Jan. 1914
The company was founded and managed by William U. Colthar to sell a line of machinist vises. After his premature death on Jan. 19, 1914, his heirs began advertising the business for sale. Two and a half years later, it sold to Western Tool & Manufacturing Co., which rebranded the vises as Champion.
There is no connection between this firm and any other Victor vises. This is a corrected article.
Information Sources
- Find-a-Grave William U. Colthar. The obituary given there states that he had invented the Timken roller bearing, which seems to be complete fiction: the pair of patents covering the Timken roller bearings (patents 606,635 and 606,636) were granted to Henry Timken and Reginald Heinzelman, both of them St. Louis carriage-makers.
- Springfield News, Feb. 22, 1914, Pg. 22
- Springfield News, Nov. 13, 1916, Pg. 11
- Archived article by Todd Werts (ToolArchives.com) Victor Vise Co.