Mantle Vise Having Multiple Adjustable Jaws

Mantle & Co. manufactured machine vises with fractal jaws for gripping irregular objects. The vise was introduced in 1922 and the inventor was Paulin Karl Kunze of Austria. The firm's primary products appear to have been special machinery. Officers in 1917 and 1922 were Robert M. Lloyd, president, Hart O. Berg, vice president, and Ambrose L. O'Shea, secretary-treasurer.

In 1928 Mantle & Co. sold all rights, patterns, jigs, etc., for the vise to United States Automatic Box Machinery Co. of Boston, which retailed it as the "Boston" automatic vise alongside "Boston" patent universal angle-plate that they had recently acquired from Boston Scale & Machine Co.

Information Sources

• 1908-09-03 The Iron Trade Review.

  Mantle & Co., New York City, to manufacture machinery, engines, boilers, etc., have filed application for a charter. The company is capitalized at $10,000, and has these incorporators: Joseph G. C. Mantle, 1907 Park avenue; Herman L. Kollmar, 782 Home street; Charles H. Friedrich, 35 Nassau street, all of New York City.

• 1909 Trow's New York Copartnership and Corporation Directory, page 480: "Mantle & Co. (N. Y.) (Joseph G. C. Mantle, Pres.; Herman L. Kollmar, Sec. Capital, $10,000. Directors, Joseph G. C. Mantle, Herman L. Kollmar, Charles H. Friedrich, Almon C. Kellogg) 1907 Park av."
• 1913 Industrial Directory of New York State, page 419, lists "(firm name) Mantle & Co. / (street address) 1907 Park Ave. / (product manufactured) Machinery / (men in shop) 30 / (women in shop) - / (children 14-16 in shop) 2 / (office force) - / (total) 32".
• The Iron Age, Vol. 110, No. 13, Sep. 28, 1922, Pg. 812.
• Rare Antique Fractal Vise Restoration on YouTube.
• American Machinist, Vol. 58, No. 22, May 31, 1923, Pg. 10-11
• New York City Directory, 1917, Pg. 1343.
• New York City Directory, 1922, Pg. 1209.
• 1928-29 issue of Machinery (page 1929-720).

  United States Automatic Box Machinery Co., 459 Watertown St., Newtonville, Boston, Mass., recently purchased the Mantle universal vise from Mantle & Co. of New York City. The company has also secured the patterns, jigs, and fixtures for the manufacture of this device, and all finished stock and parts on hand, which will make it possible for deliveries...

• 1928 issue of Machinery (Vol. 35, p. 160).

  United States Automatic Box Machinery Co., 172-178 Green St., Jamaica Plains, Boston, Mass., manufacturer of automatic paper box machinery, announces that the company has purchased the patents covering the Boston universal angle-plate from the Boston Scale & Machine Co., Boston, Mass. The purchase includes all patterns, jigs, and fixtures...

• 1929 issue of American Machinery (Vol. 71, p. 92).

  The BOSTON Universal—Self-aligning jaws of the Boston Universal Vise securely hold round, square and odd-shaped parts. Operates like ordinary vise, yet it is practically several work-holding fixtures in one. U. S. Automatic Box Machinery Co. 459 Watertown St., Newtonville, Boston, Mass.

• Findagrave.com entry for Joseph George Claud-Mantle (1858-1934). This seems like a match to our Joseph G. C. Mantle except for the hyphen connecting Claud and Mantle.