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Hiya!
I am a brand new member–grew up playing with my older brothers’ type 2 erector and AF trains in the 70’s.
Seven years ago I gave restored 7 1/2 Sets to my ex’s grand kids and other children in my life. I stripped/repainted the lead paint and replaced the motor cords and had them configured as if they came from Connecticut in 1956. I bought them from ebay from ‘svhoneybee’ for decent prices and they were already complete sets. One of my honorary ‘grand kids’ is studying mechanical engineering…so AC scored another victory ( I could not pry my oldest daughters hands away from Lego who now has a degree in Biomedical engineering)
Any rate, my GF loves the hunt for antiques and has the knack of finding stuff. We found a surplus WW1 ‘Pershing’ box at a local flea market with a Gilbert Tool Box label that locks with a skeleton key. We have found advertising references to these ‘Pershing boxes’ and assumed Gilbert bought them surplus and used them for tool kits. We found a second Gilbert tool box with a key and noticed that the second box was surplus but not quite the same at the ‘Pershing box.’ The ‘Pershing Box’ was advertised as tool boxes used by WW1 Aircraft Mechanics. Being a licensed aircraft mechanic, the box is indeed big enough to hold tools needed to do flight line maintenance for fabric-covered airplanes.
We looked closely and it appeared that Gilbert added the lock to the boxes for the set. The same key opens both locks even though neither box and both locks are not the same. The locks were added with hand tools, while the box themselves were machine-made.
Both boxes feature machine-cut dovetails with molded trim pieces. I cannot really find decent info on what tools they held specifically so I can try to bring them back. It is my impression that they were sold for older kids and adult usage and contained ‘real’ carpenter tools.
I live right next to the AF Museum and have studied the photographs to catch a glimpse of a ‘Pershing’ tool box to no avail.
If anyone has any larger post WW1 Gilbert Tool boxes with original tools I would love to know what tools they had and if they are marked ‘gilbert’ and such.
THere is a reference in the Greenberg book to these cases, which Gilbert did acquire as war surplus and used in the early 1920s to house both tool chests and the 1924 No. 10 Erector. Whether the lock you mention was a Gilbert addition or not is an open question.
As to tool contents, I am not aware of any well developed inventories for the various sets. It is not unusual to find these sets with only a few of the tools, and with tools not in the sets mixed in. After all, they were tools and over the years were used as such and mixed in with other household tools, etc. I have an early 1920s tool chest which does contain a decent number of tools that appear original, but I do not recall that any were marked as Gilbert.I would reach out to Stephen Hopkins. He is a member who has quite a tool set collection. He might me able to help you.
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