Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Vanished Tool Makers: McKaig-Hatch, Buffalo, New York





I found this old wrench recently at the local ReStore.  I couldn't make out the logo, which looked the IH of International Harvester at first.  I thought, "Oh well, another interesting old tractor wrench."  Turns out the logo was MH in a circle, the trademark for McKaig-Hatch, which I'd never heard of.  Cool!


Archibald McKaig, Harry C. Young and Chauncey R. Hatch founded the McKaig Hatch company in Buffalo in 1913.  McKaig was an inventor and former principal of the McKaig-Dorntage Drop Forging Company, while Hatch had worked for the Herbrand Tool Company. They made economy tools, and produced and supplied the screwdriver, pliers, and open-end wrenches in the pouch tool kits supplied with new Ford and GM cars from the 1930s through the 1950s.  Rather incongruously, the company was acquired by the Tasa Coal Company of Buffalo around 1962, later the Tasa Corporation.  What they wanted with a tool company is anyone's guess, but I suppose that's when the firm disappeared.

No comments: