ce products business expands

2004 Acme acquires Clauss Cutlery, once the largest scissors manufac-turer in the world


• Acme’s ‘Lucky Grip’ trimmers that presumably

made cutt ing easier

• School scissors were always in demand. Acme had their ‘Kleencut’ brand Acme marketed this tool for lift ing and handling hot cans

13

• Acme’s fi ft y cent ‘Litt le Giant’ nutcracker

• A two-penny postcard with Acme lett erhead

• An early Acme advertise-ment (date unknown)

• Early Acme ad for‘Diamond’ and ‘Victor’

shears et al


14

J. MALLINSON & CO.

oseph Mallinson, born on Dec. 7, 1831 in Yorkshire, England He emigrated from West Melton, Yorkshire to Cornwall, Con-necticut in 1856, leaving his wife (nee: Sarah Jane Fieldsend) and child (Walter)

who came over two years. He first lived on Cream Hill and began manufacturing shears in a small shop near Stoddard's satinet factory. A few years later, with John Wood, he bought a mill with water privilege at West Cornwall, in a larger factory that he called J. Mallinson & Company.

Th e Tenth U.S. Water-Power Census Report of June 1, 1880 (Vol.16) reported that there was: ‘no water power in use above Cornwall Bridge until we reached West Cornwall, where Mssrs. Mallinson and Wood own a 13 feet fall. Th e privilege is improved by a log crib-work dam fi lled in with

stone; the dam averages about 8 feet in height and has a slop-ing face, with an apron-covered 3-inch planking. Th e race is several hundred feet long, from 12 to 14 feet wide, and from 6-8 ft . deep. Joseph Mallinson uses power for the manufac-ture of shears and scissors and for a grist mill, and rents some power for a foundry. He uses a 60 horsepower wheel but does not use more than two-thirds of the power.’

Mr. Wood, from the vicinity of New York, eventually retired and left town and Mallinson took on other part-ners. One such person was Adolph Kastor who arrived in 1890 but left soon afterward to start the Camillus Cutlery Company in Camillus, NY.

According to the Historical Records of the Town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 'the firm made all kinds of shears, some of the finest quality'. The shears were nickel-plated and japanned steel.

‘The buildings were ample, water power permanent and abundant and the business has always been successful’.

In 1900 his son Walter is listed in the Connecticut Reg-ister as being a member of Metal Polishers’ Union No. 96 in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

• Photograph of ‘Old Joe’ Mallinson (Courtesy of Mary Ehrler)

WEST CORNWALL

• Early Mallinson advertisement (Courtesy of

Mary Ehrler)

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J. MALLINSON & CO.

• Old newspaper clipping fr om the collection of Mary Ehrler

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THE AMERICAN ENGINEERING COMPANY

ccording to advertisements in ‘The American Cutler’, this company was located at 200 East Main Street in New Britain, Connecticut and sold ‘Solid Steel Hand Forged Scissors

and Shears’. The product line included ‘ladies’ scissors, pocket scissors, embroidery scissors, bent and straight trimmers, and barbers’shears. The company changed its corporate title to the Wilsa Manufacturing Compa-ny in 1921. Little else could be found on the company.

NEW BRITAIN

• Th is circa 1921 ad indicates the company’s name change

17

BUTLER & SUGDEN SHEAR FACTORY

• William Butler patents for tempering shears and a muzzle-loading pistol

ROCKY HILL

he Butler & Sugden Shear factory was be-gun by William Sage Butler and Robert Sugden in 1854 in the Dividend Brook area of Rocky Hill, Connecticut. Th e company held a patent (No. 21,319) for

the process of hardening of iron that was used in the man-ufacture of their shears. Butler claimed that his process of hardening had advantages over commonly used pro-cedures since the shears could be ‘more easily manufac-tured into symmetrical proportions’ and that they could be ‘manufactured at one-eighth the cost of steel plated goods’. ‘

Butler & Sugden also manufactured a single-shot muzzle-loading pistol that they had also patented (No. 16,571). Th ese pistols apparently bring premium prices when found and brought to auction.

An 1860 census reported that Butler & Sugden employed 30 men and four women. As-sets were 50 tons of pig iron, plus coal and molding sand. Th e property was situated on about 10 acres of land and in-cluded a house, sawmill, barn, grist mill and factory build-ings.

