New Britain Machine Company

New Britain Machine Company

Type	Hand tools
Owner	None
Country	USA
Introduced	1887
Previous owners	Litton Industries

New Britain Machine Company, was a tool company that was headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut. The company started to sell sockets and drive tools. New Britain was the main supplier for NAPA tools until its closure in the mid 80's. New Britain owned Husky and Blackhawk tools as well as making its own economy-grade tools under the None Better name and the Mustang name.^[1] They acquired the Husky in early 1930s and Blackhawk tools in 1955. New Britain was then acquired by the Litton Tool Company on December 22, 1972.

History

New Britain founded in New Britain, Connecticut in 1887. In 1917 New Britain registered the None Better trademark to sell it line of sockets and tools. Much of New Britain's early tool production was done under the None Better line. Much of the early tools were carbon steel, offering a lower cost alternative to the higher price alloy steels of the day. Early tool sets consisted of hex drive sockets and a eel bar for the drive tool. Beginning in the 1930s the None Better line consisted of a wide variety of 1/2 square drive tools with a Cadium finish. At this time New Britain also was suppling tools for the Sears in their Craftsman line of tools. These tools are easy to distinguish as they either have a BE or an H in a circle stamped into the tools. The New Britain line was also created at this time as the higher priced alloy steel alternative.^[2]

Acquisitions, supplying tools, and the Kilness Ratchet

The early 30's were a busy time for New Britain Machine Company. At the beginning of the decade, New Britain purchased the Husky Wrench Company, which was started by Sigmund Mandl in 1924. Sigmund Mandl went on to Blackhawk Manufacturing in 1931 after the Husky Wrench Company was bought by Olsen Manufacturing.

During this time, New Britain had a contract with Sears to supply sockets and drive tools for there Craftsman tool line. This contract survived until 1947 when the socket were gradually phased out and replaced by the "V" series sockets.

In 1925 the National Automotive Parts Association was formed. New Britain became the main supplier for NAPA until the late 1970s.

In 1955 New Britain bought Blackhawk Manufacturing. Blackhawk tools became a very important brand for the New Britain Machine Company for many years. Many of the designs that Blackhawk made were adopted by New Britain in their tools.

New Britain Machine Company also supplied many companies, this list includes companies like Mac Tools, Matco Tools, Giller, J. C. Penney (Penncraft), Owatonna Tools Company, American Forge, and PowerKraft to name a few.

In 1957 Luther Kilness filed patent numbers #2,554,990 and #2,981,389 with the United States Patent office. This design can be said to be the next evolution of the ratchet design of SK Hand Tools Theodore Rueb.^[3] This ratchet was a very successful design, lasting from its introduction in 1961 to the eventual closure of New Britain in the 80's. The ratchet were a compression engagement, using 12 teeth with a 60 tooth ratchet count. Later ratchet, 1971 and onward, used a 9 tooth pawl making the ratchet a 45 tooth count.

In 1972, New Britain Machine Company was acquired by the Litton Industrial Products. Litton continued to be the owner of New Britain Machine Company until its closure. Its assets (including the Blackhawk and Husky trademarks) were acquired by The Stanley Works. Stanley today continues to use the Blackhawk name for one of its product lines.

References

1. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/newbritain-nonebetter.html
2. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/newbritain-nonebetter.html
3. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/newbritain-nonebetter.html

External links

• The New Britain Machine Company