Museum Artifact: Pelouze “Star” Miniature Postal Scale., c. 1900
Made By: Pelouze Scale & MFG Co., 133 S. Clinton St. / 118 W. Jackson Blvd. / 232 E. Ohio St., Chicago, IL
Considering Chicago was the unofficial spring-scale capital of the world, the Pelouze Scale & Manufacturing Company had no shortage of competition in its industry. Even our own museum collection includes quality offerings from Pelouze contemporaries like the American Cutlery Co.
Museum Artifact: Victor Stapler, c. 1940s
Made By: Vail Manufacturing Co., 900 E. 96th St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL
This patina-riffic “Chicago No. 2” brand pencil sharpener is one of nine Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company pieces in our collection. It’s also probably my favorite, but until I become the center judge in a pencil sharpener beauty contest, I’m not sure how much weight that opinion carries. In any case, you can read our full history of the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co.
Museum Artifact: Bremner Wafers Tin, 1960s
Made By: Bremner Biscuit Company, 901 W. Arthington St., Chicago, IL
The Bremner Biscuit Company was once about as authentically Chicagoan as deep dish pizza and the blues. Unfortunately, the 1980s showed little mercy for such cherished local institutions (even a lot of blues men started recording with synthesized harmonicas), as Bremner abruptly ended its century-long tenure in the city and relocated to Denver—still the company headquarters today.
Pelouze Scale & Manufacturing Co., 232 E. Ohio St., Chicago, IL
There’s no getting around it. Kitchen scales, aka “family scales,” take up a lot of the real estate in the Made-in-Chicago Museum. This mint green beaut is one of several scales in our collection made by the Pelouze Manufacturing Company, maybe the best known of the many Chicago based spring scale companies of the early 20th century.
Museum Artifact: Western Electric Model 500 Phone, 1960
Made By: Western Electric Co., Hawthorne Works, 22nd St. and Cicero Ave, Cicero, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL
This was the pencil sharpener of your youth . . . if your school was like mine and failed to pay for the widely available electric alternative.
The classic “Chicago” hand-crank sharpener is actually one of five Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. (aka, APSCO) pieces in our museum collection, all dating from the 1920s or earlier.
Triner Scale & MFG Co., 2714 W. 21st St., Chicago, IL
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This curvaceous postal scale from the Triner Scale & MFG Co. has a copyright of 1963 on the dial, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the scale itself was built that year. By the mid-century, Triner was equipping its “Ideal” and “Superior” U.S. mail scales with replaceable plastic dials. That way, when the government decided to go nuts and increase postal rates,
Museum Artifact: Simonsen Metal Toolbox / Tackle Box, c. 1950s
Made By: Simonsen Metal Products Co., 4444 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
Edward H. Simonsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1891, the son of Danish immigrants. From there, his life unfolded in typical “American Dream” fashion—or at least that’s the nuts and bolts version we’re left to infer. He moved to Chicago in his youth,
Museum Artifact: Ditto Typewriter Ribbon Tin, c. 1930s
Made By: DITTO Inc., 605 S. Oakley Blvd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Decorative Bronzing Liquid, c. 1910s
Made By: Illinois Bronze Powder Co., 162 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Herold MFG Co. / Utility MFG / Spartus Corp, 711-715 W. Lake St. and 2110 W. Walnut St., Chicago, IL
The Acro-Flash is one of more than a dozen bakelite minicams in the museum collection, all produced by the same manufacturer. Jack Galter’s Spartus Corp. famously operated under about 50 other names between 1939 and 1960. In this case, we can date the Acro-Flash to the early 1950s, when Spartus sales manager Harold Rubin was handed the reins of the company and briefly rechristened it Herold Products Co.
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
The “Besta” is merely one of dozens of brand names slapped on the lens plates of this 1940s bakelite minicam mold. Known as the “Chicago Cluster,” the cameras patented and mass-produced by Jack Galter at his 711 W. Lake Street factory were famously marketed under numerous brand AND manufacturer names. You can get the complete story on Galter and the tangled Spartus Corp.
General Products Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Here is yet another of the many bakelite minicams produced out of the same Lake Street factory in the 1940s. These cheap-o “candid” cameras were marketed under literally dozens of different brand names AND manufacturer names, with no rhyme or reason as to which name would appear on which model type. The motivations behind this strategy are quite interesting,
Oliver Typewriter Company, 159 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, IL. Factory: Woodstock, IL
“The Oliver Typewriter No. 5, which is now being placed on the market, is the ‘last word’ in typewriters—a Symphony in Steel. It is scientific in principle, flawless in construction, accurate in adjustment, splendidly efficient in operation.”—Oliver Typewriter Co. catalog, 1908
Produced between 1907 and 1914, the Oliver No. 5 was also the last offering from Thomas Oliver himself,
The Camera Man / Lee Industries / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Made-In-Chicago Museum has collected, so far, 17 bakelite minicams, all produced by the same Chicago manufacturer in the 1940s, but sold under roughly forty-two gazillion different brand AND manufacturer names. You can read the entire, quite fascinating story of Jack Galter and his budget goods empire on our main Spartus Camera Corp.
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Churchill mini-cam is merely one of dozens of brand names slapped on the lens plates of this and other similar 1940s bakelite molds. Known as the “Chicago Cluster,” the cameras patented and mass-produced by Jack Galter at his 711 W. Lake Street factory were famously marketed under numerous brand AND manufacturer names.
General Products / Metropolitan Industries / Utility MFG Co / Spartus Corp, 711-15 W . Lake St., Chicago, IL
The Clix Minicam is part of the infamous family of bakelite minicams produced out of the same Lake Street factory in the late ’30s and 1940s. These cheap-o “candid type” cameras were marketed under literally dozens of different brand names AND manufacturer names, with no rhyme or reason as to which name would appear on which model type.
Elgin Laboratories / Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL
The Elgin Miniature Camera is part of the infamous family of bakelite minicams produced out of the same Lake Street factory in the late ’30s and 1940s. These cheap-o “candid type” cameras were marketed under literally dozens of different brand names AND manufacturer names, with no rhyme or reason as to which name would appear on which model type.
Utility MFG Co. / Spartus Corp, 711-715 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL
The Falcon Minette was, in theory, just another of the many cheap bakelite camera brands produced out of Jack Galter’s Lake Street factory during the late 1930s and early 1940s. You can get the full crazy story of this photo industry phenomenon on our main Spartus Camera history page.
As for this model,
Monarch MFG Co. / Utility MFG Co / Spartus Corp, 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
Museum Artifact: Marsh Pressure Gauge, c. 1940s
Made By: Jas. P. Marsh Corporation, 2073 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Lee Industries / Spartus Corp., 711-15 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
