William E. Snediker of Trenton and Jersey City, NJ, trained as a machinist and rose to superintendent of Trenton Vise & Tool Works by 1875. As W. E. Snediker, he later manufactured vises from his own patents and under contract with Stephens Patent Vise Co. His business was succeeded in 1900 by National Vise and Tool Works, also in Jersey City, with Mr. Snediker as vice president and head of manufacturing. The large New York City hardware firm Tower & Lyon controlled the entire output of National Vise and Tool Works.

Another large New York City hardware company, Peter A. Frasse & Co., briefly owned a vise factory in Yonkers, NY in late 1906, which manufactured Snediker vises. Frasse then sold the Yonkers plant to G. M. Yost Manufacturing Co. in early 1907. Yost moved the machinery to Mechanicsburg, PA, where it manufactured its own Snediker X-L Quick Acting Vise. There are references to the Yonkers plant as Snediker's, which likely meant National Vise and Tool Works, but the connection between the Jersey City and Yonkers locations has not yet been explained.

William E. Snediker's youngest son, George Lambert Snediker, was living in Mechanicsburg, PA, in 1907, occupation superintendent, probably for Yost.

Information Sources

• Boyd's Trenton City Directory, 1875, Pg. 281
• Hardware, Vol. 19, No. 12, Sep. 25, 1899, Pg 31.
• Hardware, Vol. 22, No. 1, Oct. 10, 1900, Pg 28.
• The Metal Worker, Vol. LXVI, No. 20, Nov. 17, 1906, Pg. 68.