Some time back Lugz, Username, Twertsy and I had a discussion about a similar wrench that I owned and it was determined that it was likely a Bonney wrench made under contract for Wright (Aircraft). Bonney also made contract wrenches for Pratt and Whitney Aircraft.
FYSA, we're way past likely, Don. The Bonney-Wright wrenches have been definitively identified as made by Bonney for Wright Aeronautical during WWII and beyond.
Now you mention it, I remember that post series. I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder Don!
If you want to re-visit, Outlaw, Post #220, page 11, on the
Show Off Your DOE’s thread.
I now have a small collection of them. Been picking them up in onesy-twosies. I am not necessarily trying to re-assemble any one particular kit, I just pick them up as I see them.
Here’s a good example - a 33-tooth spline wrench, forged-in Bonney name and part number 7356, with a forged-in FU (1943) date code. My hunch is they just ran it through another machine with a stamping die for the part number (80076)...
...and the WRIGHT (Aeronautical) name on the flip side.
I verify them as I find them in one of two sources.
The first is this 1947 US Navy ASO Catalog Class 85:
The second is the
Avialogs website. Although you have to be a paying member to download, they have overhaul and repair manuals for many Wright engines online for viewing. And every handbook has a list of 8xxxx and 9xxxx series tools, in alphabetical order by name (unfortunately!) versus part number. That can be a PITA, but still better than nothing.
Go to ‘Engines’ on the Avialogs homepage menu up top. Select 'USA'. Then 'Wright'. Here’s a link to
a 1955 Curtis-Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone overhaul handbook, for example. It’s post-war, but I have found that a lot of the part numbers were the same. A long list and description of tools starts on document page 50 (browser page 66), and a list of Mfgr’s recommended tools starts on page 115 (browser page 133).
Note that you can also look up Pratt & Whitney engine maintenance manuals, and the associated tools, which Bonney also supplied. I have some of those, too.
Outlaw's Wright wrench was made on contract for Wright Aeronautical as a factory-supplied tool for working on Wright aircraft engines. The 8------- number was assigned by Wright Aeronautical, not the government.
DadsTools said:
Well-substantiated. Note that there are 9xxxx series tools as well.
Provincial said:
I wonder why Wright Aeronautical didn't contract with Wright Tools for their wrenches?
DadsTools said:
As for why they didn't buy them from their namesakes, maybe they were not just wright.
But that's just WRONG!
All joking about the coincidental family names (Wright Tool & Forge was no relation as far as I know to the aviation brothers), it is a good question!
In terms of proximity, Wright Tool & Forge, in Barberton, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, may have made more sense than Bonney Tool & Forge in Allentown, PA. But, note that Wright’s corporate and contracts office headquarters – and Curtis-Wright’s corporate and contracts office headquarters after the Wright merger with Curtiss in 1929, was in Caldwell, NJ. Note also that there was a huge engine and propeller production facility in Beaver, PA. Note again that Bonney also supplied tools to Pratt & Whitney Aviation, also located a few states away. If I had to guess, I’d say it was a volumetric decision. Wright, much smaller than Bonney, had a smaller output capacity. Wright Tool & Forge did supply tools directly under contract to the USAAF (Air Corps) in 1943 and 1944.
