Our labors are eased this #WorkerWednesday by this satisfying and oddly hypnotic ca. 1945 film of an employee of the Lamson & Sessions Co. performing the delightfully named task of "rolling studs".
This video is part of Hagley Library's collection of Lamson & Sessions Company films (Accession 2018.223). The Lamson & Sessions Company was a top manufacturer of bolts, nuts and other fasteners. In 1866, the Mt. Carmel Bolt Company was formed by brothers Thomas H. (1827-1882) and Isaac P. Lamson (1832-1912) with Samuel W. Sessions (1824-1902) in Southington, Connecticut.
The company moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1869. During World War II, the company was one of the largest manufacturers of fasteners in the United States. In 1981, the company sold its industrial fastener division to Russell, Burdsall & Ward Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio. Lamson & Sessions Company survives today through two business segments: Carlon and Lamson Home Products.
The collection contains nineteen 16mm films dating from the 1940s to 1973. Many of the films are documents of employees working in Lamson & Sessions factories. You can view some of them online now in a Digital Collection featuring a curated selection of moving picture content from our Audiovisual Collections - just click here!