I have 4 floor scrapers that are identified as being made by the Hook Scraper Co. from Queens Village, New York. But apart from finding the name mentioned – I cannot find out any real information about this company.
To add to the intrigue – it seems Anders Skarsten ran an English company called Skarsten Manufacturing Co. in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England which produced an identical product. This company was started in 1934 after Anders Skarsten emigrated to Britain from Norway.
Skarsten Manufacturing Co. sold a UK patented hook scraper. I was not able to find a copy of this patent.
Hook Scraper Co. sold a US patented hook scraper that appeared similar to the Skarsten one. When I looked at the patent information, the patent was assigned to Alfred W. Abrahamsen & Anders Skarsten in 1928. This was before Skarsten had started his UK company.
It seems that this same pattern branding also appeared on scrapers marked as ‘Red Devil Tools’.
So my guess is that both Abrahamsen & Skarsten developed the idea for the hook scraper and patented it in the UK with Abrahamsen establishing the Hook Scraper Co. Then Skarsten moved to England and patented it there as part of his Skarsten Manufacturing Co. Maybe the 2 of them came from Norway – first to the USA and then later Skarsten went onto the UK.
The basic aspect of the hook scraper was a removable blade – which could initially be resharpened & then replaced when there was too much wear. It seems replacement blades were readily available into the 21st century – but now there is a slight difference between the blades from another brand and the original patented blades.
This is an advert from the Hook Scraper Co. for one variation of the scraper. You’ll see in my original photo at the top of this post, that I have one like this. Also I have an older one with an all wooden handle.
And here is a Skarsten Manufacturing Co. advert showing the other variety I have.
