Early Park Metalware (XCEL, Pre-Xcelite) tools

Private Lugnutz · Feb 3, 2019

I picked this up at my flea market this morning. It was frozen in place with dried gunk, and other than the general notion that it was an adjustable wrench for square head nuts and bolts, and that I had seen something like it before, I had no idea what it was until I got it home on the bench, un-stuck, dis-assembled, cleaned up, re-lubed, and re-assembled.

Turns out to be an XCEL Adjustable Socket Wrench made by Park Metalware Company, Inc., Orchard Park, N.Y., in 1927.

It's as easy to use as it looks. You just spin the head (or the handle, very lightly knurled on the end) to open or close the opening size in the socket jaws. As you can see, two sets of square socket jaws, small and large, on either side.

Pretty simple construction inside.

Private Lugnutz · Feb 3, 2019

The markings are very faint due to age, wear and not being stamped very deeply to begin with. But here are some photos attempting to capture them for viewing:

And here is a transcription of the entire marking:

XCEL
ADJUSTABLE SOCKET WRENCH
MADE BY
PARK METALWARE CO., INC.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.
PATENTED AUG. 23, 1927
NO. 1,639,831

If the company name “Park”, the location “Orchard Park, N.Y.” and that brand name “XCEL” are ringing any bells for anyone, they should be! This is the same Orchard Park NY manufacturer who later made the famous and ubiquitous Xcelite brand socket drivers.

You can read the entire patent for the XCEL Adjustable Socket Wrench, owned by John Zilliox, on the USPTO site, linked here.

Zilliox owned a bunch of cool patents. Another one was the Interchangeable Head Wrench, basically a SOE wrench shank with removable heads of various service openings. GJ member Flatintoone found a whole kit (box, wrench, and all the heads!) in the inaugural 2012 Garage Sale thread, linked here, and RStewart found one with one size head back in 2017, linked here.

Private Lugnutz · Feb 3, 2019

Finally, as for what this tool reminded me of that I couldn't quite place….

Check out this “Adjusto” wrench introduced by Blackhawk in 1935, almost 10 years later than Zilliox’s Xcel Adjustable. Everyone knows I am a big Blackhawk fan, and they don’t get enough credit for their engineering and design ingenuity and elegance, but there is ZERO DOUBT in my mind that Blackhawk got this idea from Park. Whether they paid for the license to use the design or just appropriated it, I don’t know.

Oldtuleguy · Feb 3, 2019

Here is their wrench set

d42jeep · Feb 5, 2019

Here is a large unmarked tap holder that works on the same principle.
-Don

Private Lugnutz · Feb 5, 2019

That's neat, Don.

NYBODYMAN · Feb 15, 2019

Thanks for the link to this Lugnutz. I could barely read the "Xcel" on mine so I wasn't too sure if it was the same or not.

Private Lugnutz · Feb 15, 2019

Mine was very lightly roll stamped as well. You should post photos of yours here. Nice find. I had never seen one on GJ until mine, and now yours is the second only a few weeks later. That's the way GJ rolls sometimes.

3baygarage · Feb 15, 2019

This photo is from the 2017 GS thread, guys. Had a heck of a time finding it. Sorry I don’t have more detailed pics.

Must be a shorter version.

Private Lugnutz · Feb 15, 2019

Shorter, darker finish, and much more heavily knurled on the handle. The knurling on mine, which is just parallel grooves, no cross-hatching or checkering etc, is as lightly applied as the markings. The Pic 1 thumbnail in my first post is the only photo you can even see it in.

Thanks for posting, 3bay.

NYBODYMAN · Feb 15, 2019

Here they are.

Doozer75 · Feb 16, 2019

I grew up in Orchard Park NY.
Park Metalwear or Xcelite was located on the corner of
Thorn Ave and Bank St.
After they closed, the building became Gaymar Industries.
After Gaymar, it became PM plastics.
They did pretty good, as I saw they were fighting for space,
having many plastic machines crammed in there.
I used to ride my bike past it all the time to go to school
or to Green Lake (Yates park).

--Doozer

Private Lugnutz · Mar 8, 2019

Very cool, Doozer. Thanks for sharing that anecdote. I missed this until now.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 8, 2019

I picked this out of a scraps bin in a trade-and-scrounge drop-in visit with Twertsy at his shop on Thursday. I am pretty sure it is a very early version of a Park Metalware Multi-Head wrench. It is not branded and the only marking is "PATS. PENDS.", but it matches the original patent (1,525,281, John Zilliox) to a tee. It had to have been made after the patent was applied for (Dec. 21, 1921) and before it was granted (April 28, 1925). Link to patent at USPTO site here.

I have never seen one like this before. The versions shown here on GJ typically have a recess in each head, a set-screw to hold the head into the shank through that recess, and a sunken panel in the handle, marked "Xcel Multi-Head Wrench" and "PAT. APR 28, 1925". This design has a flat handle and no set screw, with pressure alone keeping the head in place.

Now I need to find the other heads!

Oldtuleguy · Mar 8, 2019

No set screw on these. Heads fit very tight. Has the patent date so later than that. Yours is very similar but must be much earlier. Nice find!

Private Lugnutz · Mar 8, 2019

Thanks, Otg. As I posted above, with the PAT. PEND. marking, it has to have been made after the patent application, but before it was granted. So sometime between 1921 and 1925, precisely.

