Early Bird Gets the Worms

[Tin Medic]

Greg, it's similar to mine also.

[Wingnutt]

I didn't remember you had one, Tin! Very cool.

I think you guys are all going to be excited by a tip and lead on an OEM I got on GJ....

Check this CL ad out (and make sure you scroll through all the photos)
https://richmond.craigslist.org/tls/d/v ... 48787.html

ASCO Art Steel. I am going to have to look them up in the contracts books later.

All the boxes have some common features (size, construction, hasp, drawer pulls, the handle attachment hardware on center top), and some of the boxes have other features in common (side handles, long recess in drop front). The one in the CL ad has an unique drop front (three dimples instead of a long recess), otherwise, it looks like the examples shown here (Jeff's, mine, Tin's and the French kit).

[mrbill]

Googling a bit waiting for a meeting to start... looks like ASCO made office equipment like filing cabinets, cash boxes, file card boxes/cabinets, etc. Found this logo on what looks like a cash box.

asco.jpg (20.99 KiB) Viewed 2326 times

Bill

[Wingnutt]

The logo on the CL ad armorer's box is different, but similar.

ASCO art steel decal zoom.jpg (42.08 KiB) Viewed 2322 times

[lt.luke]

A friend bought 2, and I have one of them. The drop front on mine is gone, replaced with a simple piece of flat stock that is bent to notch at the bottom and bent to accept that bale of the hasp at the top. I can't remember anything at all about handles. I do not have the dividers to compare, but it does have the felt. No logos I can recall seeing, but it's been repainted.

[Wingnutt]

Just to complete the circle on this, I was able to locate the record for Art Steel Company (ASCO) inside the Major War Supply Contracts books! They had a couple of contracts for boxes with the Ordnance Dept and one with the Signal Corps.

[gpw_42]

^ thanks for posting that, Wingnutt.

Any sense of which ASCO logo is older/newer? I'm sorta thinking the one on the CL ad is 50s-ish, but that's more gut feel than anything else.

Steve

[Wingnutt]

I haven't really looked into it beyond that, Steve.

I will say there is another possibility (other than time) for the slight variations we see: different mfgrs. If the ORD had a drawing (as they did for other boxes) and they were being built by several mfgrs (as we see with other boxes), these minor distinctions (e.g., handles) may have been under the spec threshold. None of them other than this CL ad chest have a decal. The other major ORD box makers (Union, Waterloo, Duplex, etc) may have been making them too and the decal may be worn off or never applied to begin with.

[Hartofoak]

These boxes reminded me of this one that is now in Roger's collection
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=274081&hilit=Machinists#p1595036

[daveus6]

I've just come in on this thread as I've been out of action for a while.

Greg,
Everyone is on the right track with these drawer type tool boxes. My Dodge has 2 of them specified. The 4 drawer version was indeed for the armorer's kit as others have stated. The five drawer version I have seen photos of in use on a wartime Dodge WC41 and it was used for carrying weapon spare parts - though I'm sure they were used for many other purposes. There was also a six drawer version that is specified for the Instrument Repair Kit (for repairing gun sights, optical gear in the field) on my Dodge. I have subsequently found these boxes in other TM for optical repair kits.

So these boxes were more for technical tool kits.

TM9-1575 for watch repair shows a picture of the 4 drawer box and lists it as W-41-B-1153-750. This was for the watch repair kit.

There's another kit for people to collect!

[frenchman]

hi greg
thank you for the info's im trying to post pictures of my armorer tool box
thank you
frenchman

IMG_2610.JPG (183.96 KiB) Viewed 2199 times

[frenchman]

i dsid not realize it was that complicated
thank you greg
frenchman

[frenchman]

another picture of the armorer box
frenchman

IMG_2358.JPG (190.85 KiB) Viewed 2196 times

[retro-roco]

I had a big day at the early Bird this morning.

But believe it or not, there're only TWO (2) WWII tools hiding in this mess!



I'll post more later, but you'll never guess what that hammer is!

Hi Wingnutt, regadig your picture above, do you think the vise shown is the same one shown here:


I have found what I think is the same vise, marked as Dunlap. If I read your notes a couple of posts later, you identify the vise as a Reed. Thoughts??

[Wingnutt]

I have found what I think is the same vise, marked as Dunlap. If I read your notes a couple of posts later, you identify the vise as a Reed. Thoughts??

Same vise. Reed made vises (and drop-head pipe threader sets and a few other clamping related fools) for Sears & Roebuck in the wartime era, into the late 40s and early 50s, branded as Craftsman and Dunlap. I'd feel better about it being a Signal Corps vise for that Signal Corps set if it was a Craftsman (Dunlap was more of an economy line brand), but, it should be noted that we don't actually know, definitively, how the tools provided by Sears & Roebuck to the Signal Corps under several wartime contracts were branded.