Skillet with J U Trademark

[Roy G. Meadows]

We have  a #8 cast iron skillet with a raised J U trademark on the bottom. The J U is in the 6 o'clock position and the skillet has a heat ring. The 8 on the handle is raised also. Can anyone tell me the manufacturer or foundry that made this skillet? The casting is of very high quality.
                                                                       Roy Meadows

[Steve_Stephens]

Roy, quite a lot of skillets have two larger raised letters on the bottom.  I doubt those letters are a trademark or any indication of the foundry who made the pan but I don't know what significance the letters have.  Can you post a photo?

Steve

[Roy G. Meadows]

J U Skillet Bottom

[Roy G. Meadows]

J U Skillet top

[Steve_Stephens]

Birmingham Stove and Range??  Just a thought after reading reply #13 here-
http://www.griswoldandwagner.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1156451658

Here is what that post says:

Received another email today, that explains the pattern numbers (codes on BS&R Cast Iron).  
  
"Most of the pieces have the size code…i.e. at 8B skillet for a 10-1/4” skillet.  7S for a corncob pan.  It’s not universally the case.  Older pieces tended to have larger numbers as these were hand cast and would consist of the item number and a patter number (i.e. 7S Y is on a very old cornstick pan I have), and [size=14]the molders were on piece work so larger numbers enabled the tally person to quickly identify who made what.  By the mid 60s when much of the work was converted over to automated molding machines the i.d. marks tended to become more “machine” looking and smaller. [/size]
 
 Generally the more popular an item was the more patterns existed for it and therefore it would be more likely to be numbered (8B-1 and 8B-2 or 8B-a and  8B-c).  Whereas a less popular item, say and aebleskeiver pan, might have only one pattern so there was no real need to number it."

Could it be that those two letters are the molder's initials?  There were some posts here last year about the letters being initials of the buyer and that you could order pans made with your initials.  I never thought that sounded too plausable but molder's marks might be the thing.  I've seen a lot of this style of skillet Roy with the large letters (different letters) and the same pan features including the raised size number on the handle.

Steve

[Sandy Glenn]

BS&R, really?  Did their cookware have outside heat rings?  Weren't their skillet handles V-shaped on the underside?  Not doubting, just trying to learn.  Sandy

[Steve_Stephens]

I don't know if it's BS&R or not Sandy.  Just throwing it out there for discussion.  I don't even know how far back BS&R goes but if they go back far enough their pans in the early days would have been different in many ways.

Steve

[Mark Ritter]

I also own two of these skillets identical to yours but mine are marked PT and SN on the bottom. I don't think I have ever seen two of them marked alike on the bottom. Maker is unknown but like you said they are very well cast.

[Dwayne Henson]

I doubt this is BS&R. BS&R got their start around 1910 when they bought a defunct foundrie's patterns of stoves and hollow ware. From all the info I've gathered the handles have always had the deep V shape, I will double check this however. Many foundries used molder's marks, many paid by the piece.

During FDR's time in office, "his people" tried to force a minimum wage on the foundries. According to S. Jones the owners of the foundries fought this. They were concerned that there would be no incentive to work hard. No matter how much or how little you did, the pay was the same. They were finally able to keep the piece work scale. So others might have used the molders marks to pay their workers, not just BS&R.

The question I plan on asking is, did the patterns have a mark on them already, and the molders "check" them out for the day, or did each molder have their own distinct mark that only they used, possibly for their entire career?

[Camp_Cook]

Howdy!
Today I purchased a skillet that look allot like yours, but with a very small #4 where the JU is on yours. At the same time I bought an old WAGNER skillet. Both the skillets I got today have similar handles. Have a look. The WAGNER is on the right.
Phillip Allen