Sugden bought out Butler in 1863 and less than two years later, in October of 1865, the foundry, fi nishing shop and outbuildings were destroyed by fi re. Th e damage was estimated at $15,000 and about thirty employees were put out of work. Sugden & Butler formed a new partnership aft er the fi re and rebuilt, but by June 1868, they sold the business for $20,000 to Elisha Stevens and George Brown. Stevens & Brown used the factory to fi nish and paint tin, mechanical toys and domes-tic utensils. Th e products of Stevens & Brown are avidly sought aft er by collectors.

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UNION SHEAR COMPANY

WEST CORNWALL

George C. Beck & George Volmiller and their wives came from Germany about fifty years ago, and to West Cornwall in 1859. These families were somehow related and hence interacted

together. The husbands worked for Mr. Gardiner, in his shear shop in West Cornwall, but later purchased the property and continued it under the name of the Union Shear Company.’ (Historical Records of the Town of Cornwall, 1902). An 1887 Company letter head lists George Vollmiller (spelled with two L’s) and George C. Beck, presumably the owners. The fact that Volmiller’s name is crossed out could indicate that he was no lon-ger with the company.

A photograph of the company building on Main Street is housed in the Cornwall Historical Society Collection.

At some point ‘the factory burned nearly destroying the nearby Mansion House and Ransom Smith’s store.’ (Cornwall in Pictures, Corn-wall Historical Society).

The company letterhead stated that the Union Shear Company was ‘manufactur-ers of all kinds of shears and scissors, with nickel plated and japanned handles’.

• Th is early map of Cornwall CT shows the Union Shear Shop to the readers’ right, about halfway down the page

• An 1887 lett erhead fr om the Union Shear Company

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NAUGATUCK

he Renz Shear shop b e g a n circa 1867 when Leo

Renz, who had emigrated from Prussia c. 1853, bought an old grist mill by the Bea-con Hill Brook in Naugatuck, Connecticut and set it up to make cast iron scissors and shears. Th e old grist mill had been built by the Collins family and previously used by Edward Benham to man-ufacture plumbago (History of New Haven County, Con-

necticut). Renz, who had four sons, grew the business for many years. Th e build-ing burned in 1875 and Leo Renz died shortly thereaft er in 1878. Aft er his death the heirs moved operations to Fairfi eld, Connecticut in 1880. Initially the company may have been called the Renz Hardware Company, but two years later was incor-porated as the Acme Shear Company.

RENZ SHEAR SHOP

• Patents issued to Mitchell and Robert Renz

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RENZ SHEAR SHOP

• Mitchell Renz left Connecticut for Florida where

he established his own real estate business. (Lett er courtesy

of Acme United Archives)

‘the name will be the Acme Shear Company and its stated purpose is to manu-facture, buy, sell, own and deal in shears, scissors, cut-lery, and hardware.’ (Acme Corporation fi les)

‘Th e amount of its capital was $5,000 divided into 200 shares valued at $200 each. Th e original stock-holders were Lizzie Renz, 100 of the shares, C. An-drew Morehouse, 50, Ste-phen Maney 25 and Ador-no Whitman 25. Th e fi rst elected directors (1882) were Morehouse, Maney & Whitman. Th e fi rst stock-holders meeting took place on September 27, 1882 at which time it was voted to ‘hire the 2nd fl oor of a fac-tory at 275 Barnum Street together with engine, boil-er, a petroleum engine and steam pipes for one year at $400 per year to be paid in twelve monthly payments. At that same meeting the following offi cers were elected: Dwight Wheeler, President, David C. Wheel-er, Secretary and Treasurer. Mitchell Renz was named a Director.’

On November 2, 1885 the corporation decided to pur-chase property on the cor-ner of Hicks and Knowlton Streets and on December

21

RENZ SHEAR SHOP

10th, Dwight Wheeler was empowered to begin plans for building a manufactur-ing plant.

Robert Renz was a issued patent No. 124,975 on march 26, 1872 for shears. He and his brother Andrew received a previous pat-ent (No. 116,868) on July 11,1871. Brother Mitch-ell was granted patent No. 10,101 on July 17, 1877. Th omas M. Grilley held patent No. 233,091 for a pocket-knife that was as-signed to Mitchell Renz of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

• Th is patented shearing machine by Robert Renz probably never went into production(?)

Documents

American Scissors and Shears: An Antique and Vintage Collectors