ddlenhar
Member
Picked up a metric ratchet and socket set, ALLEN brand, USA made. Was this made by Easco? Looks kind of similar to the Easco ratchet...
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Usa made ALLEN metric ratchet and socket set
- Thread starter ddlenhar
- Start date
four.cycle
Well-known member
photo?
Thats Allen, not Allied.
Unfortunately it’s a zombie brand bought up and the name was killed along with Armstrong.
Easco was also bought and killed but I’m not sure if they have the same parent company.
Apex was the company that killed Allen and Armstrong.
Unfortunately it’s a zombie brand bought up and the name was killed along with Armstrong.
Easco was also bought and killed but I’m not sure if they have the same parent company.
Apex was the company that killed Allen and Armstrong.
I have an American made Kobalt socket set with the same ratchet guts in a different handle shape.
yatg
Well-known member
Have a couple of "allied" combo wrenches. Made in Taiwan.
Logo for future reference
Logo for future reference
So, maybe Danaher or JH Williams.
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ There was a reason I stopped at "photo?"
"Allied" is an offshore brand from Asia. I don't think I've ever even tried to chase down who made it.
There was a domestic (U.S.) "Allied", but to my knowledge all they made was a can opener, and I doubt they're around still.
You have an ALLEN socket set.
Allen / Allen Mfg. Co., 135 Sheldon St., Hartford, CT / Apex Tool Group, LLC / https://www.crescenttool.com/hex-keys / http://alloy-artifacts.org/allen-manufacturing.html / https://wrenchwiki.com/allen-manufacturing-company/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/c-1920s-allen-bay-state-set-no-19.426398/ /
Decent quality. Not the finest ratchet in the galaxy, but it will get the job done. Resale value = less than zero.
I've been trying to unload one for over two years. I've knocked it down to $40 on local CL listing.
"Allied" is an offshore brand from Asia. I don't think I've ever even tried to chase down who made it.
There was a domestic (U.S.) "Allied", but to my knowledge all they made was a can opener, and I doubt they're around still.
You have an ALLEN socket set.
Allen / Allen Mfg. Co., 135 Sheldon St., Hartford, CT / Apex Tool Group, LLC / https://www.crescenttool.com/hex-keys / http://alloy-artifacts.org/allen-manufacturing.html / https://wrenchwiki.com/allen-manufacturing-company/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/c-1920s-allen-bay-state-set-no-19.426398/ /
Decent quality. Not the finest ratchet in the galaxy, but it will get the job done. Resale value = less than zero.
I've been trying to unload one for over two years. I've knocked it down to $40 on local CL listing.
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four.cycle
Well-known member
^ for $10 bucks you stole it. Actually decent quality stuff - on a par with contemporaneous Craftsman.
jayemm
Well-known member
I've had that Allen 3/8 ratchet for about 30 years. Made by Danaher to my knowledge. Not fine tooth with more back drag than I liked sometimes but a sturdy tool. Loosey goosey in the guts but lacking a wobble extension that was an advantage sometimes. My S-K fine tooth is a lot smoother and gets most of the use.
PacificaVette
Well-known member
I've also been using that exact same set for over 30 years. Even though I have other ratchets, I still automatically grab the Allen. it's always worked just fine for me, and I like the push-button socket remover.
finn
Well-known member
That’s about double what they were selling for, and maybe more, when Menards was selling them prior to the introduction of their captive MasterForce brand, and around the time Danaher discontinued both the Allen ans Armstrong brands in their brand rationalization binge.
I still don’t understand why they would shutter Armstrong.
It seems like the military and government contracts would make the brand worthwhile.
I have seen a lot of Armstrong tools in GMTK and other military sets.
finn
Well-known member
From what I recall, the plant in Texas (and others) was pretty much obsolete, with WWII era machinery and lacking modern quality systems.
I got this from Matco customer service when I was waiting something like eight months for a warranty replacement ratchet order that got caught up in the plant consolidation , a flood at the Kentucky (?) plant, and more. (I eventually got it after they transferred production to (AJ?) in Elmhurst Il, and it’s been a fine piece.)
I recall the quote about those old factories being something like “The bride wasn’t as pretty as she appeared to be.”
Members here wax nostalgic over the loss of some of the iconic tool brands, but the fact is the factories that produced many of them were old, outdated, inefficient, and filled with worn out tooling.
