Braunsdorf-Mueller tools

[usernameless]

Here is a very tenuous clue to age, a 1911 index. BM is listed as making screwdrivers, but not offset screwdrivers. Is it because they didn't make them, their marketing guy didn't tell the mag the made them, or they were too cheap to pay for listing in the second category

Engineering Directory ...

www.google.com

And the plot thickens! Very interesting info thank you much! I constantly come across unidentifiable tools like this that don't fit in with the norm. Now, Braunsdorf was with a piano tool maker before immigrating to the US around 1900? Interestingly I found this at an estate sale of a piano tuner repair man's estate. So it would make sense if it weren't for the fact I can not find any offset screwdrivers related to piano tuning anywhere. And of course this seems later age wise than when he was with the piano tuning tool maker back in Germany. So it is a true mystery!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

....unidentifiable tools like this that don't fit in with the norm...[ ]...So it is a true mystery!

Not sure what you mean by unidentifiable or mystery. Braunsdorf-Mueller is a very well-known early tool mfgr, this thread is full of their tools, and you have correctly identified the tool you have found as an offset screwdriver. Just to qualify and clarify what @RTM means...., there are no known BMCo catalogs in the public space, so we have limited references for them. They are listed as an OEM for many tools, including screwdrivers, in several directory-type trade magazines. But not offset screwdrivers, per se. But note that not all of these directories even distinguish screwdriver types.

Is that a ratcheting offset screwdriver? Is that a gear I see in the head? And is the bit removable?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I developed a list of BMCo tools by the year and trade directory that they are listed in.

MOVED TO POST #1

 

[usernameless]

Not sure what you mean by unidentifiable or mystery. Braunsdorf-Mueller is a very well-known early tool mfgr, this thread is full of their tools, and you have correctly identified the tool you have found as an offset screwdriver. Just to qualify and clarify what @RTM means...., there are no known BMCo catalogs in the public space, so we have limited references for them. They are listed as an OEM for many tools, including screwdrivers, in several directory-type trade magazines. But not offset screwdrivers, per se.

Is that a ratcheting offset screwdriver? Is that a gear I see in the head? And is the bit removable?

I was referring to the design pattern being a mystery or unidentifiable related to the brand, not the name brand. May have been a short run, and in between catalogs? Who knows, without any examples it becomes a mystery to me. Yes it is ratcheting. The bit appears removable but I haven't tried out of fear of ruining it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yes it is ratcheting.

Even cooler, then.

The bit appears removable but I haven't tried out of fear of ruining it.

Note that BMCo is listed in a few directories under 'Screwdriver bits.'

 

[four.cycle]

^ I looked but I have nothing in the way of documentation on that unit.
Very interesting widget, sir.
I am curious as well whether the bit is removable.

 

[usernameless]

^ I looked but I have nothing in the way of documentation on that unit.
Very interesting widget, sir.
I am curious as well whether the bit is removable.

Well, I'm going to go and say no it's not removable? I gave it a tap and even pressed on it but it's in there tight so I stopped before I broke it.

 

[four.cycle]

it looks like there aren't any catalogs available that show that widget at International Tool Catalog LIbrary
your next step to find some documentation on it would be to pore through advertisements and "new product" columns in early trade journals.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Socket set, somehow still in its fiber board box

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Anyone know anything about these?

Yes. They originally came together as set in a fiberboard box!

Socket set, somehow still in its fiber board box

Nice acquisition! (Unless you found that in the wild...). Do the sockets have the "(BM(Co))" branding or just the sizes like @leg17 's in post #4? Any distinguishing features, just in case I see them? All I need to complete that set is the sockets and the box!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

No markings on sockets

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It's been a long time since I found my last Braunsdorf-Mueller tool and I didn't expect it to be this tiny chisel I plucked out of the bottom of an old toolbox this morning. Decent "(B)M(Co))" logo.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a flex head ratchet

 

[3baygarage]

I figured somebody here got that one. I was interested but the break bothered me too much.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here's a flex head ratchet

Interesting acquisition. Early last year I developed and posted a sort of makeshift catalog by compiling a list of BMCo tools that appear in various trade directories, by year. (That has been move to the top of Post #1, by the way.) I don't recall seeing a flex head ratchet. I love the way it's indexed.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here is a set someone has on ebay

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Made an offer on that ebay set and seller took it. It's similar to my other set but has an extension and the box is wood.

 

[four.cycle]

^ love the little leather hold-down tab for the ratchet... perhaps a little upgrade by the previous owner?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks like it was strapped to the lid

 

[Private Lugnutz]

A delayed action trade pkg from Even @Steven 33 that arrived today included this 'dilemma' tool. (As in, where do I store it/where do I post it? The Braunsdorf-Mueller drawer and thread? Or the Babbit scraper drawer and thread? (I flipped a coin.))

 

[LesserSon]

too pitted to see any marks

A possible source for unmarked, longer-necked (than BMC) Steckschlüssel - Europe!

On the too many pliers thread, RTM recently posted a link to a 1935 German catalog on ITCL, which has more than pliers in it.

 

[leg17]

There is a B&M set on ebay right now.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found this #7 at the flea market this morning. I already have a whole set and then some, but this one has no "(B)M(Co)" logo, or Vlchek, the only other US mfgr I am familiar with, but it does have these odd symbols: Star Cross (or Plus Sign) Star.

 

[LesserSon]

A possible source for unmarked, longer-necked (than BMC) Steckschlüssel - Europe!

On the too many pliers thread, RTM recently posted a link to a 1935 German catalog on ITCL, which has more than pliers in it.

This past weekend, I picked up nine tube wrenches and a tommy bar. Most were marked Vlchek, nos50-54 & 56. Two had been ground round at one end, and one of those (happily) was a dupe. Two additional were unmarked, and had different opening sizes at each end.
Comparing them side-by-side (including my earlier-acquired unmarked examples), I see that a full set of any of them would require both a large and a small tommy bar.
The Vlchek are all about the same length. Vlcheck and BMCo have a single pass-through tommy bar hole that is aligned with the necked opening. They are marked with different numbering systems that do not seem to correspond to 32nds.
BMCo and the unmarked examples vary in overall size with opening size.
The earlier-acquired unmarked examples are the same opening size at both ends, but all the unmarked examples have longer necks than the Vlchek or BMCo, and all have a second pass-through tommy bar hole at right angles to the first.
Some of the openings were distorted from abuse, and some may be metric - I’ll have to check sizes again.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I see that a full set of any of them would require both a large and a small tommy bar.

That is correct! I just posted this...

These antique (ca. 1919) US sets came with two crossbars, to accommodate two different diameter cross-drilled holes, one for the smaller range, and one for the larger range.

...with these photos on the 'Cles a Pipes' thread up on the General board last week. I don't remember the diameters but they're close.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

all the unmarked examples have longer necks than the Vlchek or BMCo,

I remember discussing that when you found them. They're the Kayan-Lahwi Tribe of tubular socket wrenches!