Lionel B. Kavanaugh (1889-1991) and Robert Stowell founded Standard Tool in Leominster, Massachusetts, in 1911. The company began be manufacturing tools and machines for making horn combs but quickly adapted to the needs of the new plastics industry. The company made molds and later presses for injection molding and earned the nickname "the Tiffany of the mold industry." Standard developed some of the first injection molds in the United States.

According the Kavanaugh (1968), "In the early days we acted as the research lab between plastics manusfacturer and processor. Pressure and heat were problems in working with cellulose nitrate. Builders made factory roofs lightweight and never attached them too securely!" Standard Tool opened a 50,000 square foot factory in 1955.

Standard Tool introduced the Shaw process of beryllium copper molds from England. The quality fo Standard molds allwoed the company to retain manufacturing clients for decades. In 1968 L.B. Kavanaugh estimated that 60% of company business came from companies seved for fifty years. Demand for molds changed over the years. In company developed alongsdie the automotive, computer and furniture industries.

See:

Kavanagh, L. B. "The Standard Mold of Fortune," Industry, vol 33:10, 18, 78

Kean, Sumner. Mold of fortune: Lionel B. Kavanagh and the first half century of plastics. (Leominster, Mass.: Priv. print., Standard Tool Co., 1959)