As for the later production, there is a third variant with a release button (not a set screw). Marked the same as yours though. I would suspect the order would've been yours, which seems like an evolution of the first, and then the variants with the recess in the heads and the release button. I provided links to those variants shown in earlier GJ threads, in post #1, but here they are again, here, and here.

Oldtuleguy · Mar 17, 2019

Here are some with the release button. They have the first patent and "other patents pndng", perhaps for the release mechanism. 3/8 to 1 7/16!

Private Lugnutz · Mar 17, 2019

Oldtuleguy said:
Here are some with the release button. They have the first patent and "other patents pndng", perhaps for the release mechanism. 3/8 to 1 7/16!

Almost certainly for the release button. Well done, Otg. Are they yours? Did you just find them? That's truly a spectacular sight. The range! I am constantly on the lookout for them (in the wild, as always) now!

Oldtuleguy · Mar 17, 2019

Picked them up for 35$. I had the one set which I think was 20$. Now I am curious how many variations there were.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 17, 2019

I haven't seen that particular set with that range, that many heads, or in that kind of case before. Usually the heads are laying flat or on an angle in a rack. I see sets on eBay that colleagues who know of my interest have tipped me off to from time to time, but not at prices I would pay. I am hoping for a set to turn up in the wild.

Oldtuleguy · Mar 17, 2019

Yes I have seen the ones with the flat rack. Here is one like this one on ebay for 60$

Private Lugnutz · Mar 18, 2019

That makes at least four different sets I have seen in terms of number of handles and heads, and types of cases/boxes. All with the notch in the base of the head, for the quick release button, I assume. As we discussed before, the one I have, which is very early, doesn't have the notch and button. Assuming the early sets also had variants in size/number of pieces, quite a few different sets out there. I'm happy that the handle and head I got from twertsy helped us understand that there was a design evolution. It would take quite an effort to sort out the whole timeline and variants without ads/catalogs, and even then some deliberate work, but I am just the eedjit to take it on. :lol:

Oldtuleguy · Mar 21, 2019

Here is a pat pending set I snagged on ebay

Private Lugnutz · Mar 22, 2019

Nice. That's the whole set my single "PATS. PEND." handle and head (post #14) probably came in. Mine doesn't have the branding on the other side. Might have worn off though.

Oldtuleguy · Mar 22, 2019

They made alot of changes to these in a short time. The more I look the more versions pop up.

Private Lugnutz · Mar 22, 2019

Yes. Which is kind of neat. You can just see Zilliox's thought process looking at the variants. 'Oh boy, this was a good idea but the heads sometimes fall out.' Later: 'Okay, we'll put a little notch at the bottom of the slot that locks them in place and a release lever on the handle.' Later: 'We need more sizes. These don't cover all the needs.' Later: 'Hmm, okay, but they will have larger heads and need larger slots, so we will need handles with wide beams. And you know what? Let's make some straight and some offset this time.'

I am admiring the ingenuity the more and more I study them. The whole idea is just so smart. It's more compact than a set of SOE's or DOE's and it saves steel.

Oldtuleguy · Mar 22, 2019

Very efficient

Private Lugnutz · Nov 25, 2019

I was doing some cleaning and sorting and re-organizing in the Lugzsonian and realized I hadn't yet posted these sets obtained in exchanges this year. Otg will recognize the 5-head set with the branded handle in the green case! The larger set came from offboard. As you guys well know, saying things like, "These might be my favorite vintage wrenches in my entire collection," gets harder and harder to mean after awhile, but these Park Xcel Multi-Heads would certainly be in the running for me.

The big set has a pair of smaller handles for the eight (8) wrench heads in the 3/8" to 11/16" range, and a pair of bigger handles for the nine (9) wrench heads in the 3/4" to 1-7/16" range, one straight and one offset for each range.

Private Lugnutz · Nov 25, 2019

All the handles in the big set have the locking-and-quick-release mechanism, and they all have the same patent. Even the box is well-designed.

Private Lugnutz · Nov 26, 2019

One quirk about these Zilliox patent Xcel Multi-Head wrenches is the "PAT'D APR. 29, 1925" marking on the handles. April 29, 1925 was a Wednesday, not a Tuesday (patent day). They were actually patented on April 28, 1925. I have no idea why Park Metalware continued to mark them with the wrong patent date. The latching and release button was patented two years later. So the big set with the "OTHER PAT'S PNDG." markings was made in 1925, 1926, or very early 1927.

Oldtuleguy · May 24, 2020

Here are a couple park xcel wrenches. The small one still has the hammer and screwdriver bits.

Oldtuleguy · Sep 8, 2020

Here is the smallest park metalware set i have found. Also still has a pretty good decal.

Oldtuleguy · Jun 22, 2021

A park metalware multi head slotted screw driver. Yet another clever compact tool they produced.

3baygarage · Jun 22, 2021

Pretty cool. Haven't seen that before.

Private Lugnutz · Jun 22, 2021

Nice acquisition. Offset!

Oldtuleguy · Jun 22, 2021

They were innovative!

Outlawmws · Aug 8, 2021

I have an Xcel set, two actually, and one is friction and one has a catch to retain them. the older one is "Patent Pending" the boxed set is patented:

Oldtuleguy · Aug 8, 2021

Nice one. Interesting box, they are usually green.

Private Lugnutz · Aug 8, 2021

Those green boxes don't have the little cubbies for each wrench head, either.

four.cycle · Aug 8, 2021

yeah... mine is nothing like that at all... I think the green box mine's in can't be more than about 5/16" of a inch thick (closed.)

Early Park Metalware (XCEL, Pre-Xcelite) tools

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