New Britain Machine Company
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New Britain Machine Company was a tool company that was headquartered in
New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol ...
. The company started to sell woodworking machines, sockets and drive tools. New Britain was the main supplier for NAPA tools until its closure in 1990. New Britain Machine owned
Husky Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...
and Blackhawk tools as well as making its own economy-grade tools under the None Better and Mustang names. New Britain Machine was then acquired by the Litton Tool Company on December 22, 1972.


History

According to one source, New Britain Machine was founded in New Britain, Connecticut in 1887. However, according to Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, it was founded in 1895 subsequent to the J.T. Case Engine Company, a manufacturer of steam engines. The first product the new company produced was a chainsaw mortising machine. In 1917, it registered the None Better trademark to sell its line of sockets and tools. Much of New Britain Machine's early tool production was done under the None Better line. Many of the early tools were
carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...
, offering a lower cost alternative to the higher price
alloy steel Alloy steel is steel that is Alloy, alloyed with a variety of elements in amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight, typically to improve its List of materials properties#Mechanical properties, mechanical properties. Types Alloy steels divide into ...
s of the day. Early tool sets consisted of hex drive sockets and an ell 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
Cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...
finish. At this time, New Britain Machine was also supplying tools for
Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...
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 Machine line was also created at this time as a higher priced alloy steel alternative.


Acquisitions and development

The early 1930s 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 Company in 1931 after the Husky Wrench Company was bought by Olsen Manufacturing. During this time, New Britain Machine had a contract with Sears to supply sockets and drive tools for their Craftsman tool line. This contract survived until 1947 when the socket was gradually phased out and replaced by the "V" series sockets. In 1925 the
National Automotive Parts Association The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA, also known as NAPA Auto Parts), is an American retailers' cooperative distributing automotive replacement parts, accessories, and service items throughout North America. Established in 1925, NAPA i ...
was formed and New Britain Machine became the main supplier for them until the late 1970s. In 1955, New Britain bought the hand tool line of Blackhawk Manufacturing Company, which retained its line of hydraulic jacks and other hydraulic products and changed its name to Applied Power Industries. 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
Mac Tools Mac Tools (previously, Mechanics And Tools Company) is an American company that distributes and markets tools and related equipment. It is headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, United States. The Mac Tools line consists of 9,082 tools, including s ...
, Matco Tools, Giller, J. C. Penney (Penncraft), Owatonna Tools Company, American Forge, and PowerKraft. In 1957, Luther Kilness filed patent numbers 2,554,990 and 2,981,389 with the
United States Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Ale ...
. This design can be said to be the next evolution of the ratchet design of
SK Hand Tools SK Hand Tools (styled earlier as S-K, now usually SK) is a tool company located in Sycamore, Illinois, with additional manufacturing facilities in China, Taiwan, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Outlets for their products include independent tool- ...
' Theodore Rueb. This ratchet was a very successful design, lasting from its introduction in 1961 to the eventual closure of New Britain in the 1980s. The ratchet was a compression engagement, using 12 teeth with a 60 tooth ratchet count. Later ratchets, from 1971 and onward, used a 9 tooth pawl making the ratchet a 45 tooth count. In 1972, New Britain Machine Company was acquired by Litton Industrial Products. Litton continued to be the owner of New Britain Machine Company until the latter's closure in 1990. Its assets (including the Blackhawk and Husky trademarks) were acquired by The Stanley Works which continues to use the Blackhawk name for one of its product lines. On July 8, 2004, New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart announced that twenty-six acres of New Britain Machine's former property on South Street was being sold to two local businesses, Dattco and Guida's, after reaching an agreement.What's New in New Britain, Connecticut


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{{Tool manufacturers Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1887 Automotive tool manufacturers Stanley Black & Decker brands New Britain, Connecticut Companies based in Hartford County, Connecticut Manufacturing companies established in 1895