early industrial furniture salvaged from a recently shuttered chicago area factory

between residential salvages we digressed somewhat by spending two days in a recently shuttered chicago area factory, where most of the industrial equipment and/or furniture no longer in use (i.e., lying dormant) dates to 1915-23. the great majority of the factory lockers, stools and miscellaneous machinery was relegated to a section of this largely abandoned sprawling complex that likely had no been used since after the second word war.

the defunct business once housed in the chicago area factory was believed to be a prominent fabricator of power transmission drives, pulleys, couplings and gray iron castings, beginning around 1913 as the approximate date of establishment.

nearly all of the machinist stools were fabricated by the angle steel company of plainwell, mich. the rigid, riveted joint angled steel bases retained the original baked black enameled finish. the oak and birch wood circular seats were nicely worn and securely attached to the bases. multiples were salvaged and are currently being refinished.

there was an variety of lockers found throughout the lunchroom and lavatories, with most of the cold-rolled steel upright units manufactured by the chicago-based durand steel locker company. other odds and ends that captured our interest were recovered that included, but not limited to, machinist tool chests, insulators, several heavy duty oversized cast iron hooks, etc. slowly but surely, the recovered industrial artifacts are being refinished, photographed and added to the website. the gallery below provides a sampling items that are now (or shortly will be) available for sale in the urban remains virtual inventory catalog.