Bosch Magneto Corporation (and Other...) antique ignition wrenches

[Private Lugnutz]

EDIT: ANSWER PROVIDED BY OLDPINE IN POST #3
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I found an antique (surely 1910 through 1930's-ish) ignition tool at the flea market this morning. I am not sure if it was forged or stamped out of pressed steel, but it's a very solid wrench. It has two milled open ends (mic'd at 15/64" x 9/32") and a box end (mic'd at 1/4") milled in the middle of the shank, which is ingeniously offset. It also has two feeler gage blades, made of copper, pinned to one end. One of the blades reads "SPARK PLUGS" and the other one reads "FOR MAGNETOES". (Note that I have another ignition wrench very similar to this one with just a single open end and two feeler gage blades pinned to it, reading, "SPARK PLUGS" and "DISTRIBUTOR", respectively, almost as if the same outfit made it at a later date in ignition apparatus technology evolution. I know that other GJ members have this same second wrench, because I have seen others show them here. They are not marked.)

This wrench/gap gage is not branded, but it does have a strange logo. So strange that I am not positive which way to orient it. It's circular, formed on either side by what appears to possibly be two letters. In the middle looks like an animal's face to me, possibly a tiger or jaguar.

If it helps (but by the same token, I don't want it to mislead or distract), the 15/64" opening is for a Bosch system, the 9/32" opening is for an Eismann system, and the 1/4" opening is for a Remy-Wagner system. I found several logos, trademarks or other symbols associated with those manufacturers, and none of them look like this logo. The more common antique ignition wrenches (tiny DOE's) were usually made by a third party with ends for each ignition system, and marked that way, and this seems to be a similar approach, so I'm not surprised the logo doesn't belong to either of them.

Can anyone identify it? Any thoughts on resources to help identify it?

Apologies for the last fuzzy photo - it's very difficult to zoom in on the logo and hold focus.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are some additional shots of the logo (in four different orientations), and a couple with it chalked and facing the way I think it seems to want to be oriented.

 

[Oldpine]

American Bosch. It is a guy wearing driving goggles in front of a stylized AB.

Tom

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Tom! Much appreciated!

Here it is...

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Wow that is tough to make out

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It is!!! I agree. And it was driving me nuts. But, just like optical illusions once you know the key, now that Tom has identified it, and I see the actual trade mark, I can no longer see the tiger or jaguar! HAHA. Seriously, look at the trade mark and then go back to Post #1 Pic #6. It pops right out at you. (Although I have to say, the guy kind of looks like a bad caricature of a terrorist wearing racing goggles! )

 

[Oldtuleguy]

He is not pretty

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Kind of evil looking.

 

[3baygarage]

He is not pretty

He must be in the same crew as **** Dastardly.

Cool logo. I thought it looked like a genie.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's him!

 

[23ford]

It is from the 1920's American Bosch....Not the same as Robert Bosch that we see today.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

He must be in the same crew as **** Dastardly.

"Curses, foiled again!" HAHA!

After doing some reading, the dude in the Bosch logo was actually known as "Fritz the Flyer."

It is from the 1920's American Bosch

Yup. Tom identified it in post #3.

….Not the same as Robert Bosch that we see today.

Well, yes and no. Leaving it like that, without an explanation, is misleading. In fact, the dastardly goggled guy in the logo known as "Fritz the Flyer" was Robert Bosch's logo originally. Robert Bosch, a young German émigré, invented the magneto, and his Bosch Magneto Company made and sold them out of Springfield, Mass. with great success here in the US. The US government (Alien Property Custodian) seized the property and all its equipment in 1918 (think WWI!) and sold it. Seeking to take advantage of the popularity of a product they had absolutely no hand in creating, the buyers established American Bosch and put the fancified AB behind the same “Fritz the Flyer” guy. Robert Bosch continued innovating and making ignition systems and other electrical appliances out of his native Stuttgart. So, technically, not the same, but saying they’re not related conceals their intertwined (and somewhat dark) history. There are several good articles on the subject, but this one is the most concise and has some really cool notices that appeared in period newspapers at the time, released by Robert Bosch. Have to say, I think I’m on his side.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It is a good one, RJ!

Here's that other similar ignition wrench I was referring to. I know a few other guys have them because I've seen them posted here on GJ before.

It doesn't have the offset shank with the box end milled in it, and the open ends are not the same sizes, but those two feeler gage leaves are awfully reminiscent. And again, if I had to guess, I'd assume it came later than the other one, with the distributor replacing the magneto. These are not branded.

 

[d42jeep]

Your recent find motivated me to check out my magneto wrenches. It turns out that I have an American Bosch wrench but with a different but similar logo. Maybe the MC stands for Motorcycle.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Neat. What does it say on the shank under "AMERICAN BOSCH"? "MAGNETO CORE"

 

[Modern Garage]

By coincidence, today is the birthday of Robert Bosch.
Joe

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Seems fitting

 

[d42jeep]

I think it’s “American Bosch Magneto Co”. Let me flip that image over. I guess that’s what the MC in the logo stands for.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Rather than start a new thread, I'm just going to revive this one, even though what I found isn't Bosch.

