McClary Mfg

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Finally getting around to uploading more content on McClary cast iron hollow ware.

McClary joined GSW in October of 1927, hence some surmised the McClary’s name came in after that since McClary was making cast for GSW itself. This is known now not to be completely true, stoves for example were fully marked McClary’s previous to 1927 according to an example 1922 advertisement. When they made the change, i’m not entirely sure. Advertisements seen in 1909 showed McClary Mfg Co referring to themselves as “McClary’s” but stove plates in the ad’s for example still show the name “McClary”. Go figure, maybe it took time to retool the molds to change over to “McClary’s”. Or maybe it’s a reference to one’s own – such as “Bob’s car”.

There were 2 catalogues for 1927 – one marked “McClary” on the cover – the other marked “McClary’s”. Use your imagination. Just posting evidence at this point.

What can be said for sure now is that somewhere between 1931 and 1936, McClary stopped making cast iron hollow ware under their trademark and started making it for General Steel Wares (GSW). This has been found out through annual reports online, each one shows what products were made under the different companies. Note SMP isn’t a part of the 1936 list – at some point they were shut down, and GSW assumed the crest logo. I suspect it all happened in 1931 or 1932 – evidence shows this.

1931: https://castironcanada.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/GSW1931.jpg
1936: https://castironcanada.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/GSW1936.jpg

The “MONARCH” line was trademarked in 1931 by General Steel Wares and included cast iron. The great depression of the late 20’s and 30’s hit many companies hard, either streamline or fail.

Thos (Thomas) Davidson was known to have joined GSW as it’s own entity – this isn’t correct. McClary Manufacturing bought Thos. Davidson in September 1927, a full month before the merger.

The 1914 McClary catalog hollow ware is as follows – the nice thing about McClary is that they had physical measurements that you can compare to.

The 1927 McClary catalog hollow ware, this is where the drip tops came in and note that cast is still marked as McClary. Seems this catalog came out just prior to the GSW merger.

Additional info.

The 1927 McClary catalog is interesting, it does not contain regular spiders (skillets), nor does it contain smaller sizes that are known to exist. Did they change at all from 1914 or previous? The number 8 drip top spider I have here does not follow the measurements listed – 10″ X 9 1/4″. My number 8 does however match the 1914 catalog of 9 1/2 inch diameter inner rim.

Waffle irons made by McClary are a bit weird but are a good example. I have a fully marked “McClary” waffle iron that shows up in the 1914 catalog – very clear crisp markings of X275, X276, X277 and is pictured on the left in the below catalog. Have another identical one that is marked McClary, has the markings of X275, X276, X277 but it’s not as crisp. A third is an identical pattern, unmarked with the McClary name but also has markings of X275, X276, X277 – but it’s not the greatest quality casting. I suspect these made in different years, as one guy put it – they wore out the patterns and tried to keep them going. The iron also looks different – the paddle on the left matches the color and quality of the old Griswold American waffle irons, and the color changes with the other two – clear indication that different metal was used in the different years.

In this gallery: https://castironcanada.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=66

To further the idea that patterns were used, doctored and reused til they probably wore out… Was sent some pictures of a beautiful McClary dutch oven – it doesn’t appear in the 1914 catalog I have, it is gate marked under the lid and on the bottom of the pot – and is “clearly marked” X920. This dutch oven is old.

https://castironcanada.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/IMG_1235.JPG
https://castironcanada.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/FullSizeRender.jpg
https://castironcanada.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/IMG_1245.JPG

The pots i have are not so clearly marked, indicates a later date of manufacture.

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McClary Mfg