If you’re the owner of any old-school, Chicago-made ACC tools, however-such as the classic “Jorgensen” brand handscrews in our collection-you can rest assured that they’ve probably got another few decades of functionality still left in them. Since the factory had already started using cheaper Chinese components towards the end, that could prove problematic for some people. The end of Pony Tools also means the end to any and all outstanding warranties on their products, I reckon. A once inspiring story of survival is now just another tombstone in the “Made in Chicago” graveyard. The new products will be distributed by Arrow Fastener in New Jersey, but they’ll be manufactured entirely by Arrow’s parent company, China’s Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial Co. After a two-year dormancy, however, the actual revival of the Pony and Jorgensen brands in 2018 proved a tad bittersweet. There was even some hope among devotees that the business might yet be saved at the 11th hour. To be fair, any small company that lasts this long-through depressions and recessions, world wars, and marketplace shifts-ought to be commended rather than criticized when it reaches the end. He elaborated that “this step was necessary due to issues unique to the Chicago business”-if you consider that elaborating. Those are the words of Doug Holman, announcing via e-mail that his great-great grandma’s 113 year-old company was suddenly kaput. informed its Chicago employees that it was suspending operations in Chicago effective immediately.” “I am writing to inform you that on May 19, 2016, Adjustable Clamp Company d/b/a Pony Tools Inc. What a story! Maybe there is still hope for the underdog after all. Holman-a trailblazing woman who presided over a thriving manufacturing business nearly two decades before she had the right to vote. The company’s chairman, Doug Holman, was actually the great-great grandson of the original founder, Adele V.
The respected tool manufacturer, which changed its name to Pony Tools in 2013 (adopting the title of one of its’ long-running brands), was an honest-to-gosh family business with a local history dating back more than a century.
Made by: Adjustable Clamp Co., 417 N Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL īack in 2015, when the Made In Chicago Museum was in its developmental stages, the Adjustable Clamp Company stood out as the rare “feel good” story amidst a sea of shuttered factories, outmoded merchandise, and forgotten dreams. Museum Artifact: Jorgensen Hand Screw Clamps, c.