Minimax screwdrivers identification

[draft]

Greetings,

After having an unsuccessful relationship with a shoddy set of screwdrivers commonly known as "Nochrome Nonadium", I have decided to purchase something of a better quality.

Found this set locally, cross-checked history of the brand and paid seller agreed amount of highly liquid currency. Now waiting for the delivery.

Can you help with identifying the manufacturer? Doesn't look like Felo, but "made in West Germany" significantly reduces number of options.




Bonus question: should the oxidation/rust/staining on the tip of 00 Phillips be removed or is it a "feature"?

 

[RTM]

Looks like they were offered here around 1972. I’d guess the hardened and tempered “rust” is a feature

Hardware Retailing

books.google.com

 

[draft]

@RTM, good catch! No scanned pages, unfortunately, but that's a clue.

 

[Stuey63]

Becon is a German tool brand, or were you mainly referring to the packaged set?

I have quite a few Minimax tools from the 1970's, mainly Japanese sockets and spanners / wrenches, but that brand is still around over here in Australia I believe. I bought some of their hex sockets about five years ago, although I think they just rebrand tools from all over the world.

 

[draft]

Becon is a German tool brand, or were you mainly referring to the packaged set?

Indeed... After searching a bit deeper I have found the following post:

BECON was the trademark of the Australian company Beck & Coram Pty Ltd. (trademark registered in 1941) for the product category "Axes, hatchets, drills, punches, hedge and garden shears..."

http://www.wipo.int/branddb/en/showData.jsp?ID=AUTM.77745

The Hand Tool Preservation Association of Australia lists Beck & Coram as being 'merchants' (not necessarily manufacturers). There are online mentions of them being agents for a German company.
http://www.htpaa.org.au/hand-tools/...tralian-makers/directory-of-australian-makers

So these were made in Germany for a certain Aussie company.

The question about the blue ones stays shrouded in mist.

 

[Stuey63]

Actually, I didn't know it was an Aussie brand! I'd just seen the odd tool with Becon branding and W. Germany as a country of origin. I had no idea of the Oz connection.

 

[draft]

@Stuey, do you have an idea what was used to produce the handles?
I get it's a plastic, the question is - which plastic, how the colour was added to it?

 

[Stuey63]

Draft, they have a bit of an old Wera look to them - the handle shape anyway -

 

[Stuey63]

@Stuey, do you have an idea what was used to produce the handled? I get it's a plastic, but - which plastic, how the colour was added to it?

No, sorry.

 

[RTM]

So these were made in Germany for a certain Aussie company.

The question about the blue ones stays shrouded in mist.

Funny, as I saw Minimax made in Australia with some recent google finds. I ignored them, shows what I know. I assumed it was another rendition of the same name by a different company, cuz there is a lot of different stuff with Minimax as a trade name.

 

[Dave455]

@Stuey, do you have an idea what was used to produce the handles?
I get it's a plastic, the question is - which plastic, how the colour was added to it?

Almost certainly cellulose acetate. Could be cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) but the majority of transparent screwdriver handles in the ‘70’s were cellulose acetate. Good quality ones are still made from these materials.

The maker of the green handled screwdriver is almost certainly Heyco. They were, and still are, one of the biggest contractors for screwdriver manufacture.

Here are some Heyco drivers with the same handle but in a different colour.

And here is a modern Heyco screwdriver in (I suspect) the same colour (Heyco’s own colour) but a different shape.

I rate Heyco drivers very highly. They manufacture for CK (a British brand) and many of the better European brands, such as Bernstein.

In a era where soft handles (cheap materials / expensive ********) are prevalent, I much prefer the cellulose acetate, and am happy to pay the small premium for it. You have decent tools there, I would say!

 

[draft]

Thanks, @Dave455 , that was rather informative! I have received the screwdrivers and the blue ones have two identicall stamps on each. It reads "W.GERMANY R??.DGM"



DGM might refer to "German Association for Furniture Production" or to The German Materials Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde).

Image search returns various axes with D.G.M markings, but I'm not sure if these are related at all.

 

[RTM]

There is a German abbreviation that refers to patent status

Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster (German: German Reich Registered Design)

Yours might be an offshoot of that, something like

EU patents and utility models (DGM) (not a translation), but several references to that.