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Smiths Systems Co, Birmingham

Morturn

Morturn

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have been given for restoration an interesting piece of office furniture made by Smiths Systems Co Birmingham. As a Birmingham company I am also quite interested in it background, who Smiths Systems Co were, what else did they make and are they still trading.

There are already quite a few Smiths Furniture companies with a web search, as you can imagine so it would be nice to find out more about this items origin.

File-Cabinet-1.jpgFile-Cabinet-2.jpg
 
Pedrocut said:
Cabinet Makers, SS Co Thorpe St used to Filing and Card Index work (November 1915)
Click to expand...
Yes, looks like an index card file system designed as can be seen in Morts photos to be stackable/modular. I am not a preservationist, but I think a good cleaning and possible repair is in order rather than a full restoration, that way much of the patina will be preserved.
 
Here it is all assembled.
It is certainly a utility piece, functional and top quality materials. All the draw fronts and rails are quarter saw oak. As you rightly point out Richard, cleaning and repair is in order of the day.

Just seen a label inside, a price tag from an antique dealer in Popular Road Kings Heath. £270 for the item. There is also a sicker that looks like Central TVFile-Caninet.jpgFile-Caninet-5.jpg
 
Yes. Looks like it. Wonder if it was used an indexing system for films/programmes ?
 

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Morturn said:
Here it is all assembled.
It is certainly a utility piece, functional and top quality materials. All the draw fronts and rails are quarter saw oak. As you rightly point out Richard, cleaning and repair is in order of the day.

Just seen a label inside, a price tag from an antique dealer in Popular Road Kings Heath. £270 for the item. There is also a sicker that looks like Central TVView attachment 198764View attachment 198765
Click to expand...
Very nice piece! Set to accommodate two sizes of reference cards and 8 1/2” X 11” letter files, one incoming the other outgoing.
Not sure in the UK but in the US the £270 would be the starting price (which I think is very good), most likely sell for £225 to 250.

PS: nice shop btw.
 
Morturn said:
I watched my dad waste his retirement; he did not want to spend any money. When I retired, I got a dog and built a forever workshop. Never had a dull day since retiring.

Its great for this type of work.
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Very well done! Unfortunately I worked too long (which I loved) and now have some physical limitations, not complaining.
Make sure you have a first aid box close at hand…..
 
So, after a busy couple of week, I managed to pop into the workshop today and take a look at our filing cabinet. The first job I wanted to deal with is some of the draws are not closing or fitting correctly. Looking at the general wear from use, it seems that this was past of a bigger system of storage that been added to over time. It also clear that when in use some of the draws have been mixed up. You can tell quite a lot about furniture by the draws.
You can see that 7 of the draws are older and have hand cut dovetails, the other 9 are later with machine cut dovetails and a routed round over on the draw fronts
This one has 16 draws on the two top units with only 11 fitting reasonably well. Some draws are numbered, some have several numbers and other none, so it a question of trial and error. I managed to get all but five to fit well, the others I had to adjust by reducing the draw runner width with a hand plane. Job done.
Next ill take a hammer to the legs….481337836_10163052197949155_3621607769232117307_n.jpg481779606_10163052198104155_1035243868794294959_n.jpg
 
Morturn said:
So, after a busy couple of week, I managed to pop into the workshop today and take a look at our filing cabinet. The first job I wanted to deal with is some of the draws are not closing or fitting correctly. Looking at the general wear from use, it seems that this was past of a bigger system of storage that been added to over time. It also clear that when in use some of the draws have been mixed up. You can tell quite a lot about furniture by the draws.
You can see that 7 of the draws are older and have hand cut dovetails, the other 9 are later with machine cut dovetails and a routed round over on the draw fronts
This one has 16 draws on the two top units with only 11 fitting reasonably well. Some draws are numbered, some have several numbers and other none, so it a question of trial and error. I managed to get all but five to fit well, the others I had to adjust by reducing the draw runner width with a hand plane. Job done.
Next ill take a hammer to the legs….View attachment 199903View attachment 199904
Click to expand...
That's my fav block plane with adjustable throat
judging by the fine shavings you honed iit well
 
Morturn said:
So, after a busy couple of week, I managed to pop into the workshop today and take a look at our filing cabinet. The first job I wanted to deal with is some of the draws are not closing or fitting correctly. Looking at the general wear from use, it seems that this was past of a bigger system of storage that been added to over time. It also clear that when in use some of the draws have been mixed up. You can tell quite a lot about furniture by the draws.
You can see that 7 of the draws are older and have hand cut dovetails, the other 9 are later with machine cut dovetails and a routed round over on the draw fronts
This one has 16 draws on the two top units with only 11 fitting reasonably well. Some draws are numbered, some have several numbers and other none, so it a question of trial and error. I managed to get all but five to fit well, the others I had to adjust by reducing the draw runner width with a hand plane. Job done.
Next ill take a hammer to the legs….View attachment 199903View attachment 199904
Click to expand...
Great analysis work I declare!
 
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