Vulcan tools

[fatfillup]

Been on the forum a couple of months now and don't recall seeing any mention of vulcan tools. In the mid 70's I worked in a gas station and the vulcan truck stopped by every week. I also got some vulcan wrenches in a box I bought and the quality looks great. Just wanted to get some opinions. I assume vulcan was a national player but perhaps they were regional and thus not well known.

Got smart and did a search on this forum on vulcan and not a lot came up so I'm wondering how many of you guys have vulcan tools and if you see much available in your favorite flea markets. Also realized my tool boxes are vulcan (bottom, middle, top). Here are some pics of may overloaded and filthy vulcan boxes. This will change soon, you guys have shown me the error of my ways.

 

[speed bump]

I remember Krusty the Klown talking about Vulcan tools. I don't think they were ever in this region because I have never actually seen any.

 

[35mastr]

I have never seen these myself either.

 

[Diesel-Mech]

I have never seen them either but I would like to hear more about the history of them, like who made them and who were the absorbed by etc?

 

[MAD]

I have one Vulcan wrench. It is an old style ratcheting box wrench like the ones made by Kastar. I don't know anything about the company. The dude I bought the wrench from looked like this though:

 

[krusty the clown]

did i hear my name?





i ran against a vulcan truck when i was a dealer. i have a 1962 catalog if there is anything in particular you want to look up.

 

[Paladin]

Weren't they affiliated with Williams? I remember seeing a Williams S-52 on Ebay once that was badged "Vulcan".

 

[krusty the clown]

Weren't they affiliated with Williams? I remember seeing a Williams S-52 on Ebay once that was badged "Vulcan".

williams was the manufacturer of vulcans hand tools. IIRC they eventually bought the company.

 

[wyndycity]

Here's the one and only Vulcan tool I've ever come across. I bought it for $2 off an old guy selling his tools on his lawn last summer.

It was the only Vulcan tool he was selling so they are indeed a rare sight I suppose.

View media item 393

 

[goodfellow]

I have a few -- mostly sockets and drive accessories, also some test equipment that sold under their name. I liked Vulcan, their truck vendors always seemed to want the business much more than the others. Hence they were willing to "go the extra mile" in service. My Vulcan guy would take any broken tool and get it warranted by other vendors (even took Craftsman tools in for replacement) -- now that was service.

Sadly, the Vulcan vendors disappeared. Most of my Vulcan tools were stolen, and due to a lack of vendor availability they were eventually replaced by MAC and Snappy.


PS -- Love that catalog Krusty!!!

 

[wyndycity]

Think you can pin a date on my wrench shown in my previous post Krusty? Anyone?

Too bad they aren't around anymore...my wrench has flaking chrome on the edges and it would have be nice if I were able to get a replacement. For $2 though, I can't complain.

 

[Bolster]

I'm pretty sure I have a Vulcan floor jack at my other shop...I had assumed it was an import but maybe not!

 

[fatfillup]

As Goodfellow stated, our driver gave good service also. When I posted the picture of my box, I didn't think about the tools, so heres a shot of what I found quickly. I believe I have a few random sockets also. The metric combos are real nice, the 10mm is 7 1/4" long

 

[lbgradwell]

Some months ago I posted some historical info on Vulcan on another thread:

Vulcan was a brand founded in 1960 and owned by United-Greenfield Corporartion (a 1958 merger of Greenfield Tap & Die and the United Tool and Drill Corporation) who also owned JH Williams and Whitman & Barnes (since Williams owned W&B) as well as many other companies. After the merger, United-Greenfield Corpoartion became the world's largest producer of cutting and hand service tools.

Like JH Williams, Vulcan was based in Buffalo and should not be confused with the Vulcan Manufacturing Company of Winona, Minnesota who also made wrenches.

In 1968, United-Greenfield Corpoartion was itself acquired by Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc., or TRW Inc. as it was better known. Of course, TRW was taken out by Northrop Grumman in 2002.

JH Williams was still a division of TRW until at least 1979. Snap-on bought JH Williams in 1993 (from whom?), but the Vulcan Tools Division had already been sold to Deearby Corporation of New Jersey in the mid-1980s (I think).

 

[krusty the clown]

you can follow the ownership of vulcan by looking at the trademark assign status here....

http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&qt=sno&reel=&frame=&sno=72190665

 

[fatfillup]

Krusty, you sure are smart!

 

[davestlouis]

So it looks like BofA repo'd the name?!

 

[krusty the clown]

yep......it looks like tractor supply co. bought the rights to use the name assigned it to post tool co (importer?) and they went under.

 

[davestlouis]

Dumbasses, they were going to kill the name using it on crappy imports anyway, maybe it's just as well it died when it did. I'll have to be on the lookout for Vulcan tools though, I like orphan brands.

 

[davestlouis]

Krusty, the van on the catalog cover looks like one of those Divco-Wayne bread trucks...that'd be a cool toy to have too.

 

[mmg440]

I have many mismatch Vulcan tools still left floating around in my work box and my home boxes. Near the end of my dealer business after the Vulcan company was going away or at least the name on the trucks and tools. He keep a warranty on the Vulcan marked sockets with Williams. Then He went totally independent with muli lines like sk, Lisle, and stuff. He was one of the better tool dealer I have ever had tools were of good quality and easer pricing then mac, or snap on. A lot easer when getting started in the repair business. I think that was about 1985 or like 1986 when I saw the last of him.

 

[krusty the clown]

funny you mention bread trucks.............we used to call the mac guy "butternut"

 

[davestlouis]

Wow, there really is a resemblance between the colors on those trucks. I'm on a mission now, I want one Vulcan ratchet. If I could find a B52 in Vulcan markings I'd be well-pleased. Did Vulcan have their own part numebrs, or are they just Williams #s?

