Museum Artifact: Swanberg Mechanical Pencil, c. 1923
Made By: Swanberg MFG Co., 1516 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL
Once seemingly destined to take its place as mankind’s preferred writing stick, the mechanical pencil only ended up writing itself into a corner. No refinement, no reimagining from one generation to the next, could ever quite transition these utensils from the drafting room to the classroom;
Museum Artifacts: A pair of Redington Counting Machines, c. 1920s and 1930s
Made By: F.B. Redington Co., 112 S. Sangamon St., Chicago, IL
“Lazy Workmen Weeded Out,” read the tagline of a 1919 advertisement for the Redington Counting Machine—a device that’s still used in factories (in a digital format) nearly 100 years later.
“Find out the lazy workman operating your machines by checking your production.
Museum Artifact: Edison Rotary Mimeograph No. 75, c. 1905
Made by: A.B. Dick Company, 163 / 738 W Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL
Thomas Edison’s reputation has taken a few stiff punches to the gut in recent years, as the once canonized “Wizard of Menlo Park” has slowly given way to a somewhat less admirable character—one skilled at the arts of patent poaching and monopoly-building at the occasional expense of scientific fellowship.
Museum Artifact: Presto DeLuxe Stapler and No. 165 Presto Staples, c. 1940
Made By: Metal Specialties Manufacturing Company / Loren Speciality MFG Co., 3200 W. Carroll Ave,, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Annell’ Typewriter, Model No. 3A, 1922-23
Made By: Annell Typewriter Company, 230 E. Ohio Street, Chicago, IL
Donated By: Chris Patterson
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Comptometer Calculating Machine, Model H, 1920s
Made by: Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company, 1733 N. Paulina St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Mechanical Pencil, 1947
Made By: The Autopoint Company, 1801 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 35 Randolph Street., Chicago, IL
While it was initially distributed out of New York City, the U.S. Automatic Pencil Sharpener was actually designed and patented by a Chicago inventor named Essington N. Gilfillan (first patent date, 1906). And after a few short years, it would return home, becoming the first marquee product of the Chicago-based Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company (aka APSCO) under the banner of the Spengler-Loomis Co.
Museum Artifact: Hansen Tacker / Stapler, c. 1940s
Made by: A. L. Hansen MFG Co., 5037 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
The vintage Hansen Tacker pictured above looks and functions much like the manual staple guns of today—it’s spring-loaded, uses tough wire staples (also made by Hansen), and has an upturned squeeze-trigger handle for one-handed efficiency. It was used for the same sorts of handyman tasks,
Museum Artifact: “Chicago” Check Perforator, c. 1900s
Made By: The B. F. Cummins Company / Cummins Perforator Co., 4740 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Addometer, c. 1930s
Made By: Reliable Typewriter & Adding Machine Co., 303 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifacts: (1) Dexter sharpener, 1920s; (2) Dexter No. 2 sharpeners, 1930s; (1) Dexter No. 3 sharpener, 1940s
Made By: Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. / Spengler-Loomis MFG Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL . Factory: 2415 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL.
These three lovely APSCO Dexters were donated to the museum by patron Ken Matejka. Many thanks!
You can read our complete history of the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company here.
Museum Artifact: Chicago Stadium Boiler Room Blueprint, c. 1940s
Made By: Page Boiler Company, 815-819 W. Webster Avenue, Chicago, IL
In 2015, the Page Boiler Company shut down its last Chicago plant at 2348 N. Damen Avenue in Bucktown, and I guess I can say I attended the funeral.
After 110 years of designing, building, installing and repairing the finest water-tube boilers in the Midwest,
Museum Artifact: F&E Check Writer, 1920s
Made By: Hedman MFG Co., 1158 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL
First developed in 1914, the F&E Check Writer was more of a hi-tech defense weapon than a mere piece of office equipment. It was designed, as a number of other similar machines were in the early 20th century, to combat what was then considered “one of the gravest and most widespread of all menaces against our nation’s business”—check forgery.
Museum Artifact: Promotional Paperweight, c. 1920s
Made By: C. H. Hanson Co., 303 W. Erie St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifacts: Chelsea Hotel “Fire Escape” Lighted Sign and Lighted “Exit” Sign, c. 1950s
Made By: Western Fluorescent Light Co., 3242-4 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Western Fluorescent Light Co., 3242-4 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL
“The Gem” was another model of 1920s hand-crank wonders from Chicago’s Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company, aka APSCO. It’s bit lighter and smaller than the “Chicago” brand or the “Giant” (both of which we also have in the museum), but the essential function and design is pretty darn identical.
We do have a full history of the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co.
Museum Artifact: Pelouze “Star” Miniature Postal Scale., c. 1900
Made By: Pelouze Scale & MFG Co., 133 S. Clinton St. / 118 W. Jackson Blvd. / 232 E. Ohio St., Chicago, IL
Considering Chicago was the unofficial spring-scale capital of the world, the Pelouze Scale & Manufacturing Company had no shortage of competition in its industry. Even our own museum collection includes quality offerings from Pelouze contemporaries like the American Cutlery Co.
Museum Artifact: Victor Stapler, c. 1940s
Made By: Vail Manufacturing Co., 900 E. 96th St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL
This patina-riffic “Chicago No. 2” brand pencil sharpener is one of nine Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company pieces in our collection. It’s also probably my favorite, but until I become the center judge in a pencil sharpener beauty contest, I’m not sure how much weight that opinion carries. In any case, you can read our full history of the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL
This was the pencil sharpener of your youth . . . if your school was like mine and failed to pay for the widely available electric alternative.
The classic “Chicago” hand-crank sharpener is actually one of five Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. (aka, APSCO) pieces in our museum collection, all dating from the 1920s or earlier.
Triner Scale & MFG Co., 2714 W. 21st St., Chicago, IL
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This curvaceous postal scale from the Triner Scale & MFG Co. has a copyright of 1963 on the dial, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the scale itself was built that year. By the mid-century, Triner was equipping its “Ideal” and “Superior” U.S. mail scales with replaceable plastic dials. That way, when the government decided to go nuts and increase postal rates,
