J.M. King & Company

Table of Contents

Introduction

J.M. King & Company was an early maker of taps, dies, and pliers operating in Waterford, New York. The company is best known as the originator of "Button's Pliers", a popular style of wire-cutting pliers.

Company History

J.M. King & Company was an early maker of taps, dies, and related tools in Waterford, New York. The company was established by Daniel B. King in 1829, and by 1849 had been organized as J.M. King & Company.

Stocks and Dies

Currently we don't have any information on the very earliest products of the company, but by the 1860s the company had become well known as a maker of stocks and dies, hand taps, and related threading tools.

In this context a stock was a die holder typically made as a rectangular metal plate with two handles, with a rectangular slot to hold one or more pairs of dies. (At this time threading dies were typically split in half and were sold as a matched pair.)

Fig. 1A. 1864 Catalog Listing for J.M. King & Company.

The scan in Fig. 1A shows a catalog listing for J.M. King stocks and dies, as published on page 249 of the 1864 catalog from Bliven, Mead & Company, an industrial distributor.

Note that the large stock at the bottom of the illustration has been loaded with three pairs of dies.

The 1876 U.S. International Exhibition

J.M. King & Company was an exhibitor at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.

Fig. 1B. 1876 Listing for J.M. King & Company. [External Link]

Fig. 1B shows the directory listing for J.M. King & Company, as published in the 1876 Official Catalogue of the U.S. International Exhibition.

The text notes the company's products as stocks and dies, plug and taper taps, and pliers. Although no further description is given, based on the company's later history the referenced pliers are presumed to be the wire cutters later known as Button's pliers.

This is currently our earliest reference to the company as a maker of pliers.

The Button's Patent Mystery

By the 1870s the company had introduced a line of wire-cutting pliers that became their best known product and most enduring contribution to the tool-making art. These pliers came to be called "Button Pliers" or "Button's Patent Pliers", for reasons that were uncertain.

Fig. 2. 1886 Reference to J.M. King & Company. [External Link]

Fig. 2 shows a notice for J.M. King & Company, as published in the 1886 book The City of Troy and Its Vicinity by Arthur James Weise (Edward Green, Troy 1886).

The description notes the particulars of the founding of the company, and mentions their products as including button pliers, stocks and dies, and various types of taps.

This is currently our earliest reference to the term "Button Pliers".

Some examples of Button pliers have been found stamped with a July 30, 1867 patent date, which corresponds to the 1867 patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens of Waterford, New York.

The patent document doesn't mention an assignment to J.M. King or any other party, and it's not known whether the patent was later purchased or licensed. The Stevens patent would have expired in 1884.

In the 19th century it was common to refer to a patented tool using the inventor's name in a possessive form, even long after the patent had expired. Common examples would include the Barwick's patent wrench, Carew's patent nippers, or Todd's patent nippers.

By this logic the Button's patent pliers would have been invented by someone with the surname Button, but we know from the marked patent date that the pliers were actually invented by W.X. Stevens. This leads to a clear statement of our mystery — how did pliers invented by W.X. Stevens come to be called Button's patent pliers?

Since J.M. King was apparently making the pliers by the 1870s, when the patent was still in effect, and some examples of the pliers have been found marked with the patent date (see the J.M King 8 Inch Button's Pliers), it's reasonable to assume that the pliers with the patent date marking were made while the patent was still active.

However, no examples have been found with both a patent date marking and a "Button Pliers" marking. Since the first reference to J.M. King as a maker of "button pliers" occurred after the patent had expired, this suggests that the "Button" appellation was added after the patent had expired.

These considerations lead to a fairly narrow time window of 1884-1886 when the "Button" name was apparently created.

... Mystery Solved!

Fig. 3. 1879 Notice for J.M. King Botton's Pliers.

Only a day after updating the previous section to describe the "Button Pliers" mystery, we were able to find a source documenting the origin of the "Button" name!

Fig. 3 shows a long notice regarding J.M. King Button's pliers, as published on page 1 [External Link] of the March 29, 1879 issue of The Metal Worker.

The text of the notice begins by describing the advantages of the wire-cutting pliers, and mentions that the author had purchased the pliers in the past "when the tools were first on the market", and then "carried them for a long time as a pocket tool ...".

