of the readers in June, and their answers/ opinions would be printed in July or August along with a picture of the respondent. Most of these were established locksmiths who were long-standing business owners. An example of some of the questions asked gives you an idea of what they were concerned about. “Do you charge more to duplicate nickel silver blanks than brass blanks?” Most didn’t because it was too con- fusing to have two prices. Another was, “Do you feel ‘chain store operators’ are taking key cutting business away from you?” Most did, but others thought the “operators’ ” poor work would bring customers to them. There were numerous owner-spotlight articles, in which the authors wrote about the shop owner, his experience, business practices and the history of his shop. In the ’40s, most of these guys had been in business 30-plus years already. Many of them had backgrounds in machine and metal work- ing trades before becoming locksmiths. They considered this experience to be essential. What’s interesting about these articles is that few of these shops were exclusively locksmiths. Most shops also sharpened saws and blades, and repaired lawnmowers. A lot of those folks reported that the income from sharpening and locksmithing was split about 50/50 for each phase of the business. Other shops not only offered sharpen- ing and lawn mower repairs, but also gun- smithing, small appliance repair, cutting and installing home and auto glass, small engine repair, and safe sales and servicing. At least one shop I read about also offered repairs on fishing reels. When you consider the background and experience of these people and that most of them made it through the Great Depression, it’s not surprising to read the trade tricks they sent in. These guys were explaining the making of tools to do certain tasks easier. They were experts at repairing and reusing things in new and novel ways. Aside from tricks for ’49 Desotos and Mercuries, most WWW.ALOA.ORG of these tips are still useful to us today. The successful locksmith of the era emerg- es as an extremely competent jack of all trades who happened to be a master of all of them. He probably came into the business from another trade. He was likely to have been an apprentice, possibly for his father, or was mentored by someone he worked for. He had the mechanical ability to turn ideas into inventions. He did excellent work with- out a lot of the power tools we have today. A Little History I found some information about J. Chesler and Sons on the Internet, though not as much as I would’ve liked. By cross-checking one source with another, I was able to come with a fairly accurate history. I also found some public records and a number of niſty photo Jacob Chesler was born around 1 Belarus, Russia, and died in Brookly 1932 at the age of 65. He and his wif had three sons and two daughters: Rueben, Abraham, Bertha and Ell emigrated from Russia to the Unit as a family in 1906. The 1910 censu job as a factory driver. The comp founded between 1910 and 1920. Figure 1 is a photo of Jacob Che in life. He appears well-to-do, judgin clothes he’s wearing. I’m assuming b must have been pretty good. The “an part of the company name included his three sons; they and his daughter Bertha’s husband, Samuel Kalm, were officers of the company. It appears that the company started out producing glass and mirrors, and continued to do so aſter they began producing build- ers’ hardware. As late as 1939, they had an issue with the National Labor Relations Board over anti-union activities against the “Novelty Mirror Workers” union. Figure 2 is an example, from their 1937 catalog, of glass push plates. In 1925 they moved to a factory at 41 Varick Avenue in the Williamsburg sec- tion of Brooklyn (Figure 3). I don’t know Figure 2. J. Chesler and Sons started out producing glass and mirrors and contin- ued to do so after they began producing builders’ hardware. Figure 1. Jacob Chesler (shown here) and his family immigrated to the United States in 1906. Image courtesy of Geni. Figure 3. In 1925, the company moved to a factory at 41 Varick Avenue in the Wil- liamsburg section of Brooklyn. The photo was taken in 1937. NOVEMBER 2014 KEYNOTES 41
