Company History
In 1951, Joseph Soffer founded a small manufacturing company in Pennsylvania, and named it Tool and Manufacturing Company. Small mining bits were the primary products made in the modest Bethel Park facility, but as the company grew, it expanded its line to include cold hand chisels which were ultilized in the local steel mills.
A natural progression advanced the line to include the various shank styles used in pneumatic air guns. By 1974, Tamco ventured into the field of railroad tools, and thirteen years later added paving breaker products to the growing list of available tools. In addition to the Bethel Park facility, Bedco in Walton Hills, Ohio, and Jonan in Oakmont, Pennsylvania were formed as arms of the Tamco family. Railroad track tools were primarily manufactured in the Oakmont facility.
By 1984, Mr. Soffer was ready to retire, and in November, Carl Citron, Howard Alex, and Raymond Dobrosky bought the entire company from him; three years later, Alan Citron became a stockholder. During the ensuing years, several changes were made. The Bedco plant was closed in 1985; the Bethel Park facility relocated to the current Monongahela, Pennsylvania site in June 1992; and the Jonan operation was integrated into the new Monongahela locale in November, 1994.
A major change occurred in February, 1996 when Tamco acquired Bicknell Manufacturing Company, a 103-year old corporation which was located in Rockland, Maine. This acquisition expanded Tamco's product line to include drills, stone tools, and an increased variety of drill steel and paving breaker steel.
Originally, this New England firm had been incorporated as the Livingston Manufacturing Company on April 4, 1893 and had four generations of the Bicknell family at its helm until Tamco's acquisition in February 1996.
Because of an inability to find a suitable site in Maine which would meet the State's approval, the Rockland facility closed its doors on September 30, 1998, and all equipment and inventory were re-located to the site in Monongahela. The resulting integration of both operations doubled Tamco's manufacturing resources and increased overall efficiency.
Tamco now manufactures a complete line of hand, pneumatic, and paving breaker steel, stone tools, drill steel, maintenance bars, railroad track tools, and carbide-tipped drills. Other products sold by Tamco include air hammers and repair accessories for them, and boom mount demolition bits.