Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I picked up this wrench set this morning at the flea market.
It includes eight (8) Single Open End wrenches, each stamped out of a sheet of thick pressed steel, sizes 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 19/32", 1/2", 11/16", and 25/32", securely attached to a substantial clip with a heavy pin. The smallest wrench has a 3/16" square opening milled in it, and the next wrench up has an even smaller square notched in it.
The wrenches are all heat-treated (that northern-lights-on-steel coloration is not rust or age) and have no other markings except for the sizes, simply stamped with no fraction or inch marks.
The manufacturing information, "HERCULES WRENCH GERMANY", is stamped into the **** end of the clip.
These are strong wrenches, worthy of their name, and this is a clever, well-made, serious set. The clip is showing no signs of coming even a bit loose. Some of the jaws have burrs that need tending to, and the largest wrench has been slightly bent, but I can see these wrenches lasting another 100 years, at least. I am very impressed and glad I found it.
It was obviously made for export, perhaps to the UK and/or the US, I would guess in the earliest part of the last century (1900, possibly earlier, through 1920's). The sizing and the way its clipped as a set suggests early "Auto-Kit" type sets. It will easily fit in your pocket or a glove box. "GERMANY" was used as a COO marking prior to WWII.
Has anyone seen one before? Does anyone have any information or thoughts on its manufacturer?
EDIT: Deleted wild unsubstantiated conjecture.
Additional photos, including some close-ups, below.
It includes eight (8) Single Open End wrenches, each stamped out of a sheet of thick pressed steel, sizes 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 19/32", 1/2", 11/16", and 25/32", securely attached to a substantial clip with a heavy pin. The smallest wrench has a 3/16" square opening milled in it, and the next wrench up has an even smaller square notched in it.
The wrenches are all heat-treated (that northern-lights-on-steel coloration is not rust or age) and have no other markings except for the sizes, simply stamped with no fraction or inch marks.
The manufacturing information, "HERCULES WRENCH GERMANY", is stamped into the **** end of the clip.
These are strong wrenches, worthy of their name, and this is a clever, well-made, serious set. The clip is showing no signs of coming even a bit loose. Some of the jaws have burrs that need tending to, and the largest wrench has been slightly bent, but I can see these wrenches lasting another 100 years, at least. I am very impressed and glad I found it.
It was obviously made for export, perhaps to the UK and/or the US, I would guess in the earliest part of the last century (1900, possibly earlier, through 1920's). The sizing and the way its clipped as a set suggests early "Auto-Kit" type sets. It will easily fit in your pocket or a glove box. "GERMANY" was used as a COO marking prior to WWII.
Has anyone seen one before? Does anyone have any information or thoughts on its manufacturer?
EDIT: Deleted wild unsubstantiated conjecture.
Additional photos, including some close-ups, below.
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