All Alemite cabinet styles built from 1948-55

Rarely, if ever do we come across imagery that shows a compete line from any one company.

These beautiful images were all found in a revised February, 1949 Alemite “Atomic” catalog.

$274.50 for the tall cabinet set or $98.50 for the bench alone.

and the four different styles of oil bar benches…

 
 

New Work Station found; The 1946 AMPCO Bench

The ad is from November 1946 and I found it in an issue of Automotive Digest magazine.

 
 
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This Mechanic’s Unit with a 1/4” thick plate bench top, seems to have only been offered from late 1946 through early 1947. The Parts bin was more successful and had a multi-year run with the Keith Motor Co. Below is the founder of the Amarillo Metal Products Co. S.L. Shepard.

 
 

It appears that the company began producing hotel and cafe equipment in early 1945. By 1947 they were centering more on air conditioning and heating. Newspaper articles show us that the company was done and their metal fabrication tools were sold off at auction in 1953.

Early Alemite Wing Door Badge

After a long search, we have finally added this Alemite emblem to our collection. This one was attached to one of their first 1940 Merchandisers.

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The badge is actually made of some kind of early plastic with a thin metal mounting plate. Surviving emblems are getting harder to find, as they are fragile after these 80 years.

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1930's Mystery Wooden Mechanics Workbench

This metal wrapped, wooden workbench surfaced up near the Great Lakes. As it has no manufacturer tag attached, we are currently unable to identify its maker. We assume it to be from the 1930’s based off of its solid wood construction, and the type of metal rolled details on its sides.

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There is a small metal tag attached, but the mystery still continues…

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This same bench with a new paint job and some antique Snap-on tools. Beautiful!

Here is another very early wooden Body Shop desk and a Mechanics rolling tool cabinet

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Alemite and the Stewart Warner factory in Chicago

A look back; In 1924 Stewart Warner acquired the Alemite Corp. and moved them into their ever growing complex in Chicago.

 
 

In the 1950’s they had 6000 employees at this Stewart Warner location alone. The Lubrication division was located in the basement area.

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In 1994 the plant at the Diversey Parkway was demolished after portions of the company were sold off and others moved their operations to Mexico.

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Just before the demo, a group was sent in to salvage and one of them left with this unique narrow Alemite service cabinet.

I am intrigued that they still had 1950’s cabinets in use up into the 90’s.

Recreating Logos and Factory Stickers

For many years we have wondered what this Kent-Moore badge may have looked like up close.

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With the above image, of a partial original decal, we have created a graphic close to what would have been attached to 1940-46 benches.

Here is a early 1940’s Alemite logo we cleaned up from a military toolbox.

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Walter E. Allen Chrysler Plymouth Dealership in OK

A Look back; 1947 images of an period Car Dealership and what sat inside their service area

Below is a image from an Ad from Weaver for their twin post lifts, showing 12 window-top Alemite benches

Here are a few more. Across two different service areas, that is at least 15 Alemite cabinets

Currently the city is attempting to bring this building back to how it appeared in the 40’s

John Bean Visualiner Alignment Cabinets

This photo of a unique styled Visualiner is from 1954 inside a GM dealership in New Zealand. A brand new Holden sits on the rack. This cabinet was most likely fabricated by another compnay than John Bean for this country. I love the styling of the top Visualiner sign.

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The company states that these beautiful Visualiner cabinets were released to market in 1947, however we found this ad below from their role out in August, 1946.

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Fun fact: There were two different color emblems for the John Bean alignment units over the years. We do not yet have a concrete answer on what years possessed which versions, but know that the red one was produced first.

Above is yet another strange styled cabinet. This one built in the Netherlands…

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and here is a Visualiner in use in Paris

Alemite gets into the Work Bench business

This is the earliest ad we have found for an Alemite Work Station. February 1940

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The Drawing includes a small drawer on the front of the bench and the ad refers to two large drawers, but the closest we have seen to a drawer on these is this configuration below from 1942.

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Most of the units came with a cabinet door on both sides of the center bench.

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It is especially interesting how similar Alemite’s first bench is to the earliest Lincoln and Kent Moore units. They all debuted within months of each other.

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A.S.I. - Auto Service Industry show

From at least 1938 through the 50’s the Automotive Service Industry Show at Navy Pier in Chicago was the main place for suppliers to show off their new products. The shows / conventions were highly attended; around 21,000+ people in their peak years of 1947 and 48 and 500-600 manufacturers . There was no show in 1949 and by 1950 the numbers began to drop off. (16,000)

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The Alemite display booth was well attended, with a merchandiser displayed right in the center. Some displays cost north of $10,000 at the time, and companies used everything from key rings to smoking pipes to attract visitors.

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The show floor; 1938

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The Shure Sales Promotion Manager, Stan Lenehan, at the International A.S.I. show with one of the first Shure Mfg. Merchandisers

The Show floor in 1946; I can see a Graco booth on left along with many other companies