The notice then states that J.M. King & Company had purchased the exclusive right to manufacture the pliers from L. Button & Son, the patentees of the pliers. This is the long sought connection between the J.M. King pliers and the "Button" name!

This notice requires some careful interpretation to true up the statements to the known facts. First of all, the claim that L. Button & Son are the patentees of the pliers implies that there must have been an earlier assignment of patent 67,370 by W.X. Stevens, the original inventor. (The patent document did not record an assignment.)

A second important point is that the pliers had apparently been in production for some time prior to this publication, in order for the author to relate a personal experience. We take this to mean that the "news" in this notice is the purchase of exclusive rights to the manufacture of the pliers, and that the prior production means that J.M. King had been licensing the patent up until that time.

The connection with the "Button" name while the patent was still in effect means that it is possible that some J.M. King pliers may be marked with both "Button Pliers" and the patent date, but we have not observed any examples.

The firm L. Button & Son was a partnership of Lysander Button and Theodore E. Button, and operated in Waterford, New York as a maker of hand-powered fire engines. The firm was originally established in 1834 by William Platt and Lysander Button, and after the withdrawal of Platt in 1841 had operated as father and son.

Now that we've established the apparent assignment of the 1867 Stevens patent 67,370 to L. Button & Son, the next step is to explore the circumstances that lead to the assignment. Our hypothesis is that Stevens was employed by (or otherwise under contract to) the Button firm at the time of the invention.

As background information we know that in the mid 1860s Stevens had a machine shop in East Brookfield, a small town near Worcester, Massachusetts, and resided in the same vicinity. It turns out that Stevens was a prolific inventor, and we will use four of his patents to establish a timeline of his activities surrounding the invention of the pliers.

The first patent is 62,977 for a type of screw-cutting lathe, issued on March 19, 1867. In this patent the inventor claims residence in Worcester, but the patent was assigned to J.M. and D.B. King of Waterford, New York. This patent provides evidence that by late 1866 or early 1867 the inventor had traveled to Waterford to work with J.M. King & Company.

The second patent is 67,370 for the wire-cutting pliers, issued on July 30, 1867. The key fact from this patent is that the inventor now claimed residence in Waterford, New York. (As noted ealier, no assignment was recorded with the patent.)

The third patent is 73,405 for ice skates, issued on January 14, 1868. This is an otherwise minor patent that is not known to have been produced, but for our present argument it establishes that W.X. Stevens still claimed residence in Waterford at that time. In addition, the witnesses to the patent declaration were none other than L. Button and Theo. E. Button, the principals of L. Button & Son!

Since the witnesses for a patent are typically chosen from the inventor's close associates at the time, this patent provides strong evidence that Stevens was working for the Button firm when the patent was filed.

The fourth patent is 95,392 for a hand-vise, issued on September 28, 1869. In this patent the inventor claims residence in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, his long-term base of operations. This patent is known to have been produced by the Millers Falls Company, but for our present purposes it just serves as a book-end to establish that the inventor's sojourn to Waterford was temporary.

Patent documents in the 19th century have an important limitation in that generally only the issue date was provided, with the patent typically having been filed 2-6 months prior to the issue date. This means that time-dependent information captured by the patent filing (such as place of residence) actually applied to a period somewhat earlier than the issue date.

If we take the patent processing delay into account, the four patents show that the inventor's residence was in Worcester in late 1866 to early 1867, in Waterford in early to mid 1867, still in Waterford in late 1867, and in East Brookfield (near Worcester) in early to mid 1869.

We also need to consider that it takes time to establish residency after moving to a new location, which leads to an estimate that Stevens likely spent all of 1867 and part of 1868 in Waterford, before returning to his home base.

It's a bit unusual to use patent filings just to establish the inventor's place of residence, but it's also a bit unusual for a person to make an extended stay away from their home, while filing patents along the way. Without evidence that Stevens had actually resided in Waterford it would seem much less plausible that he had been employed by a firm in that area.

