WASHOE TOOL MFG. CO.
 
WASHOE TOOL MANUFACTURING CO.
By Tom Lamond ©
 
NEWBURGH, NEW YORK                1860-18720
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY                  1872-18740
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK         1874-1888+
    The Washoe Tool Manufacturing Company is reputed to have started in Newburgh, New York around 1860. Sparse and conflicting information indicates that the date could have been anywhere between 1860 and 1868. In 1868 the company was using the name Old Washoe Tool Works. That terminology may have related to the actual plant or facility that was being used or it may have been a name used by different owners.
    The company relocated to Newark, New Jersey in 1871 or 1872 but they were there for only a couple of years. In 1874 they relocated again, this time to Staten Island, New York. Their catalog of 1874 indicated that Hogan, Clark & Sleeper of Boston, Massachusetts were the sole agents for the product lines produced by the Washoe Tool Co.
     On October 24, 1876 a company by the name of Lathrop & Co. was issued a registration for the brand name WASHOE. Lathrop & Co. were located in Newark, New Jersey and indicated the brand applied to railroad, mining, contractors, carpenters and other edge tools. The Trade Mark Registration was signed by Stephen Park Lathrop. It is presumed that there was a connection between the Washoe Tool Co. and Lathrop & Co. Perhaps Lathrop & Co. were the new agents or they purchased the Washoe Tool Co. to fulfill the high demands they had for the type tools Washoe was making.
     According to a statement printed in the 1889 supplement to the 1888 Fayette R. Plumb Catalog, the Washoe Tool Co. was purchased by Fayette R. Plumb in the later part 1888 so that The Plumb Company could expand their capacity for manufacturing adzes and picks. It is not known if the facility in Staten Island continued to produce tools but Plumb did state that he had ... "erected new shops and improved the equipment." Indications suggest the new shops were in Frankfurt, Pennsylvania and the equipment was relocated to that facility from Staten Island.
     In addition to some axes the company made other forged tools including scythes. Their primary lines of goods included various designs of picks, mattocks, grub hoes and striking hammers. The label that was associated with the company bore the rather detailed image of a rhinoceros standing in grass. The words TRADE MARK were included in an arc toward the upper portion of the label. Remnants of original paper labels indicate that the original color of the labels was brick red with black lines.
Trade Mark No. 9,595 registered Aug. 8, 1882 to
Henry H. Trenor of New York, NY. The accompanying registrament statement indicated that "Established 1868" need not be included. The date of establishment was not the same as the date noted in the graphic.
NOTE: Very detailed, colored images of a rhinoceros quite similar to the label facsimile above appeared in the 1874 Washoe Tool Manufacturing Co. catalog.
Trademark registered on October 24, 1876 to
Lathrop & Co. of Newark, New Jersey.
Reconstructed label based on remnants observed on an adze and the graphics that appeared in the Washoe Tool Manufacturing Co. catalog dated 1874.
Another registered trademark; date unknown.
Trade Mark No. 9,595 registered Aug. 8, 1882 to Henry H. Trenor of New York, NY. The Statement indicated that "Established 1868" need not be included. The Statement date was not the same as the date noted in the graphic.
Marking observed on an adze.
MORE INFORMATION:
Cross reference articles published on the YesteryearsTools web site that relate to this article; Plumb Co.
NOTE:
At this point not much is known about Lathrop & Co. and the Washoe Tool Mfg. Co. but a connection is certainly suggested.
Purchased by
FAYETTER R. PLUMB, CO.             1889
This company is included with the material on PLUMB in the PHILADELPHIA AX MAKER booklet.