Blog-Updates

Today is a blustery day…as Winnie the Pooh would call it. A good day to update and work on this website.

The biggest visible update is adding a great picture of the old “schoolhouse” building that was the basic beginning of P&C in Milwaukie. The picture was most likely from 1923 and shows the building in need of paint and obviously with little recent use. A single model T is parked in front…most likely John or Charlie’s. You can find the picture at the top of the “P&C Factory: John & Charlie” page. Thanks to the Milwaukie Historical Society for that great pic. Keith had given me a copy of the photo last year but it was a photocopy of a photocopy. At the Milwaukie museum I found one that was closer to the original and the resulting scan was much better.

Less obvious changes are re-naming the headings and page titles under the “P&C Factory” menu title, cleaning up the html coding for all the pictures on the website as well as optimizing the alt tags associated with the pictures, backing up the html for each page in case of disaster, etc.

The “P&C Factory: 1941-1990” is completed and I should make it visible in the next few days. Just letting it “perk” a few days for more proofreading and error checking.

I recently added the P&C Store Sales Brochure found under “Extras” in the menu. The brochure was found at the recent visit with the Milwaukie Historical Society. During the 50’s and 60’s, tool sales from P&C “lazy susan” displays contributed to a large increase in P&C sales. This brochure encourages store owners to carry P&C displays and their preferred means of positioning and maintaining the displays.

This brochure dates to the 1947 to 1952 time period, based on information found at the back of the brochure. Specifically, “whose present four-factory operations in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago and Jamestown, N.Y…” Plomb acquired the Jamestown factory in 1947 and added factory number five, the London, Ontario factory in 1952. This brochure would have been printed in that time period.

On April 14, 2015, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the monthly meeting of the Milwaukie Historical Society in Milwaukie, Oregon. I took with me my friend and partner for this website, Keith Rumgay. The meeting was a small gathering crowded into a back room of the museum. Keith and I were able to wirelessly tether my iPad to a television so I could show pages and images from the website.

Keith answered a number of questions regarding the P&C factory and tools and I was able to explain our project of preserving the history of P&C with the website.

Afterwards, while eating refreshments, we were shown the P&C tools at the museum as well as a binder of newspaper excerpts and photographs. I was graciously allowed to select items from the binder for scanning and David volunteered to scan them for me later. Many of these items now comprise essential photos and documentation in this website. Keith and I are very appreciative for the cooperative and friendly people that comprise the Milwaukie Historical Society.

The Society featured our visit on their facebook page, which can be seen at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Milwaukie-History-Museum/449353528476080

The Cascade Pacific Plymouth Club featured an article about the P&C 1929 Fargo Clipper on their website. If you would like to read their article and learn more about the Fargo you can find it at http://www.cascadepacificplymouth.org/600plymouthhistory.html

“The History of P&C Tools” has moved to the new dedicated domain of http://pnctools.com! The former location URL (http://www.peterson-carlborg-tools.trechnus.com) was a little lengthy and intended for creation and setup…but became home for a year.

Next on the schedule is finishing the page “P&C under Plomb -Proto” as well as some “new” catalogs and a few other additions that will be announced later.

I edited the “P&C Under John & Charlie” page by adding information under the 1923 heading to reflect the information found in the Milwaukie Review article, “Tool Co. Arrived”. The article from February 9, 1923 (courtesy of Keith Rumgay) gives a fairly exact timeline of the start of the P&C factory in Milwaukie.

Fascinating information for me, since it lists other friends and family members that helped get the tool production started in Milwaukie. The photocopy cuts off a line or two regarding the list of names helping with the relocation, so I contacted the Milwaukie Library to see if a microfiche copy of the article could be found. The email response I received was, “Unfortunately we do not have the micro film roll for that year. We have the Review on microfilm for the years 1916 and 1917 and also from 1926 through December, 2003. I was unable to find another resource either.”

Just added the 1929 No. 8 catalog to the collection.

Some people have hinted that I might not need every catalog, tactfully suggesting that a representative sample might be acceptable. That would be like suggesting to a P&C collector that the eight P&C long bend offset socket wrenches (12 point) he has collected is adequate…he really doesn’t need the ninth one to complete the set. What!!?

Even though I suffer from a compulsion to have a complete collection, I see other benefits. Take the P&C stud bolt wrench I recently received, for example (seen to the left). A careful and inquisitive P&C collector might want to know the approximate dates the tool was made. The wrench is not listed in the 1927 catalog but is featured in the 1928, 1929 and 1936 product line-ups. It’s missing again in the 1953 catalog. Now I have a provisional range-of-manufacturing date of 1928 to 1953. More catalogs from the late 30’s and 40’s would undoubtedly narrow that range considerably.

Another reason to have a complete collection exists in the little tidbits of info thrown into various catalogs. Like the colorful “P&C Jiffy Wheel Puller” advertisement on the back of the 1927 catalog. Or the “From a two man shop in 1922 to the present plant seen above” inscription under the sketch of the factory inside the cover of the 1927 catalog. I will grant that most of the catalog information in subsequent years is the same, and often on the same pages, but what about those little nuggets or new tools that are added each year?  How can we be accurate and discriminating collectors without all the information possible?

 

Recently I added a second 1965 catalog (PC65200),  as well as a 1966 (PC66550P) to the catalogs available for download.  Both are courtesy of Keith Rumgay and documents I scanned on last Portland visit.

The previous 1965 was strictly carpenter tools.  The additional 1965 just added  encompasses the entire product line.

Was able to scan a 1927 Catalog, courtesy of Keith Rumgay, while visiting in Milwaukie, Oregon. Several nice features are the comments under the sketch of the factory on the inner cover and the nice advertisement on the back for the P&C “Jiffy Wheel Puller”! Nice advertisement.

This catalog is now available for download.

Yesterday I discovered I had created an incomplete excerpt of P&C tools from the Woodbury Catalog. I missed all the chisels, punches and bars on pages 201-203; pliers and screwdrivers from pages 228-229; and gear pullers found on page 298.

I have remedied that omission and the excerpt .pdf available for download on the “P&C Catalogs” page includes all the P&C items.