Malco Products, SBC. got its start in 1950 when a young steel supply salesman, Mark W.Keymer, decided to manufacture and market a pipe crimper he had invented for use in installing the “new” sheet metal ductwork used with forced air heating systems. More tools soon followed, including: the first hand seamer to employ compound leverage; a time saving hand notcher that made a V-shaped cut in one motion; and a hand operated, snap lock punch to complete the basic sheet metal tool set. Metal duct fabrication could now be done easily at the job site and the tools were well received by contractor-installers. Mark Keymer’s manufacturing operations had to move from a garage to the more spacious basement of his Minneapolis home. Mr. Keymer relates that the origin of the Malco name came from combining his first name and the first name of an early associate named Al: Malco for “Mark and Al’s Company” (it was Al’s garage). The fledgling tool company’s humble move upward so to speak, from a garage to a basement, was the first of many moves and plant expansions. Over fifty years later, the legacy of innovative products that started “Malco” lives on. The early product line of crimpers, seamers, notchers and punches has since been joined by hundreds of other specialty tools, and Malco is still known for regularly introducing exciting new hand tool designs and modifications for the markets it serves.