Tool chest and contents by John Hilton.

Transcription

1 Tool chest and contents by John Hilton. Brown's auction, March 23, 2018 From the Auction Catalog: "This ingenious chest, which is featured at page 68 of Treasure Chests by Lon Schleining (Taunton Press 2001) was built sometime in the mid 1800s by Hilton, a Connecticut cabinet (sic) maker. From the outside it resembles a typical black painted pine chest, 39 x 24 x24 inches. Its unique feature is that when the lid is open, the entire front section pivots outward to provide access to the internal compartments. It contains almost 400 tools, and since most of them are marked by Hilton we are selling it as a complete set rather than breaking it up. Among the tools are 11 side beads by Ames of London, a set of even numbered hollows and rounds by Union Factory (numbers 4 through 24), a beautiful matched set of eight Butcher gouges fitted in a top compartment, more gouges and chisels by Butcher, Ward, and Charles Buck, a wide array of measuring and marking tools, including several French-fitted into recesses, a set of rosewood and ebony handle try and mitre squares and five ultimatum style marking and mortise gages, two Spear and Jackson saws and two smaller saws. An absolute treasure trove of the working tools of a nineteenth century craftsman. " Weight = 276 pounds with tools From "Treasure Chests", a book by Lon Schleining, page 68. "The chest was made by a J. Hilton who was a Connecticut pattern maker. It was made around It was passed down to his grandson who traded it for an automobile in It spent the next 70 years in an attic and sometime late in the 1990's was sold to Ken Newell, a tool collector in southern Maryland." Ken passed on in July of last year and the chest was consigned to Bud Brown's auction. The following information was gathered to validate the provenance of the chest. Census records confirm the following: John Hilton, patternmaker, was born in Whetstone, England, on December 18, 1820, he died on February 28, 1892, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a pattern maker, living at 3 Julius Street, Hartford Connecticut, in His wife, Emma Lucy Hilton, was residing in Florida in She was born on October 22, She died in Florida on April 16, John Hilton and his wife Emma had three children, Anna, John Jr., and William. Anna went on to marry George S. Pearl and they had at least 2 children. The following chapter is intended to document the condition and contents as I received it from the auction. The chest contains many of the original tools owned and used by Mr. Hilton. Many tools are fitted into purpose-built partitions, some actually into what might be called French-fitted recesses. Mr. Hilton's tools were mostly marked by him. He had two name stamps with "J. Hilton" and in some cases they are simply stamped "JH". For sure, not all the tools are original to the chest. There are price tags and tape remaining on some of the tools that were likely added by previous chest owners. Still, they are appropriate to the period. The chest supposed contains nearly 400 tools. Here's the ugly box and the fancy key. Pictures in the following discussion start with (YYMM-###) 1

2 John. Hilton Tool Chest Fancy Brass Key The lid cannot be slammed shut. It makes a very satisfying pneumatic whoosh when it closes. Here are a couple sketches of the layout to aid in understanding the pictures. When the lid is opened there is no fancy cabinet work to impress customers. Just simple, compact, sturdy, dovetailed cabinet work intended to hold a working set of tools. Compact Tool Storage Interior Heavy Duty Lock 2

3 This is the latch for the saw till. It is only interesting because Mr. Hilton only used this latch in one place. He used a winged affair in other places. Just wondering why. Saw Till Saw Till Expanded This saw till contains four saws, ebony and rosewood handled try and miter squares, a couple 2-foot shrink rules. The squares all go in fitted compartments in the front. The panel that covers the saw till has two hinged sections, no apparent reason, but opening it further back reveals some 5 marking/carving knives, 4 folding rules and a craftsman-made wooden mouse (used for tracing parts). The squares all go in fitted compartments in the front. 23 tools total in the top saw till. This ring pull is used in six places in the tool chest. The one pictured is on the tilt-able front till. The other five are used on the sliding tills in the back. The beauty of the design is the ring can be pushed flush with the tills, leaving no projection to interfere with the tilt and slide aspects of the chest. With the tilting section tilted out, This set of 12 W. Butcher gouges is presented. They are numbered #1 through #12. There is something missing on the right end of this till, likely carving or marking knives. 3

4 Set of W. Butcher Chisels Something Missing This is the back of the tilting till. Notice the cast wing thing used as a catch for the drawers, drop down cubby in the back and the latch for the chisels in the top. For the chisel till, one wing of the wing-thing has been filed down to fit under the brass plate. The catch for the saw till shown previously was a better latch mechanism but Mr. Hilton didn't choose to use it but the one time. Perhaps he simply used what he had on hand. Back of the Tilting Till Wing Thing Latch The back of the tilting till contains three drawers and a cubby with a drop down door. The drawers contain 22 chisels by Ward. The cubby is empty but was likely used to store one or more levels. The left-most of the three drawers has suffered some damage. 4

