I had a pretty good take-home at the Early Bird this morning, with a decidedly "multi-tool" theme, a few firsts, and one educational surprise.
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From top to bottom:
- A Blackhawk 4-in-1 Rim Wrench No. 5104, PAT'D DEC 4, 1923 (1,476,058, if anyone is interested). I recognized the rotating grips as Blackhawk immediately. It's on all their speed handles. When I saw that swiveling 4-way head, I got pretty excited. My first.
- I have no idea what the rusty bulky tee-handle is between the swing on the Blackhawk speed rim tool. It says HEMPL. The bit is cross-recess of some kind, not exactly Phillips, not exactly Frearson, and definitely not Torx or Bristol. I'm thinking it might even be some modern key for a machine or something that is fooling me into thinking it's vintage. Anybody?
- The pressed steel ratcheting offset screwdriver is a DUNLAP.
- The DOE wrench is a classic wartime Herbrand 1723 with an AISI "1340" marking, perfect for a GMTK. Herbrand was known for forging the AISI steel number on their tools to evidence/promote their compliance with alloy restrictions. I've had many of them, but I haven’t seen one quite like this before. The "1340" looks to have been patch-welded on to the shank or at least forged-in with a secondary die after the wrench was forged. I'll show a close-up later and you'll see what I mean.
- While it's probably old hat for you Williams guys (talking about you in particular 3bay!), I was also really excited to find the WILLIAMS No. 1999 Multi-Socket, also my first. This one is Chrome-Alloy, instead of the earlier Chrome-Molybdenum, which probably puts it in 1941, so even better for me.
- The ratcheting box wrench is a Snap-On No. 75. The brand was the wartime logo, which seemed anachronistic to me, and then I saw the big "E" (1944) date code, which sent me scrambling to the books. I had no idea that these were introduced in 1933! They aren’t really part of any wartime tool-sets I collect and I thought of them as a 50's thing.
- The integral handle screwdriver is an IRWIN with a 41-S-1076 FSN. For the longest time these were considered wartime, but they've been dated to 1950.
- The 5" 1/2-inch drive extension is a Plomb 5461 and the light duty DBE wrench is a Plomb 8180.
- The tiny Utica pliers, No. KS-2827, have unusual tips.
- The button pattern pliers with the crisp "U.S." stamp are classic WWI or interwar, unbranded.
- In between the handles of the pliers is a tool that I know some of you will recognize. It's a Hallowell driver. This one (they also made socket bits) is a No. 25 SET SCREW KEY KIT. I don't think the bit in the chuck goes with it. There are five bits in the handle and they're all hex key bits, all marked Hallowell. It swivels 90* to an offset position. These are really nifty and I know some of you guys (3bay and 454ragtop, for sure) have them. Again, this is my first. They were made by Standard Pressed Steel in Jenkintown, PA, who made UNBRAKO hex (or "Allen") keys issued to several WWII kits.
I will be posting more photos of some of these either here or in a few select threads.