Stanley Garden Tools

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Mar 2004 by Jacob, Walter W

Early Stanley garden tools were a product that rose out of the economic straits of the Great Depression of the 19.'5Os. By mid-15)30, building construction was at a standstill and sales of building hardware was off. To offset the decline of hardware sales, Stanley began developing other products, including garden tools.

Stanley had poised its product line to meet these difficulties. In july of 1926, the company had acquired the business of the American Tube and Stamping Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The J lardware Division of the Stanley Works, in the late 1920s, was seeing the ever increasing demand for building hardware. The acquisition of the American Tube and Stamping Company strengthened Stanley's ability to produce hot -rolled steel and stampings, a technique that was needed to produce this new line of tools. By mid-1931, Stanley launched a line of garden tools manufactured with all steel tube handles and stampings. They made eight short-handled and seven long-handled tools (Figure l).

The short-handled tools, when first introduced, were enameled with bright orange-colored handles with a black cap.

Soon thereafter, the colors were changed to an assortment of bright orange with a black cap, red with a gold cap, blue with a yellow cap, and green with an orange cap (Figure 2). Each type tool was stamped and had a tubular handle. It was fitted with an end cap, which was spot welded on the handle end. Each tool was marked with the late-period (1930-1935) "sweetheart" mark on the top of the handle about halfway down (Figure 3). Eight different tools were available. No. 7041 (Figure 4) was a full-sized trowel with a width of 3 inches and a total length of 11 5/8 inches. No. 7042 was a four-tined spading fork (Figure 5) with a width of 3 inches and a length of 11 inches. Each tine was 3 inches long and was used for digging around plants and shrubs.

No. 7O43 was a cultivator (Figure 6) with five angular fingers for tough weeds. It was 10 7/8 inches long and 3 inches wide. No. 7044, which Stanley advertised as also being useful as a lawn weeder, was a narrow-blade transplant trowel (Figure 7) with a width of 2 inches and a length of 11 5/8 inches.

No. 7045 was a two-tined spading fork (Figure 8) with a length of 10 7/8 inches, a width of 2 2/3 inches, and 5-inch tines. Stanley advertised that this tool wouldn't clog with dirt and could penetrate hard soil. Garden tool no. 7046 was a two-tined cultivator (Figure 9) similar to no. 7045 but with the tines turned at a right angle, making stubby no-clog prongs. No. 7047, a dibble (Figure 10) used to rapidly punch a hole for seedlings or bulbs, had a curved tubular handle without a cap and was 10 ½ inches long. And finally, in Stanley's short-handled garden tool line was a hand weed cutter, no. 7048 (Figure 11). It had a flat, coarse, saw tooth-type blade.

Stanley offered a set of four of the most used short handle tools as set no. 7040 in an attractive box (Figure 2). This set consisted of the 7041 full-size trowel, no. 7043 short-handled cultivator, no. 7044 thin blade transplant trowel, and no. 7045 two-tined spading fork.

Stanley also offered seven long-handled garden tools. Each tool had a total length of 40 inches, with a 11/16-inch diameter tubular handle with a ¾-inch end cap. The tube handles were enameled in green with an orange enameled cap and tool head. These tools were not stamped with the sweetheart but usually had an earlier period Stanley decal affixed to the tubular handle about one-third up from the bottom (Figure 12). First in this line-up was the no. 7051 rake (Figure 13) which had ten tines and was small enough to get between garden plants and to rake out piles of leaves and grass but large enough to be useful.

Stanley advertised its no. 7052 (Figure 14), a 4-inch wide spading fork, as "comfortable to step on and to keep the soil loosened." The back of the fork was reinforced by a ¼-inch by ½-inch bar pinned into the handle (Figure 14, inset). No. 7053 (Figure 15) was a f'our-tined cultivator used for "shallow or deep cultivating work." This tool had a tine length of 3 inches and was 3 inches wide. Stanley no. 7054 was an oval hoc (Figure 10), which was advertised as being "especially useful for working the ground underneath low-growing shrubs." The 5 5/8-inchcs wide hoe was fastened to a curved 7/16-inch bar that was inserted into the tubular handle (Figure 17).

Stanley also made a heart-shaped hoe, no. 7055 (Figure 18), used for making troughs for seeding and, as advertised, "working the ground between crowded plants." The line-up of long-handled garden tools also included a two-tined cultivator, no. 7056 (Figure 10), used "for rooting out garden weeds without getting down on hands and knees." The width of this tool was 2 5/8 inches.

Of course, any set of garden tools should have a spade or shovel. Stanley no. 7057 (Figure 20) was just such a tool. The spade blade had a total length of 6 inches and a width of 4 inches. It was reinforced in the back with an internal bar (Figure 21). Stanley also offered the most useful "long" garden tools in a long-handled set, no. 7050. This set consisted of the no. 7052 spading fork, the no. 7053 fbur-tined cultivator, the no. 7054 oval hoe, and the no. 7057 spade.