In 1919 the Johnson & Biddle Tool Co. was manufacturing a benchtop die filing machine. Within a couple of years they were also manufacturing a combination surface and plain grinder. In 1924 Biddle patented a keyless lock and in 1926 the two men established a new firm to manufacture the lock. By September of 1927 they had procured and equipped a factory and announced that production would begin within within a few weeks. That new company disappeared without a trace, apparently before the lock ever saw production.

Information is scarce but it appears that Biddle left the firm at this time (1927-28). In 1929 Johnson was forced to step down due to health issues; another Elkhart business executive, former music instrument manufacturer Gus Buescher, became president of Johnson & Biddle Tool Co. We find nothing about the company after this date except for a mention that Buescher was president of the company between 1929 and 1932, and it seems likely that the company went under in '32 after having been in difficulty for some time.

Information Sources

• August 1919 Machinery, page 1196, has an illustrated article on a filing machine from the Johnson & Biddle Tool Co. of Elkhart, Indiana.
• October 1920 Machinery, page 197, has an illustrated article on a combination surface and plain grinder from this firm.
• 1920 Condensed Catalogues of Mechanical Equipment lists Johnson & Biddle Tool Co., 312-14 N. Main St., Elkhart, Ind., as providers of filing machines, jigs and fixtures, and special tools.
• 1922 Polk's Elkhart City Directory (Volume 1 and Volume 2) lists "Johnson & Biddle Tool Co., F E Biddle pres. E H Johnson sec and treas, 312-314 N Main". The principals' first names are provided in their individual listings: Frank E. Biddle and Eric H. Johnson. A separate list of incorporated companies says that Johnson & Biddle Tool Co. was incorporated October 1919 with capital $25,000.
• April 1926 American Builder. page 706, has a small illustrated ad from Paragon Keyless Lock Co., 613 Michigan St., Elkhart, Indiana, showing their keypad passage set.
• 1927-09-01 American Machinist.

  The Paragon Keyless Lock Co., recently incorporated in Indiana, is locating at Elkhart, Ind. The officers of the new company are F. E. Biddle president, and E. H. Johnson, secretary and treasurer. Mr. Biddle is inventor and patentee of a keyless door lock for residences. Machinery is being installed in he plant and tools and dies are being made for the manufacture. It is expected production will start about Sept. 15. Both men now operate a machine and tool plant in Elkhart under the firm name of Johnson & Biddle.

  This is the latest mention of Paragon Keyless Lock Co. that we have found.
• May 1930 issue of Iron Age (volume 125, page 1177).

  ERIC H. JOHNSON, proprietor of the Johnson & Biddle Tool Co., Elkhart, Ind., died March 28 as result of a heart ailment and a nervous breakdown. He was born March 3, 1886, in Nassjo, Sweden.

• The 1934 legal proceeding Torrington Co. v. Sidway-Topliff Co. / McClane et. al. v. Johnson & Biddle Tool Co. et. al. sheds a very small amount of light on the latter years of Johnson & Biddle. Sidway-Topliff was a Pennsylvania corporation making pedal cars which became insolvent in March 1930 and was formally ruled bankrupt in September 1931. Johnson & Biddle was one of a few firms that had mechanics' liens against Sidway-Topliff. M. W. McClane and the St. Joseph Valley Bank of Elkhart were appointed ancillary receivers for the Indiana-based assets of Sidway-Topliff. The Indiana creditors demanded that the Indiana assets be used to pay them in preference to any other creditors; the District Court entered such a decree and those other creditors, headlined by the Torrington Co., appealed. The result was a messy and acrimonious series of events that sheds no light on Johnson & Biddle. The Appeals Court reversed the decision of the lower court and remanded for further proceedings. Bottom line: it is unclear whether or not Johnson & Biddle was ultimately paid the money they were owed.
• A history of the Buescher Band Instrument Co. (PDF) mentions that Ferdinand August (Gus) Buescher resigned as VP and GM of that company; from 1929-32 he was president of Johnson & Biddle Tool Co.
• findagrave.com entries for Frank Edward Biddle (1888-1977) and Eric H. Johnson (1886-1930).