The patent documents provide strong evidence that Stevens worked for two firms while in Waterford, initially for J.M. King & Company, based on the assignment of the first patent, and later for L. Button & Son, based on the witnesses for the third patent. But to determine his employment status when the pliers (second patent) were invented, we need to look at the differences between the two firms.

J.M. King's products (exclusive of the pliers) were primarily stocks, dies, and hand taps — in other words, small hand tools. In contrast, L. Button & Son produced a large wagon-mounted hand-pumping apparatus for fighting fires. This means that the wire-cutting pliers would have fit very naturally into King's product mix, but would have been at best a distraction for the Button firm. Or more succinctly, the pliers patent would have been more valuable to the King firm.

If we consider that Stevens had a prior relationship with the King firm from the first patent, it is apparent that Stevens would have had every incentive to assign the pliers patent to J.M. King & Company. The fact that the assignment instead went to L. Button & Son is therefore strong evidence that Stevens was contractually bound to deliver the assignment, as might result from an employment or other work contract.

Based on these arguments it is highly likely that Stevens was employed by the Button firm when the pliers were invented.

Button's Pliers in the Market

Fig. 4. 1889 Ad for J.M. King Botton's Pliers.

Fig. 4 shows an ad for J.M. King Button's pliers, as published on page 62 [External Link] of the June 27, 1889 issue of The Iron Age.

Note that the illustration shows a "Button Pliers" marking near the pivot.

Fig. 5. 1897 Strelinger Catalog Listing for J.M. King Button Pliers. [External Link]

The above advertisement is the earliest example we've found of the company itself using "Button Pliers" or "Button's Patent" in its publicity.

Fig. 5 shows a catalog listing for King "Button's Pliers", as published in the 1897 catalog from Charles A. Strelinger & Company.

Note that the text cites J.M. King & Company as the original maker of this style and mentions that other companies were producing copies.

By this time the pliers were available in sizes 4.5, 6, 8, and 10 inches.

Fig. 6. 1897 Sears Roebuck Catalog Listing for J.M. King Button Pliers.

Around this same time the King Button pliers were also being offered by Sears Roebuck.

Fig. 6 shows a catalog listing for King "Button's Plier and Cutter", as published on page 82 of the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog.

Sears offered the pliers in sizes 6, 8, and 10 inches.

Incorporation in 1906

Fig. 7. 1906 Notice of Incorporation for J.M. King Company.

Fig. 7 shows a notice of incorporation for the J.M. King Company, as published on page 42 [External Link] of the March 1, 1906 issue of The Iron Trade Review.

The text notes the incorporators as Thomas Breslin, Charles L. Mitchell, and Chauncey J. Hamlin, with the capital stock stated as $40,000.

Fig. 8. 1909 Advertisement for J.M. King Button's Pliers. [External Link]

Fig. 8 shows an ad for J.M. King Button's pliers, as published on page 250 of the March 4, 1909 issue of The Iron Age.

This is the last advertisement for J.M. King & Company that we've been able to find.

Note that the illustration includes a "Button Pliers" marking, indicating that the later production of the pliers probably included this marking.

In later years King offered traditional Button's pliers in an additional 12 inch size, and also offered two new models of Button's pliers, the No. 2 round nose pliers and flat nose telegraph pliers.

Fig. 8B. 1910 Catalog Listing for J.M. King Buttons' Pliers.

The scan in Fig. 8B shows a catalog listing for J.M. King Button's pliers, as published on page 1271 of the 1910 Sargent Hardware catalog.

The illustration shows that the traditional Button's pliers were now listed as the No. 1 flat nose model and were available in sizes 4.5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 inches.

In addition, No. 2 round nose pliers were available in sizes 4.5, 6, and 8 inches, and flat nose telegraph pliers were available in sizes 8 and 10 inches.

Later History

Thomas Breslin served as the company's president and treasurer from its incorporation in 1906 until his death in 1911. After some obituary notices for Breslin in 1911, very few later references in the trade press for J.M. King have been found.

The company was still listed in a 1913 Directory of Factories published by the State of New York, but with only 24 employees, down from around 80 a decade earlier. The company is believed to have closed shortly after this time.

To provide a sense of finality, we found a notice from 1917 that the site of the J.M. King factory was being repurposed for a warehouse for the Waterford Knitting Company, which had been owned by Thomas Breslin.