5 3 Drawers With Chisels in the Tilting Till Empty Cubby for Levels in the Tilting Till These drawers did not have hardware for drawer pulls. Instead they were carved to leave a center area to pull on. On this drawer the wooden piece to pull on has broken off. I added the leather piece as a temporary pull. Note the wing thing. You better remember to latch the drawers in place before tilting the till back into the chest. There is also another boxed area in the end of the tilting till that could hold another level or two. This one is empty also. 5

6 The area under / behind the tilting till stores molding planes. There are 10 side beads by Ames of London, a set of even number hollows and rounds by Union Square, a couple skewed rabbit and molding planes by Gibson, Ames, Union Factory and Greenfield. These are in fine condition, with a couple that do not appear used at all. All nicely stamped J. Hilton. 39 planes in total. Till #1 has mostly machinist tools and is the most elaborately fitted area in the chest. The small level and adjustable try square were in that till but are not appropriate to it. There are two close up pictures of the contents below. Here is a closer look. Among the tools contained here are a combination square, an inclinometer, calipers, compass radius templates, a trammel bar and multiple points, and other squares and triangles. I count 32 pieces present. There are a pair of winged dividers missing in the middle of the till. A small square is missing on the right end. Some other missing items yet to be identified. 32 tools in all. Till 1, Left Side Till 1, Right Side 6

7 The top section of till #2 contains a wooden brace and all the boring/drilling bits you could imagine. Many are original to the chest in their fitted sections, many are probably not. Notice the two stacking units above the till drawer. So, in addition to the brace, there are 48 bits, 4 tool handles and an assortment of 9 small tools with shanks but no handles, a metal tool handle and an unidentified gizmo that I will include in the tool tally. 64 tools in the upper section of till #2. Till #2 has 10 drawers in it. One of the drawers is damaged and missing its metal pull. 10 Drawers in Till 2 Damaged Drawer 10 in Till 2 If I identify the drawers from left to right and top to bottom, then drawer #1 contains 5 wooden patterns, 3 wrenches, a key and something that looks like a miniature pulley sheave. Drawer #2 contains 4 card scrapers. Drawer #3 is not very interesting; a drill bit, a bit of chalk, bits of iron, ferrules from tool handles, and a dozen thumb tacks. Drawer #4 has 6 plow plane irons by Partridge, and one plow iron that is shaped to cut a cove. The #4 iron is in the Ames plow plane in the back. The #8 iron is missing. Drawer #5 has two gimlet bits for a brace and a funny hooked tool of some kind. Drawer #6 has strange looking hooked carving tools with no handles, and two router bits that fit the router in till #4. Drawer #7 has three sharpening stones, 3 broken pieces and a block wax of some kind. Drawer #8 has a small wooden box with a sliding cover and that contains 6 small blades for something, 2 block plane sized blades, 9 pinch dogs, a steel punch, 2 tiny brushes, several tool blades. Dividers in the drawer suggest it originally stored something else. There is also a box of 100 or more small cast numbers. Drawers #9 and #10 contain wooden pattern pieces. 7

8 Counting the pattern pieces but not the cast numbers, I get 114 tools in the drawers in Till 2. Till 3 contains chisels by Buck and Ward, another small home made mouse, a sharpening stone, and a user made scratch awl (perhaps). 16 tools. Till 4 contains a wooden spoke shave, 4 metal shaves (two with handles cut off), a pair of winged dividers, a router and two bits that fit it, 2 Buck Bros. chisels, a leather trimming plane, a tool handle with one tool, and 2 cabinet latches. 13 tools 8

9 Till 5 contains 2 small saws, a Stanley #57 spoke shave, 11 chisels (2 for turning, 3 perfect handle style are German), a cutter for a large router (?), a winged 12-inch divider, a 12-inch rule with compass scales, 4 small block planes, 2 small anvils, 5 marking gages, and a circle cutter for wood or leather. 31 tools The section in the back, under the tills, contains an Ames plow plane, an old woman's tooth router (no cutter) 2 battered coffin planes, a cabinet scraper plane, and 13 wooden clamps. 18 tools Counting everything that could be considered 'a tool', including the pattern pieces, I count 384 tools. Pretty close to the advertised 'nearly 400 tools'. 9