Channellock is an American company that produces

hand tools A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and kni ...

. It is best known for its

pliers Pliers are a hand tool used to hold objects firmly, possibly developed from tongs used to handle hot metal in Bronze Age Europe. They are also useful for bending and physically compressing a wide range of materials. Generally, pliers consist ...

—the company manufactures more than 140 types of pliers—particularly its

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

style of

tongue-and-groove Tongue and groove is a method of fitting similar objects together, edge to edge, used mainly with wood, in flooring, parquetry, panelling, and similar constructions. Tongue and groove joints allow two flat pieces to be joined strongly together t ...

, slip-joint pliers. Its pliers have distinctive sky-blue handle grips; the company has been using the same trademarked shade of blue since 1956. It also produces cutting pliers, linemen's pliers,

long nose pliers Needle-nose pliers, also known as long-nose pliers and snipe-nose pliers, are both cutting and holding pliers used by artisans, jewellery designers, electricians, network engineers and other tradesmen to bend, re-position and snip wire. Their names ...

adjustable wrenches An adjustable spanner (UK and most other English-speaking countries) or adjustable wrench (US and Canada) is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head (nut, bolt ...

screwdrivers A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...

nutdrivers A nut driver is a tool for tightening nuts and bolts. It essentially consists of a socket attached to a shaft and cylindrical handle and is similar in appearance and use to a screwdriver. They generally have a hollow shaft to accommodate a shan ...

and special-purpose pliers, as well as multi-function tools for the fire service and other first responders. According to the company, , all of its pliers were manufactured at one of its two facilities in

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

. However, not all products sold by the company are produced in the United States; products such as screwdrivers and ratchet wrenches are produced in Canada, Taiwan, or China.

History

The company was founded in 1886 when George B. DeArment, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

from Evansburg, Pennsylvania (present day

Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania Conneaut Lake is a borough in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, located at the southern end of the lake of the same name. The population was 626 at the 2020 census, down from 653 at the 2010 census. History The town was founded in 1799 as "Evansbu ...

), began hand-forging farrier's tools and selling them from town to town out of the back of a wagon. He would spend the Winter forging tools, load up his wagon in the Spring when roads became passable, and set out selling his tools. When he ran out of tools, he would sell the wagon and buy a train ticket home to Evansburg. The business eventually became known as the Champion Bolt and Clipper Company. In 1904, the company moved to a facility in

, and added nippers, pinchers and open-end wrenches to its product line. George B. DeArment’s two sons, Almon W. and J. Howard DeArment, became partners in the company in 1911 and expanded the product line again to include hammers. In 1923, the company moved again to a facility at its current location in Meadville. Four years later, the name of the company was changed to the Champion–DeArment Tool Company. In 1933, Chief Engineer Howard Manning developed the tongue-and-groove, slip-joint pliers for which the company is known. In 1934, a patent for this design was granted, and in 1949, a trademark for the name "Channellock" was granted, with a first-use date of May 1, 1932. From this point to the 1960s, the company began to focus more on the fast-growing pliers side of its business, developing improvements to the original design. The word "Channellock" eventually became so synonymous with their product that the company changed its name to Channellock, Inc. in 1963 to capitalize on the popularity of its product.

Today

Channellock is managed by the fourth and fifth generations of the DeArment family with William S. DeArment serving as CEO & Chairman of the Board, Jon S. DeArment serving as President & COO, and Ryan DeArment serving as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The company is based out of two facilities, equalling a total of , in Meadville. , the company claimed to be the largest employer in

Crawford County, Pennsylvania Crawford County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83,938. Its county seat is Meadville. The county was created on March 12, 1800, from part of Allegheny County and named for Colonel Wi ...

, with over 500 employees. The company has more than 4,000 U.S. wholesale and retail customers and ships to customers in 45 countries.

Gallery

Image:440Tongue+and+GroovePliers.JPG, A pair of Channellock

tongue-and-groove pliers Tongue-and-groove pliers are a type of slip-joint pliers. They are also known as: * adjustable pliers, * Channellocks ( i.e., Channellock brand pliers), * water pump pliers, * groove-joint pliers, * arc-joint pliers, * Multi-Grips, * tap or pipe ...

, from which the company takes its name. Image:Channellock Nutbuster pliers.jpg, "Nutbuster" variant with parrot-nose for round surfaces and nuts. Image:Channellock GripLock pliers.jpg, "GripLock" variant with V-shaped jaws for gripping round stock. Image:Channellock oil filter pliers.jpg,

Oil filter An oil filter is a filter designed to remove contaminants from engine oil, transmission oil, lubricating oil, or hydraulic oil. Their chief use is in internal-combustion engines for motor vehicles (both on- and off-road ), powered aircraft, r ...

PVC pipe Plastic pipe is a tubular section, or hollow cylinder, made of plastic. It is usually, but not necessarily, of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow—liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of sm ...

pliers. Image:Channellock adjustable wrench.jpg, A wide-mouth adjustable wrench. Image:Channellock screwdrivers.jpg, Phillips and slotted screwdrivers. Image:Channellock 6-in-1 screwdriver.jpg, A 6-in-1 screwdriver. Image:Channellock Antique Needlenose Pliers.jpg, Antique Channellock

needle-nose pliers Needle-nose pliers, also known as long-nose pliers and snipe-nose pliers, are both cutting and holding pliers used by artisans, jewellery designers, electricians, network engineers and other tradesmen to bend, re-position and snip wire. Their name ...

with handle detail, 1930s.

References

External links

*
Alloy Artifacts: "Champion DeArment Tool Company"
{{Authority control Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania Goods manufactured in the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1886 1886 establishments in Pennsylvania