H&L Tooth Company History since 1931: The Snaploc’s original concept was developed in early 1985, H&L received a United States patent in September 1986. It was designed to attach a digging tooth to an adapter. One of it’s first application was for Capital Trencher in the form of a 2A and 3C trencher bucket wheel version. H&L 2X and 3X number “3-SLP” Snaploc connection became the OEM offering for Capital trenching machines during the 1980s. The locking insert went out of production as a tooth-to-nose connection by 1990 and was obsoleted. In 1999 the “#3-SLP” Snaploc was reintroduced into the field as a large mining shroud key-to-clamp locking device for the Bucyrus 495 Whisler equipped shovels.