U.S. Air Compressor Company

Damon Crowe January 31, 2020

In the late 40’s U.S. Compressor built a line of lubrication equipment and possibly a merchandiser.

We have yet to find a full workbench, but have not given up searching to see if the company actually produced one.

Welcoming 2020

Damon Crowe December 31, 2019

Happy New Year to all!

All of these work stations are now 80 years old.

A Collection of Workbench Emblems

Damon Crowe November 28, 2019

We have been acquiring these Merchandiser Badges over the years and are now getting them scanned, so we can 3D print new metal reproductions.

Coming soon …

Searching for Lincoln Engineering benches in promotional ads

Damon Crowe October 31, 2019

It is hard to believe that we have had trouble tracking down ads from Lincoln that show their popular 1945 - 57 merchandisers. With the quantity produced, there should be plenty of magazine ads and catalogs floating around. To our dismay their simply isn’t much out there.

The two ads above are the only ons we have with the model 2765 present in it.

Update

We found these two wonderful Lincoln ads from sellers in Canada with measurements, features and drawings

We do stumble onto images of these units in use in the late 1940’s every now and then.

Notice the K60 Snap On toolbox behind him

If you have advertisement images or a catalog of this style Lincoln workbench, please reach out to us as we are always attempting to expand our historical archive.

The Elusive Borroughs Workbench

Damon Crowe September 30, 2019

A friend of the website shared these images with us of a rare Borroughs merchandiser.

The Borroughs Manufactuing Company still produces cabinets and commercial shelving today. These pictures are of the only surviving specimen we have seen to date.

Above is a original photo of two Borroughs units in use at a Pontiac dealership in Pittsburg.

The Unique "Under-Window" Merchandiser Cabinets

Damon Crowe August 17, 2019

Most of the major manufacturers offered these lower style work benches to their consumers.

The quantities must of been very low as most of these benches are quite scarce.

Custom Car Dealership or Oil Company Emblems for Workbenches

Damon Crowe July 28, 2019

Alemite Window-Top model emblems

Starting sometime in the early 1940’s (Jan. ‘41 most likely) Alemite and a few other manufacturers would ship you custom emblems for your Work Station. The options where mostly for the larger Oil Companies or Car Manufacturers.

Below is one of the only customized dealership emblems that we have seen. This one was attached to a late 40’s Alemite bench.

Above is a unique Desoto Dealership emblem on a early 40’s Kent-Moore cabinet, and a 40’s Alemite badge with a Buick insert.

Finally, here is a Cadillac door badge and a Texaco insert found on a Lube Cabinet.

The 1948 Kent-Moore Dual-Turret Merchandiser

Damon Crowe June 30, 2019

If there was ever a Unicorn of a Workbench for us, this is it! Kent-Moore was really trying a daring design with this unit, right in the peak of the Merchandiser craze. Round sliding cabinet doors, 6ft long workbench with three doors, removable rolling cart, the list goes on.

We assumed that we would never ever see a complete original Turret unit with the bench.

To date we have seen six other turret side cabinets, and 2 center benches, but this may be the only surviving full bench with its original turrets. Please reach out if you know of any others.

The Unit was also available in a Mono-Turret configuration seen below.

Now to clean her up some…

John Bean Visualiner Alignment Cabinets

Damon Crowe May 31, 2019

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.

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.

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…

and here is a Visualiner in use in Paris

A new Workshop as well as a new Merchandiser

Damon Crowe April 28, 2019

We have built a new workshop and one of the first items in place is this brand new

Excelsior Deluxe Cabinet.

This baby is super sturdy and I am loving it in all black! Want to know more about these fantastic newly built workbenches…

Check out their website for more on their benches

Excelsior Tooling

Alemite gets into the Work Bench business

Damon Crowe March 3, 2019

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

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.

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

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.

The Gulf themed Work Station

Damon Crowe February 9, 2019

For years we have entertained the idea of painting up a Merchandiser in the Gulf Racing theme. The colors play so nice off of each other and we had never seen one.

Well a regular to our site has found a Shure bench in Gulf colors, and we are still loving it.

As seen on "American Pickers"

Damon Crowe January 28, 2019

Yes, it finally happened and the guys pulled an Alemite out of a barn in South Dakota.

Will the prices on these beautiful cabinets rise now?

Will we possibly see more come out from hiding?

The shows prices were inflated, but glad to see an Alemite getting some appreciation.

Bringing in the New Year

Damon Crowe December 31, 2018

May everyone find the work station of their dreams this year!

A.S.I. - Auto Service Industry show

Damon Crowe November 17, 2018

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)

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.

The show floor; 1938

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

Museum collection of Alemite cabinets

Damon Crowe October 30, 2018

In a back barn area of the The Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin, Montana, sits this time capsule of Lubricating Equipment.

The ARO service merchandiser

Damon Crowe September 19, 2018

With only two pictures of their elusive work stations, this ARO cabinet may be one of the more rare units out there.

Possessing an indented single stainless trim piece across the top of the cabinets and a study center bench, the ARO merchandiser appears to be able to take a variety of different center sections. Much of the benches details, like hinges, handles and proportions, tend to have me believe that they may have been built out of surplus Lincoln Engineering units. We have not seen the rectangular ARO emblem until January 1948 and after, so that is the best gauge of when these cabinets would have been manufactured.

If you have one of these workbenches, please reach out to us.

1949 Buick Lubricare photo ad

Update

Here is a ARO bench with a different style to the top of the cabinets.

Workbenches in unique color schemes

Damon Crowe August 29, 2018

Here are some fun color ways we have seen over the years

and here are 2 Texaco themed benches with a lot going on

The collection of "Motor Age" magazines grows for our archive

Damon Crowe July 1, 2018

We have been acquiring Chilton's “Motor Age” magazines for our history collection, and these are the Merchandiser related ads or images found within. These are mostly from 1949-1950.

And here are some of the issues from 1940-1942.

1948 Lincoln sectional merchandiser

Damon Crowe June 10, 2018

In this Lincoln Engineering bulletin sent to us by a friend of the site; you can get a glimpse of one of their more rare configurations.

You could order any combination you desired of these shorter work station setups.

Although we do not have a picture of one of these cabinets complete, here are the side cabinets by themselves.