Fig. 8C. 1917 Notice of Factory Razing. [External Link]

Fig. 8C shows a small notice that the Waterford Knitting Company was "razing the building formerly occupied by the J. M. King dye [sic] works", as published on page 39 of the September 22, 1917 issue of Textile World Journal.

The key words "formerly occupied" are strong evidence that J.M. King & Company had closed.

The Continuing Popularity of Button's Pliers

J.M. King & Company had faced some competition for Button's pliers even back in the 19th century, for example from the Cronk Hanger Company. William Cronk had received patent 344,769 in 1886 for a variation on the Button's pliers design.

Another form of early competition appeared when the characteristic cutting slots of Button's pliers were added to fencing pliers, a specialized tool combining pliers with a hammer. The Russell Patent staple-pulling pliers were a popular example of fencing pliers with Button's cutters, and were based on the 1892 Heard patent 477,005 and 1895 Russell patent 545,537. By the early 1900s the Russell pliers were being produced by Utica Drop Forge and Tool.

By the early 1900s Utica Drop Forge & Tool had begun producing Button's pliers similar to the King models, and in 1906 Utica introduced an improvement to the pliers that became the Utica No. 1000 "Giant" Button's Pliers. The "Giant" Buttton's pliers had two cutting slots between the jaws and were described in the 1909 Kelleman patent 942,504.

By the 1910s Button's pliers were being offered by Smith & Hemenway and Kraeuter & Company, and a number of other companies also offered a version of the Button's pliers.

Smith & Hemenway was later acquired by the Crescent Tool Company, and Crescent, Kraeuter, and Utica became the dominant suppliers of Button's pliers in the 20th century. In 1930 Kraeuter became the main supplier of pliers to the Sears Craftsman brand, and large numbers of Craftsman Button's pliers were sold during the 1930s and 1940s.

We checked some catalogs and found that Button's pliers were still available from Kraeuter at least into the late 1960s, from Utica into the late 1970s, and from Crescent into the 1980s. (Actually, Crescent Button's pliers are still available today from several "Big Box" stores.)

Patents

Trademarks

J.M. King is not known to have registered any trademarks.

References and Resources

Photographs and observations of particular tools are based on items in the Alloy Artifacts Collection.

Catalog Resources

Currently we do not have any catalogs for J.M. King & Company. However, the company did apparently print catalogs, as an 1879 notice in The Metal Worker mentions the availability of an illustrated catalog and price list.

In addition, a 1906 issue of Hardware printed a notice of a catalog from J.M. King & Company.

Industrial Distributors

J.M. King tools were available from some industrial distributors.

• Bliven, Mead & Company 1864. The 1864 catalog from Bliven, Mead & Company (available for download from the ITCL) listed J.M. King stocks and dies on pages 249-251.

• Chas. A. Strelinger 1895. The 1895 catalog from Chas. A. Strelinger & Company (available for download from the ITCL) lists J.M. King Button's pliers on page 58 and stocks and dies on page 151.

• Sargent Hardware 1910. The 1910 catalog from Sargent Hardware (available for download from the ITCL) lists J.M. King stocks and dies on page 1158, plug taps and taper taps on page 1158, and "Genuine" Button's pliers on page 1271.

  The Button pliers were available in three models, No. 1 flat nose in sizes 4.5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 inches, No. 2 round nose in sizes 4.5, 6, and 8 inches, and flat nose telegraph pliers in sizes 8 and 10 inches.

Selected Tools

Taps and dies are a bit outside of our main interests here at Alloy Artifacts, and we don't have any examples of J.M. King & Company die stocks to display. However, these tools were sold in large quantities and should be easy to find.

We have a good selection of Button's pliers, with differences in markings to show the changes over time.

Pliers

J.M. King 4.5 Inch Button's Pliers

Fig. 9. J.M. King 4.5 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View and Marking Detail, ca. 1885 to Early 1900s.

Fig. 9 shows a pair of J.M. King 4.5 inch Button's pliers, stamped "Button Pliers" on the face, with "King & Co" and "Waterford" on the underside of the handles.

