1940’s-50’s machinist tool chests

I’ve searched high and low and can’t seem to find an answer for this, so I’m hoping someone here might know.

Most “old” tool chests I see seem to be the 7 drawer top chest models. That got me thinking, did machinists back then in the 40’s and 50’s just not have as many tools? Seems like most guys these days have gigantic roll aways stuffed with tools. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a roll away box pre 1960’s.

Did most “average” machinists back then fit it all in a gerstner or Kennedy 7 drawer?

There are worker tools, and employer-supplied tools.

The point at which those divide may have changed, and also depends on what the worker does. And that obviously affects how big (and heavy) the toolbox would be.

I'll agree with JST.

I'm not a machinist / tool maker but at the plant I retired from as an engineering manager I don't recall any of the tool makers having more than a standard tool box - Gerstner Journeyman size in most cases as I recall. Company maintained a VERY well equipped tool crib - but it had always been that way from what my Dad told me. He had stared in the same company in 1941 as a machinist setup man. And the tool makers were the only people in the plant who had personal tools on site. Everything else was company furnished totally, no matter what your job was.

In comparison the people who maintained the aircraft we had on site had to supply their own tools, and most of them had very large roll arounds.

Crazy thing is it was the same corporation, just different divisions. But the 'heritage' was definitely different - in more ways than just who provided what tools.

Dale

My dad was a stamping die maker during the 1940's before he moved up into management in the mid 50's. All he ever owned was a small 16" 6 drawer Union wooden case, no top till, just drawers. His work was small and specialized so his precision measuring and layout tool needs were few. I still have all his tools. His non-precision tools were stored in the drawers of his workbench. Some of his fellow toolmakers wouldn't even buy a box. They just stored everything in the bench drawers. By the time I started there in the 1970's, pretty much everyone had either a Gerstner or a Kennedy box. Still no rollaways at that time. Even the guys who set up and maintained the dies in the pressroom didn't have rollaways. They used company supplied 3 shelf carts, with their machinist boxes on their bench, and a mechanics box on the cart. I don't know what they use today. I haven't been back since '91 when Dad finally retired.

AS JST noted, the divide between the companies resources and your own resources has likely shifted, but IMO it's less of a question of what specific tools are owned by who, and more about the needs and principle of it. It also depends which class of work is being done then and now (tool-n-die, or production, or repair...)

The small tool chests work along the principle that the company supplies everything to do the job, but tools that are used daily and are a little more touch sensitive are left to the employee (squares, calibers, micrometers, etc.). Depending where you work, they likely have tools available for you, but why would you use the ratty micrometer that's been kicked around the shop forever, when you can buy your own that had the style of spindle you like the most. You could use the shop drift that's been beat to heck and never gets put away, or get your own and always know where it is. The same philosophy drives most tradesmen that buy their own tools today, but "back then" when these practices were more common it wasn't prudent to invest in a bunch of tools that you wouldn't use on a daily basis and then had to transport and store between jobs. When you move on to another job, it's easier to grab a little machinist chest than to call your buddy with a truck to move your massive rolling Kennedy monolith. While they're still around, there's also less hand tools in play in production shops. The guy running the turret lathe 70 years ago had a small tool box, while the guy pushing the CNC button today might have a favorite pair of digital calipers.

This is also considering that "back then" every industrial zone and sector had machine shops and machinists in work force circulation and there were more common habits and practices uniting them. Nowadays with so much global manufacturing, everyone's definition's of what makes a machine shop have become muddled. There are manufacturing shops that the boss doesn't have a clue what's going on and relies on the Machinist/Operator to make the magic happen, and there are shops that are so deep in process and paperwork that the machinist needs to check out certified safety glasses and be in uniform, and wouldn't dream of bring his own tools in the shop. Some shops used to have 20+ moderately skilled guys running things and now that same company works on 1 or 2 highly skilled guys doing the same or more work but with CNC to help.