They deserved to die in the end. Many were passed around to different owners multiple times. They were money losers.
Fedwrench
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Not to derail the thread but, the closure of the Armstrong plant was the worst thing to happen to US tool production. I blame corporate greed because the powers that be didn't want to invest making improvements in the existing factories and opted instead to make Gearwrench a full line of mechanics tools instead of just a line of ratcheting wrenches. The same model was used later with SK going to Great Star.
Back to the topic at hand, I think the Allen branded ratchets were better in some respects than the Craftsman versions. With Allen you got a nice round knurled handle, the arrowhead shaped direction switch was metal, and they seemed to be finished better. Internally, the same classic 36 tooth design but, seemed to have a little less slop.
Back to the topic at hand, I think the Allen branded ratchets were better in some respects than the Craftsman versions. With Allen you got a nice round knurled handle, the arrowhead shaped direction switch was metal, and they seemed to be finished better. Internally, the same classic 36 tooth design but, seemed to have a little less slop.
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ @finn just explained most of the reasons, but another reason was that overall, they didn't have the brand recognition to warrant pouring more money into a losing proposition.
finn
Well-known member
Understand your disappointment, but, in the grand scheme of things, they’re just products without a soul that died a slow death from lack of investment and innovation over a long period of time. Armstrong was, in the end, just a name.
My conclusion is that these minor brands underwent a mercy killing, to be replaced by new names like Gearwrench that the the powers that be thought would have better market penetration.
sparky 1971
Well-known member
Menards sold the same set under the Masterforce house name; I had/have what's left of a few sets. No complaints at all about the sockets, but the ratchets left a lot to be desired. I still have a few, but haven't touched them for years.
jayemm
Well-known member
To me the Allen ratchets were definitely better than the pear head Craftsman ratchets of which the 1/4" and 3/8" were garbage. The 1/2" I had was solid. Thirty years ago, beyond the RHFT ratchet what others were offered besides the round head Stanley made with the tri-wing direction selector and knurled speeder on the head.
neophyte
Well-known member
The original plant, or I think plants, were the various brands were made were old, and needed upgrades.
Armstrong at that point was owned by Danaher Corp, which had just taken over Copper Tool Group, possibly quicker than expected due to I think a change in Cooper’s ownership.
The combined tool group was then sold off to Bain Capital, which then decided to combine ghe disparate production facilities into a combined facility, away from were the tools had been produced, ******* off the former workers. (This tends to lead to issues with equipment when it gets shipped to a new location, and less of knowledge concerning production methods snd the use of the equipment, let alone possible “damage” to the equipment).
The new facility then took a while to set up, before suffering flood damage, and eventually mostly wound ip as a distribution warehouse from what I recall.
The combined tool group got renamed “Apex” after one of the sub-brands in the group that made quality USA made bits and some screwdrivers.
(Now this seems to have gotten replaced for street branding by “Crescent” another brand within the group).
Production then got off-shored, maybe to fulfill contracts that were in place, although tests seem to indicate quality might still be there.
The Armstrong brand got temporarily killed off for a number of years, because it had been heavily advertised as USA made, and imported tools might lead to Federal Trade Commission lawsuits, although the brand was brought back, probably because Harbor Freight started selling a line of electrical extension cords under an “Armstrong” branding, and Bain wanted to protect “Armstrong” trademark for hand tools from usurpation. (My suspicion).
Bain probably should have expected issues, since Stanley Tools went thru similar issues decades ago when Stanley tried to combine MAC Tools production facilities, resulting in lawsuits and giant clusterf*k, although MAC still survives, with US production, but I guess Bain thought they were smarter than Stanley.
Ideal combining the formerly bankrupt SK Tools, with Western Forge, also had issues, although it seems to have gone better than the above two examples, although Ideal decided the venture wasn’t successful, (maybe just financially), and then sold it off to the Chinese owned Great Star.
finn
Well-known member
I agree. For a while the pegboards at my Menards had Allen and MasterForce ratchets, identical except for the stamping, both on dustpan on the same boards. I don’t recall if it was when Menards was introducing their own brand or during a supply interruption like Covid.
sparky 1971
Well-known member
I'm pretty sure Menards changed to the junk they currently carry before Covid. I bought one of the new 1/4" socket sets in a pinch; I remember the job I was on then and I want to say it was in 2018 but am too lazy to go back through the invoices to verify.