Snap-on Industrial Brands, historically J.H. Williams Tool Group, is a division of American

hand tool A hand tool is any tool that is powered manual labour, by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutter (disambiguation), cutters, File (tool), files, hammer, striking tools, chisel, struck or hammered tools, ...

manufacturer Snap-on that makes and distributes tools to industrial markets. In addition to the Williams brand from which it originated, the group includes Bahco and CDI Torque Products.

History

In 1882, James Harvey Williams and Matthew Diamond founded Williams & Diamond in

Flushing, Queens Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial ...

, a drop forging business. The business was relocated to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in 1884 and took the name J.H. Williams & Co in 1887. The company was one of the first to offer mass-produced drop-forged hand tools. A second factory was opened in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

in 1914, now the site of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Tonawanda Engine Tonawanda Engine is a General Motors engine factory in Buffalo, New York. The plant consists of three facilities totaling and sits upon . The factory receives cast engine blocks from Defiance Foundry in Defiance, Ohio and Saginaw Metal Casting ...

plant. The company was acquired by Snap-on in 1993. In 2011 it was officially renamed Snap-on Industrial Brands.

Gallery

Image:Williams flex-head ratchet.jpg, A Williams flex-head

ratchet Ratchet may refer to: Devices * Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction * Ratchet effect in sociology and economics * Ratchet, metonymic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device * Ratc ...

. Image:Williams adjustable wrench.jpg, A Williams

adjustable wrench ''Adjustable Wrench'', sometimes also ''The Adjustable Wrench'', is a composition for mixed chamber ensemble by American composer Michael Torke. It was composed in 1987. Composition The composition was composed in 1987 and had its first perfo ...

. Image:Williams hard handle screwdrivers.jpg, Two Williams "hard handle"

screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. Description A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver ...

s. Image:Williams ratcheting screwdriver.jpg, A Williams ratcheting screwdriver.

References

External links

*
Alloy Artifacts: "J.H. Williams, The SuperCompany"

* ttp://maggieblanck.com/BrooklynRedHook/Williams.html "James H. Williams, Drop Forging"
J.H. Williams Tool Catalog No. 401
��A tool catalog, believed to be from the late 1950s. {{Tool manufacturers 1882 establishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1882 Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Companies based in Queens, New York Flushing, Queens