Acme Steel, Chicago Coke Plant
I have accrued a number of safety manuals in my archeology. While the content is similar, they span a variety of time periods and formats: I found this one very early on during my visits. I didn’t really review it at the time, I was so excited to find it. But the contents were boilerplate […]
A few months ago I found a really cool print ad on ebay. Well what do you know – I found another one from the same series! While the first was undated, this one was attributed to Time Magazine, November 1963. Every foot of flat rolled steel you order from Acme Steel comes out precisely […]
A variety of real gold tie pins and other items can be found as they were given to employees for milestones in their careers. It harkens back to another era when large companies cared for their employees and hoped they would stay for the long run. These often sell for heightened values based on the […]
Some time ago, I found a sticker in the ground floor of the main office. I did some research on that logo and was surprised at how many examples I found. Well on my last visit I found another – in the same place! I can’t believe I spotted either of them on the floor […]
In the days before disposable lighters – and when everybody out there was smoking – matchbooks were a great promo item. Both Acme and Interlake took advantage of this and got their name into the marketplace for many years!
The BP office is the last area of the plant where documents can still be found. But so many are waterlogged and it seems like the majority are of little interest anyways. But somewhere around my 50th visit (recently) I poked around a bit and I found something interesting. A speech from the desk of […]
Bill Fox worked in the electrical department at the coke plant for years – I was lucky enough to be introduced to him by Steve Buckner. Bill – thanks so much for reaching out! I am a friend of Steve Buckner’s – we were coworkers for 26 years at the coke plant. How long were […]
Using more material from the lumber I took for my thermometer stand, I wanted to build a display for the golf balls you can see above, which I purchased on ebay for next to nothing. I had seen the Interlake golf ball for sometime and was tempted, but passed. Once I saw the Acme ball, […]
During an investigation of the collapsed electrical shop, I located this beautiful specimen. It is still in it’s original box and seemingly never opened after 20 years in a natural landfill, and some years even older than that. It not only works but seems quite accurate when compared to another thermometer. It would not be […]
The mystery of TQI/TQIP began with a brief mention in the training video I found sometime ago. After that, I found a number of relics (including duplicates), all of which needed to be restored, and with each I found another small piece of the puzzle. But here, I have found the Rosetta Stone. You can […]