As I said on the Garage Sale thread when I described my latest flea market haul in general terms, I have a few of these antique/vintage ignition wrenches with the two little feeler blades. The one with the old American Bosch logo at the subject of this thread has two feeler blades, 'FOR MAGNETOES' and 'FOR SPARK PLUGS' (See Posts #1 & #2).

I also have a few with the feeler blades marked 'SPARK PLUG' and 'DISTRIBUTOR', respectively, with no markings on the wrench itself (See Post #14).

This one that I found today is a little different...

The wrench itself is marked 'FITS DELCO BOTH BLADES FOR SPARK'...

...and the feeler blades are marked 'FIB. CAM DISTRIB.' (in reference to camshaft timing gears made out of fabric or fiber, I'm assuming ??) and 'STEEL CAM DISTRIB.' (in reference to camshaft timing gears made of steel ??). That's a first for me seeing one like this.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's an odd one. Fib?

 

[Modern Garage]

What are the thicknesses of the two blades?
Joe

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes that is a good question. I have some with 2 blades but one is always labeled sparkplug and the other distributor.

 

[Provincial]

Some distributors may have had the point cam made from steel and others made from fiber (Micarta or something similar). I assume that fiber cams worked against a steel "rubbing block."

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I confirmed my initial hunch. After doing some online reading, it looks like Model A and Studebaker, at the very least, were using timing cams made of fiber. I don't have a good precision digital micrometer, but the fiber blade is thinner.

 

[Provincial]

Fiber (usually Micarta, a Phenolic resin reinforced with cotton fabric) was used to make timiing gears during that era because it was inexpensive, machined well, and quieted the gear noise of the camshaft drive gearing. There is no reason that the distributor would have had a different point gap because of the camshaft drive train, because there is no difference in performance between fiber cam gears and metal ones for normal use. Metal gears were used in racing engines and diesels because of higher RPM, valve spring pressures, or, in the case of diesels, longetivity.

If the distributor cam itself was either fiber or steel, it would make sense that the "fiber" marked blade would be thinner, since the wear would have been spread out over the whole cam, rather than concentrated on the tiny contact surface of the rubbing block.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Gotcha. Makes sense, Jock.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm continuing to stretch the original topic/definition of this thread, because we really don't have a better general thread for vintage ignition tools, points gappers, etc.

I picked up all three of these electrical system related tools at the flea market this morning and it's the first time I have seen either of them.

The points cleaner with the single feeler gage blade and the red emery board is not marked with an OEM name, but I am fairly sure it was made by Kastar Specialty Mfg Co, 149 Church St, NY, NY, before they moved to NJ and became a giant in the feeler gage market.

Searching on “Rub Stone” - which is marked on the tool, and looked like a brand name to me - turns up all kinds of ads in the early 1920's, including an April 1921 Chilton, linked here, and a 1929 Motor Record, linked here.

The "NORTH EAST" on the "HORN WRENCH" is no doubt a reference to the North East Electric Company, Rochester, NY, which made magnetoes, starters, distributors, and electrical wrenches for same, and apparently other electrical automotive components.

The "LEONARD AIR-COOLED" marking on the handle of the tool with multiple feeler gage blades and a points adjuster on the other end has to be a reference to Leonard Spark Plug Company, 148 Summit Street, Newark, NJ, and their patented spark plugs with air-cooled center electrodes.

I hate to admit I never heard of them, but a search turned up a pair of patents

...and all kinds of ads.

Like most of the ignition system related OEM's (Delco, Remy, etc), I guess Leonard made related tools to go along with their products.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Google Books just granted my unlock request for the 1929 Motor Record with the snippet-only view I linked in the post above, with a reference to the "Rub-Stone" points cleaning tool posted in the post above.

Here is an excerpt of the entire advertisement.

What's cool to me is that this is a very early example of a Kastar ignition related tool, as I mentioned above, from before the time they were a giant feeler gage maker and before they were located in New Jersey.

 

[MShaw]

Just for the gee whiz I owned several model A Fords and none had fiber cams in the distributor. All steel. And in one car I replaced the original distributor with one from a Model B that had a one piece shaft. That had a steel cam also.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

You had me scratching my head there for a second, M, until I realized you were playing catch-up and referring to a topic on the previous page! Thanks for the input.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This thread was started with a Bosch Magneto Corp wrench, made by German emigre Robert Bosch's original company, before 1918, before it was seized by the US Government, bearing the infamous "Fritz the Flyer" logo. This morning I found a later version, made by the company that was formed with his facility, designs, dies, tooling, etc, the American Bosch Magneto Corporation, bearing the stylized ABMC monograph logo.

 

[Fred Knox]

Here are three of my American Bosch Magneto Corp. ignition wrenches. Two of them have the feeler gages, are stamped “Made in U.S.A.”, and include the "Fritz the Flyer" logo from the original German company.

 

[OldnSlo]

dup

 

[OldnSlo]

Who Fritz? I knew him BITD, and wore him around my neck occasionally, when ties were in style, pants had pleats, cuffs, mens dress shoes didn't have pointy toes and folks wore more than tank tops at work.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice, @Fred Knox !

I would give my left nut for that tie, @OldnSlo!