Hamilton-Skotch Corporation
| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1919 |
| Headquarters | Hamilton, Ohio |
Key people | Louis Piker, Phillip Piker, J. Schlichter, Petra Cabot |
| Products | Metal boxes (tool boxes, tackle boxes, filing boxes, etcetera), coolers, kitchen tools. |
The Hamilton-Skotch Corporation was a manufacturing company originally headquartered in Hamilton, Ohio. They are probably most famous for the Skotch Kooler brand of tartan decorated coolers that they popularized in the 1950s.
History
Hamilton-Skotch was originally founded as the Hamilton Metal Products Company in 1919 in Hamilton, Ohio. It was formed by Louis Piker, J. Schlichter and Phillip Piker when they raised $30,000 in capital and merged their businesses; the Hamilton Sheet Metal Company and the Schlichter Manufacturing Company.[1] Hamilton Sheet Metal produced mail boxes and other sheet metal based goods while Schlichter Manufacturing was primary known for their Climax brand food graters.[2] After the merger use of the Climax brand name expanded to their sheet metal products, like tackle boxes and filing boxes. By the 1950s they were also selling metal signage and plaques.[3]
Skotch Koolers
Their most famous product was the Skotch Kooler. The designed originated from a minnow bucket, a bucket used by fisherman to store living fish they have caught.[4] The company was in debt and needed to expand its product line and a minnow bucket seemed like a sensible choice, as they were already an established maker of tackle boxes. The product failed to sell well due to existing competition so the bucket was used as a basis for a cooler instead. While the product was an excellent cooler its unique bucket shape was unfamiliar to consumers used to seeing rectangular coolers and the original styling was nothing special. So, in 1951 the company hired Petra Cabot to restyle the cooler. The new design featured a distinctive red, black, and yellow tartan decoration, leather accents, and Cobat’s signature around the edge. Its fashionable design and solid cooling ability made it desirable but its original price of $49.95 ($455 adjusted for inflation to 2016 dollars) limited sales. The design was simplified soon after and it was repriced at $7.95. At that price sales more than doubled. It became so recognizable that the company eventually rebranded itself the Hamilton-Skotch Corporation and began using the Skotch name on many of its other products.
Fate
The Hamilton-Skotch Corporation failed to weather the industrial transition that swept the Unites States in the middle of the 20th century. By 1970 it had closed its Hamilton plant and moved what remained of its production to its existing facility in Ottawa, Kansas. By the late 70’s its trademarks had lapsed and all of its products had disappeared from the market. The ultimate fate of the company is unknown.
References
- ^ Sheet Metal (February 1919). "Sheet Metal, Volume 10, Issue 1". Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ^ Hardware World (July 1917). "Sheet Metal, Volume 12, Issue 7". Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ^ Hamilton Metal Products Corporation (1950). "Hamilton metal letters and plaques". Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ^ Kiplinger's Personal Finance (August 1953). "How Two young Men Saved an Ailing Business". Retrieved March 20, 2016.