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Vito is a brand name of Leblanc, started in 1951.
Actually, the trademark for Vito cites 7/23/1958 as the first use in commerce. The place where Vito saxes were originally made is Nogales Arizona at the Best Manufacturing Co under contract. In 1959 Best Mfg. Co went bankrupt closing late that year. Conn bought the plant reopening it in January 1960. Conn ran the plant through 1962 making its own model 50M alongside the Vito model. This is all reported in the various Arizona newspapers from the time period and included in the local business directories.
In 1978 Conn again produced Vito branded saxes In Nogales, Arizona after its return in the late 1960's first under the Artley subsidiary. Then in 1971 with the opening of the first USA manufacturing plant in Nogales Mexico Conn began making saxes. The Mexico sax operation became a parts making only facility in 1978 with instrument manufacturing moving to Nogales, Arizona. This is all reported in the various Arizona newspapers, law suites between LeBlanc/Vito and Conn, and demonstrated in a registry of saxophones of the time period.
Vito is a brand name for Leblanc USA, now part of Conn-Selmer USA. The Vito name was used for student through professional (Yanagisawa baritone saxophone) instruments. Leblanc USA was formed in 1946 by Vito Pascucci, and the French woodwind manufacturer, G. Leblanc Cie of France. To meet high demand, Leblanc USA started to manufacture clarinets in the US from plastic bodies and French keys. Eventually all of the parts were made in the US. These student clarinets were named "Vito".
Many, if not all, Vito flutes were "stencil" instruments manufactured in Japan by Yamaha. They were roughly the equivalent of a Yamaha YFL-200 series student instrument.
Some manufacturers of Vito instruments:
Vito アルトサックス モデル7131 日本製 刻印シリアル番号。
これらのシリアル番号は、先頭のゼロを無視します。