Vintage Snap-on Tools -- How It All Got Started
by: SaraBondia |
Total views: 3 |
Word Count: 853 |
View PDF | Print View
Share This Article
It's hard to imagine that it's only been a little over 100 years since the first cars rolled off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company. As we look around today at the dealerships, used car lots, gas stations, highways and automotive repair shops, it's not easy to imagine a time when the automobile was a novelty. In today's world should your car or break down it might be an expensive inconvenience but you would not have a problem finding a mechanic with the right tools to fix it. It has not always been that way.
In the year 1910 there were only about 450,000 car owners in the United States. A small toolkit may have been included with your car purchase. But unless you were a mechanic yourself finding someone to fix a problem with your car might have been a challenge. And the tools that were available to the mechanic were by and large very simple. Tools were not the main focus, selling automobiles was. Sometimes a different sized ranch was required for nearly every nut and bolt on an automobile. This was an expensive way to assemble a toolkit.
Because of the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of two young men there is now an active market and interest in antique Snap-on tools. It's a fascinating and interesting story about the development of this company.
A young man with training as a cost clerk and expediter is an unlikely candidate as the inventor of a line of hand tools. But in 1919, Joseph Johnson must have been thinking to himself that there must be a better way for mechanics who had to purchase hand tools. After all, every time they purchased a new wrench they were also buying another handle. There were only about 8 million cars on the roads in 1919, and Johnson reasoned that this was unnecessarily expensive for the mechanic.
Johnson had made friends with a man named William Seidemann who was also a manager at American Grinder. Johnson and Seidemann talked regularly, working out the details of their tool concept. In the end they decided that mechanics could use five different handles and change out ten socket sizes for each handle which would give a total combination of 50 unique wrenches.
American Grinder was already set up and tooled to make individual wrenches. When Johnson and Seidemann talked to management about the idea of interchangeable sockets they were met with a negative reception. The managers felt like interchangeable sockets would actually decrease their profit, so they turn down the opportunity to manufacture the new line. This has to rank as one of the most costly business decisions they could have made. Johnson and Seidemann were now free to pursue this business idea on their own.
After hours, Johnson worked on his concept. A few weeks later he had created the original set of five handles and Seidemann agreed to help him fabricate a set of sockets which could be snapped on. Thus was born the name Snap-on Tools and the first company motto "Five can do the work of 50".
Johnson and Seidemann's biggest problem was that they had very little money. They pooled their last few dollars and printed 2,000 promotional brochures which would be used to advertise their "snap-on" tool set. Everything was being done by hand because there were no production facilities, including the milling of the sockets from bar steel and the stamping of the stock numbers.
They only had the one, original, set of hand tools they had just created. They had no manufacturing and no sales force. They did manage to find a traveling tire salesman who covered only the state of Wisconsin. As he would visit each of the shops and he would demonstrate the one set of tools and leave behind a brochure for the mechanic. He collected over 500 COD orders and took these back to Johnson and Seidemann who were hard at work making a second set of tools.
Johnson and Seidemann found another salesman who would also be willing to represent their new tool line, and he was sent out with the #2 set that had been completed. The second salesman was similarly and enthusiastically received by the mechanics he met with, and came back with more COD orders. Now Johnson and Seidemann had a real problem - a great concept and a huge demand, but no products to sell. And they had no money.
They contacted an attorney who in turn found some local businessmen willing to invest in the new company. The Snap-On Wrench Company was incorporated on April 10, 1920. Johnson and Seidemann had to borrow $500 each so they could purchase stock in their own business. They rented a 2,500 square-foot shop, leased machinery and began production. The tools they created and which sold for only a few dollars back then are now considered to be vintage Snap-on Tools and are highly prized as collectibles.
Share This Article
Rating: Not yet rated Next Article - How to Check a Used Car before You Buy it and Previous Article - Alternative Fuel : Biodiesel
About the Author
Sara Bondia finds it enjoyable finding out information on vintage Snap-on Tools and she loves buying and selling on eBay. Get more information on collecting antique Snap-on Tools and see some great deals at her Vintage Snap-on Tools website. Click over now and see what's available!
Comments
No comments posted.Add Comment
Popular Articles about: Cars
1: HHO Generator Plans - Water For Gas Kits2: New Cars: When Is The Best Time To Buy Or Lease?
3: Buy Here Pay Here Used Car Lots - Useful for Subprime Credit Customers
4: How To Buy Impounded Cars - All The Facts You Need To Know
5: Completing One's Dodge Charger with the Right Accessory
6: The Acura RDX: Setting New Standards for Crossovers
7: Your car insurance
8: Hyundai: Continuously Improving Quality
9: What Makes Biodiesel Better Than Gasoline?
10: Alternative Fuel : Biodiesel
11: Running Cars On Water
12: Buying a used van
13: Increase Gas Mileage Up To 40% and HHO Gas
14: Sunny California Coast Car Rental Services
15: Discount Tires: Are Getting Them A Good Idea?
16: Cheap Car Insurance Quotes Free Related Fact
17: The New 2008 Hybrid Cars
18: The way to decide on a car loan
19: Monaco Grand Prix Glitz Draws Rising Stars
20: Benefits and drawbacks of purchasing used cars
21: Tips on Buying a Used Car in the UK
22: Hiring limo for special ceremonies:
23: Tips On Shopping For Wheels And Tires
24: Government Repossessed Car Auctions - How To Hunt Them Down
25: Factors That Affect Auto Insurance Quotes
26: Owning a Water Powered Car Has many advantages-Here is a list
27: To buy or to lease?
28: How to Transport Your Classic Car
29: Tips On Fixing Your Mercruiser
30: Buy Seized Auto and Get Bigger Savings