Pilliod Machinist's Tool Chest
I recently had the VERY good fortune to have an acquaintance "give" me a machinist's tool chest and tools that were his grandfather's. He says that his grandfather was a machinist in Detroit, but that is all he knows.
The chest is marked "Pilliod Company, Swanton, Ohio" in gold lettering on the front of the bottom drawer. The chest is oak. The finish appears to be original and is in very good condition. It had a leather handle on top that is almost completely worn away. The chest has 5 drawers of varying sizes with green felt liners, and the entire chest has a removable wooden front with a lock. The lock and key still work. It also sits on a base, but I do not think that the base is original. It appears to be poplar and pine and not oak. A couple of the drawers have some separation/cracking at the joints, but I can fix those fairly easily.
The chest is "full" of L.S. Starrett tools. The tools are in very good condition, but have obviously been well used and taken care of for many years.
My acquaintance says that he was told that the chest dates about 1915, but has no way of knowing.
Does anyone know anything about Pilliod? I looked in the archive for the OldTools mailing list, and an email to the OldTools list in 1998 from Chris Berger had the following information about Pilliod:
"The letterhead contained the following:
Established 1896
THE PILLIOD CABINET COMPANY
Furniture Manufacturers
Swantown, Ohio 43558
Telephone 419-826-3540
(I tried this phone # for the heck of it and it is no longer in service)
The envelope also was stamped:
THE PILLIOD CABINET COMPANY
Pilliod of Alabama, Inc.
Pilliod of Carolina, Inc.
105 - 117 Woodland Ave.
Swantown, Ohio"
Not much else about this company seems to have been discussed on OldTools.
If anyone has any other information, please let me know. I will post whatever I find about this company to the blog for others that may be looking for this company in the future.
Thanks for the help!
Above photo is the chest with the front cover open.
Cover closed (lock still works)
Logo on front of bottom drawer
Tools contained in drawer #3
#2
#1
#4
#5
