TINDECO
by
James A. Shaw
A favorite item in my cigarette packs and tinscollection is a gorgeous 1923 Pall Mall Christmas gift tin made by the Tin DecoratingCompany of Baltimore, or Tindeco for short. The outside red and gold lid pictures holly,while a group of Victorian men in a street scene decorates the inside. The originalcontents are two bright red cardboard boxes of 100 cigarettes each. A festive red ribbontied around each box completes the holiday mood. My tin is just one of four Pall MallChristmas designs that Tindeco made in the early 1920s for The American TobaccoCompany.
The Tindeco factory was located on Baltimoreswaterfront, and began making tins primarily for the American Tobacco Company beginningJune 1914. Its modern factory was the largest tin decorating plant in the world. The plantfloor area was just over 7 acres, housing 35 lithographic presses, plus flat bed presseswhich used engraved stones, shaping and stamping machines, and huge drying ovens. Tindecocould produce four million tins a day, including one million 10 cent tobacco tins. Besidesthe different tobacco items made, there were also candy boxes, cookie and cake tins,medicine tins and talcum powder cans.
Tindeco employed 1,000 to 1,400 men the first full yearof operation. By 1922, 3,000 workers were needed during busy seasons when the factoryoperated 24 hours a day. The Tindeco factory was self-sufficient. Everything needed tomake a tin except the raw materials, was within the factory confines. This included an artdepartment, and machinists to design the dies needed. Paints were ground and mixed onsite. The Tindeco machine shop was one of the finest in the United States. Many of theemployees, but especially the machinists, were highly skilled German and Polishimmigrants. Many of the machines used in the tin industry were invented in the Tindecomachine shop. By 1922 the product line had been expanded to include a variety of kitchenobjects, plus items from several famous illustrators. Harrison Fishers signedartwork was used on fruitcake tins, while Harrison Cady did a series of Peter Rabbitchildrens tins. Tindeco tins also included the famous Roly Polys and other gorgeoustins, which were often embossed and printed in seven or eight different colors.
Producing the beautiful tins that we collectors socovet today, was a dangerous business. Factory workers in the lithography department wereconsidered lucky if they had all their fingers. The 4 foot x 4 foot tin plates, whencoated with paint, were slippery and they had knife-sharp edges. There was a fullyequipped surgical room within the factory, along with a full-time nurse and a companydoctor for the men who werent careful enough. It was also hot in the lithographydepartment. The windows couldnt be opened when the presses were running because adraft would blur words on the wet paint. The ovens that baked on the color really heatedthe department up, making that area of the factory hot to work in.
Tindeco had a junk pile outside the plant that kids inthat Baltimore neighborhood loved. Little tin discs in all the colors of the rainbow weregathered up by the local boys. These discs were what was discarded after the holes werepunched into the different tin cans being made. After being pinched and pressed into dollfurniture, the small discs were then sold to the neighborhood girls for a penny each.
Tindeco was sold to the Owens-Illinois Glass Company in1935. The introduction of the metal beer can convinced the glass company management to buytwo tin manufacturers to protect itself. Now known as the Owens-Illinois Can Company,plant #31, the factory continued to produce tins using fine lithography. In October 1944Owens-Illinois sold the former Tindeco to the Continental Can Company of New York.Continental made Bayer Aspirin tins, Sucret boxes, Anacin and Excedrin tins, Sterno cans,beer trays and tobacco cans. During World War II a lot of work was done for the US Army,including olive drab oil cans, little ointment cans for burns, and machine gun clips.Continental closed the plant on July 9, 1965. Tins were now old fashioned; plastic was themodern way to package consumer products. The former factory on Baltimoresspectacular waterfront is now Tindeco Wharf, home to luxury rental apartments,restaurants, a health club, and office and retail space.
Ms. Kristin Helberg wrote a wonderful short history ofThe Tin Decorating Company of Baltimore in 1986 to celebrate the rehabilitation of the oldTindeco property. This small book has many factory pictures, and includes the memories offormer employees. For those of you who would like to see a scan of my Pall Mall Christmastin, plus the equally good looking 1925 Lucky Strike green Christmas flat 50, you willfind them here: