In 1840 Franklin Roys and Samuel C. Wilcox bought out Jedediah North, who was making tinsmith tools and machines, and named the firm Roys & Wilcox. In 1870, this firm and the S. Stow Mfg. Co. of Plantsville, CT merged to form the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Co. (PEXTO)
Information Sources
- The Hardware Review, V.25, Sept 1919 pg. 53
- History of New Britain, by David N. Camp, 1889 pg. 290
- A 1978 article in the EAIA Chronicle sheds some light on an ongoing mysteries relating to the identify of "E. Wilcox" of Roys & Wilcox, and on the early history of the and other businesses that were predecessors to Pexto. The article, by Frank G. White, curator of mechanical arts at Old Sturbridge Village, identifies Wilcox as Edward Wilcox, and describes some of the remaining confusion around the role of Samuel C. Wilcox, and the overlapping histories of F. Roys & Co. and Roys & Wilcox.