Vintage Exact 4" Machinist Level New old stock Hyde Group USA NJ PA history

Description

Here is a New old stock Exact 4 inch machinist level.  Vintage, but very useable, or a great collectible for those who know and cherish the Exact Level and Tool Manufacturing story.
Unsure of date of manufacture but research points to somewhere in the 1980’s . The Exact Level and Tool Manufacturing Company was founded by Peter Vaida in 1930’s in High Bridge , New Jersey, producing a variety of tools . Sometime in the 70’s , Vaida opened another plant in Mann’s Choice PA to manufacture levels. Around 1983, The Hyde Group purchased at least the level product line
and they moved the facility to Alum Bank , PA. In the early 90’s, the Hyde Group sold the product line and the Alum Bank plant to Starrett which continued to produce the Exact Line of levels until sometime in the mid 2000’s .
So following that history, and noting the Hyde Group logo within the markings , it seems reasonable that these were manufactured mid the late 80’s .
It’s interesting to look at the Starrett line of machinist levels as the Exact influence is very pronounced in some of the older product lines.