 

[krusty the clown]

the 3/8 ratchet is listed as a b-52 and the 1/2 ratchet s-52. so it looks like they used williams part numbers at least on the ratchets. if you have some williams part numbers for other items, i'll check.

 

[fatfillup]

Don't be afraid of vulcan, very good quality. Found a vulcan side cabinet for my tool box today, now all I have to do is talk my buddy out of it or let me take it in on trade.

 

[krusty the clown]

IIRC that series of vulcan toolboxes were MBCentury.

 

[35mastr]

Now whats wrong with the bread trucks.

2002 Freightliner 20'
300 Cummins with an Allison.

Was one of the best trucks I ever owned.Never had a single problem with it.

 

[mmg440]

IIRC that series of vulcan toolboxes were MBCentury.

Wow, now that you mention that I remember I had a old boss that had a MBC top and bottom box, He bought the middle box from Vulcan and it was a perfect match. He told me that MBC made the Vulcan. Nice sturdy boxes for the time. Very old school no bling and of course by today's standards very small.

I remember I bought a few wrench sets 1/2 deep and 3/8 impact swivels marked Vulcan from them. The air tools I got from them I don't believe had any Vulcan brand labeled nor the dial type torque wrench (Williams). Did they mark any air tools Vulcan? I think they carried mostly CP at the time I bought.

 

[wyndycity]

Thanks for the info Krusty.

Reading this thread is beginning to make me more interested in finding these seemingly elusive but quality Vulcan tools.

I'll definitely be on the lookout for them during my garage sale/flea market/pawn shop excurisons.

I have the one ratchet but all it takes is one...

 

[vssjim]

I think the name Vulcan came from the name of the street in Buffalo that Williams was hq'd on Vulcan St. Buffalo, Ny. also close to the end Waterloo also made boxes for Vulcan.

 

[Paladin]

Now whats wrong with the bread trucks.

2002 Freightliner 20'
300 Cummings with an Allison.

Was one of the best trucks I ever owned.Never had a single problem with it.

I'm pretty sure it didn't have a "Cummings" in it. Probably had a "Cummins" in it.

PS: Sorry, I am a certifiable Cummins Turbo Diesel freak...

 

[Thumper]

Back when I was a kid, we used to pass a house in Decatur (Ga) that had a Vulcan tool truck out front. This would be mid-late 70's or so. Truck was nearly identical to the one on the catalog a few posts back, but was all white in color.

I know EXACTLY where your talking about !! Your right..same style truck only solid white. I had a Vulcan truck stop by at the shop I worked at in downtown Atlanta back in the late 70's. I bought a few things from him (wrenches, sockets). The wrenches were stamped Williams on one side and Vulcan on the other. When I find them at the swap meets...I buy em !.

 

[Joe B.]

Well, here is your chance to buy the same set with two intermediate chests...
http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/tls/1040393830.html

 

[krooser]

I used to buy some stuff from Vulcan in the late 60's when I turned wrenches at GM dealers. Don't think I have any left but my dealer always made good deals on specialty tools so I bought stuff like KD and Lisle from him.

 

[MaximRecoil]

I know this is an old thread, but it came up in a search for "Vulcan wrench".

My favorite wrench (for nostalgic reasons) is a Vulcan offset double box wrench. It was probably the first wrench I ever used as a kid in the early '80s. I used it a lot because it fit a lot of the nuts and bolts on my bike such as the seat post clamp, the nut and bolt in the stem, and the axle nuts. Dad had a whole set of these Vulcan offset double box wrenches in his toolbox, but this 9/16" - 5/8" one was the one I reached for the most (the offset works particularly well for axle nuts because it keeps the wrench from hitting the chain stays on the frame).

I never knew Vulcan was a tool truck brand until reading this thread. Were they exclusively a tool truck brand or were they also sold in stores? If they weren't sold in stores, I can't imagine where my father would have gotten them. He wasn't a professional mechanic (though he was a pretty good shadetree mechanic), and wouldn't have been buying anything from tool trucks. I suppose he could have gotten them second-hand though.

Here is a picture (excuse the poor webcam quality):

 

[Randy Kegg]

I have a number of Vulcan tools left from the old days. A long flex head ratchet; a 3/8ths metric socket set, and a click type torque wrench. I worked at a number of Volkswagen dealers in the 1970s, and the Vulcan truck visited every week. This was in the Baltimore area.The quality was as good as Snap-on, and the price was a little more reasonable. The Vulcan dealer had a good attitude, as well. He was always ready to deal on the tools. The Mac guy couldn't be bothered to show up regularly, so I never bought from him. I was really sorry to see Vulcan go under.

 

[bobbyrae]

you can follow the ownership of vulcan by looking at the trademark assign status here....

http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=tm&qt=sno&reel=&frame=&sno=72190665

Hey! this is really interesting because I have a Vulcan floor jack that I bought from Post tool in Oakland around 1990. I also bought a set of Vulcan deep impact sockets. And yes, both items were made in China, but have lasted really well.

 

[DrZero]

I think the name Vulcan came from the name of the street in Buffalo that Williams was hq'd on Vulcan St. Buffalo, Ny. also close to the end Waterloo also made boxes for Vulcan.

Vulcan was the Roman God of the fire and volcanos, often pictured with a forging hammer in his hand. I always thought that was the reason for the name. Maybe that's why they named the street Vulcan.

 

[chrisziem]

I am putting together a 1/4 Vulcan socket set

 

[Steinmetz]

So it looks like BofA repo'd the name?!

It was pledged as security for a loan.