The origin of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Co. dates back to 1797. In that year Seth Peck, of Southington, Conn., commenced the manufacture of Tinsmiths' Machines, to take the place of hand tools exclusively used by tinsmiths before that date. By gradual growth the following firms have succeeded to that business: Seth Peck & Co., O. & X. Peck, Peck, Smith & Co. and the Peck-Smith Mfg. Co.
Up to this time the sole manufacture was tinsmiths' tools and machines. By 1870 the S. Stow Mfg. Co. of Plantsville, and the Roys & Wilcox Co. of East Berlin were competitors in that business. In December 1870, these three firms united and formed a joint stock company under the name of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Co. In 1880 the firm was incorporated by special act of the General Assembly with an authorized capital of one and a half million dollars. Within a year that amount of capital was all paid in and Wilcox, Treadway & Co., of Cleveland, C, was absorbed by the firm.
The company now has factories in Southington, Plantsville and East Berlin, Conn., covering a floor space of about two hundred and sixty thousand square feet. and factories in Cleveland, O., covering about eighty-nine thousand feet more, making in all about seven and a half square acres.
Tinsmiths' tools and machines still constitute a prominent portion of the company's product, but a varied line has been gradually added. This now embraces as its principal items, carpenters, machinists and blacksmiths tools, housekeeping implements such as meat and food cutters, coffee mills and scale beams and a varied assortment of builders' hardware.
In 1950, the company was bought out by Billings & Spencer. The PEXTO logo is now used by RW Acquisition, L.L.C. which also owns Roper Whitney.
Serial Numbers
The following serial number information is from the 1994 Serial Number Book, 11th Edition (a publication of the Machinery Dealers National Association), for Roper-Whitney / Pexto / Peck, Stow & Wilcox:
The last three or four digits of serial number indicate month and year of manufacture. Example: 412-4-591 built May 1991; 278-1-1192 built November 1992.
| Year |
First S/N |
| 1950 | J-6100 |
| 1951 | J-9999 |
| 1952 | K-4600 |
| 1953 | K-9999 |
| 1954 | L-4000 |
| 1955 | L-9000 |
| 1956 | M-4500 |
| 1957 | P-238 |
Information Sources