The overall length is 4.9 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

Although not marked with a patent notice, these pliers are covered by patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on July 30, 1867. The absence of a patent notice suggests that this example was probably made after the patent had expired.

These pliers include the Waterford location and "Button Pliers" marking, but not the patent date, suggesting that the Waterford and Button markings were added at a later time.

J.M. King 6 Inch Button's Pliers

Fig. 10. J.M. King 6 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View and Marking Detail, ca. 1867 to 1884.

Fig. 10 shows an early pair of J.M. King 6 inch Button's pliers, stamped with "J.M. King & Co" and "Pat'd July 30, 1867" on the underside of the handles.

The overall length is 6.1 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

The patent date refers to patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on the stated date.

J.M. King 8 Inch Button's Pliers

The next several figures show examples of the J.M. King 8 inch Button's pliers, with some differences noted in the markings.

Fig. 11. J.M. King 8 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View, Construction, and Marking Detail, ca. 1867 to 1884.

Fig. 11 shows a early pair of J.M. King 8 inch Button's pliers, stamped with "J.M. King & Co." and "Pat'd July 30, 1867" on the underside of the handles.

The middle left inset shows the angled cutting slot placed between the jaws, a distinctive feature of the J.M. King Button pliers.

The overall length is 8.1 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

The patent date refers to patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on July 30, 1867.

Fig. 12. J.M. King 8 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View, Construction, and Marking Detail, ca. 1885 to Early 1900s.

Fig. 12 shows a pair of J.M. King 8 inch Button's pliers, stamped "Button Pliers" near the pivot, and with "King & Co." and "Wate..." on the underside of the handles.

The overall length is 8.1 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

The middle left inset shows the angled cutting slot placed between the jaws, a distinctive feature of the J.M. King Button pliers. The center inset shows a close-up of the "Button Pliers" marking.

Although not marked with a patent notice, these pliers are covered by patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on July 30, 1867. The absence of a patent notice suggests that this example was probably made after the patent had expired.

These pliers include the Waterford location and "Button Pliers" marking, but not the patent date, suggesting that the Waterford and Button markings were added at a later time.

Fig. 13. King 8 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View and Marking Detail, ca. 1885 to Early 1900s.

Fig. 13 shows another pair of J.M. King 8 inch Button's pliers, stamped "King & Co." and "Waterford" on the underside of the handles. This pair is quite similar to the previous example, but lacks the "Button Pliers" marking.

The overall length is 8.2 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

The absence of a patent notice suggests that this example was probably made after the patent had expired.

These pliers include the Waterford location but not the patent date, suggesting that the Waterford marking was added at a later time.

J.M. King 10 Inch Button's Pliers

Fig. 14. J.M. King 10 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View, Construction, and Marking Detail, ca. 1885 to Early 1900s.

Fig. 14 shows a pair of J.M. King 10 inch Button's pliers, stamped with "Button Pliers" on the face, and with "King & Co." and "Waterford" on the underside of the handles.

The middle left inset shows the angled cutting slot placed between the jaws, a distinctive feature of the J.M. King Button pliers.

The center inset shows a close-up of the "Button Pliers" marking.

The overall length is 9.9 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

Although not marked with a patent notice, these pliers are covered by patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on July 30, 1867. The absence of a patent notice suggests that this example was probably made after the patent had expired.

These pliers include the Waterford location and "Button Pliers" marking, but not the patent date, suggesting that the Waterford and Button markings were added at a later time.

Fig. 15. J.M. King 10 Inch Button's Pliers, with Insets for Side View, Construction, and Marking Detail, ca. 1885 to Early 1900s.

Fig. 15 shows another pair of J.M. King 10 inch Button's pliers, stamped with "Button Pliers" on the upper handle, and with "M. King & Co." and "Waterford NY" on the underside of the handles.

These pliers include an angled cutting slot placed between the jaws similar to that in the previous figure, and also have a screwdriver tip on one handle.

The overall length is 10.0 inches, and the finish is plain steel.

Although not marked with a patent notice, these pliers are covered by patent 67,370, issued to W.X. Stevens on July 30, 1867. The absence of a patent notice suggests that this example was probably made after the patent had expired.