Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 10,459
That is a cool wrench
Champion wrench?
- Thread starter Leviton
- Start date
four.cycle
Well-known member
Our 19th entry for "Champion" is the "Champion" ratchet wrench manufactured by the Syracuse Wrench Company of Syracuse, New York:
Syracuse / Syracuse Wrench Co., 501 E. Water St., Syracuse, NY / "Champion" "Yala" / patent 873977 Dec 17 1907 Jacob J. Albrecht / http://alloy-artifacts.org/syracuse-wrench.html / http://alloy-artifacts.org/syracuse-wrench.html#history / http://toolarchives.com/index.php/node/317 / /
patented early in the 20th century, the "Champion" ratchet wrench was heavily marketed by Syracuse:
1908 Automobile Trade Directory Syracuse Wrench Co. Champion ad pp 155
1910 Automobile Trade Directory Syracuse Champion ad pp 471
patent 873977 Dec 17 1907 J.J. Albrecht
Syracuse / Syracuse Wrench Co., 501 E. Water St., Syracuse, NY / "Champion" "Yala" / patent 873977 Dec 17 1907 Jacob J. Albrecht / http://alloy-artifacts.org/syracuse-wrench.html / http://alloy-artifacts.org/syracuse-wrench.html#history / http://toolarchives.com/index.php/node/317 / /
patented early in the 20th century, the "Champion" ratchet wrench was heavily marketed by Syracuse:
1908 Automobile Trade Directory Syracuse Wrench Co. Champion ad pp 155
1910 Automobile Trade Directory Syracuse Champion ad pp 471
patent 873977 Dec 17 1907 J.J. Albrecht
Attachments
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four.cycle
Well-known member
Moving right along to #20, we have the "Champion" screwdriver manufactured by the Union Hardware Company of Torrington, Connecticut:
Union / Union Hardware Co., Torrington, CT / est. 1854 / "Champion" "Valley" brands / patent 238369 Mar 1 1881 & 268784 Dec 12 1882 B. Donohue / https://connecticutmills.org/find/details/union-hardware-co /
(* not to be confused with any number of other companies named "Union" *)
1920s Union Hardware Co. catalog Champion Screwdrivers pp 6
Union / Union Hardware Co., Torrington, CT / est. 1854 / "Champion" "Valley" brands / patent 238369 Mar 1 1881 & 268784 Dec 12 1882 B. Donohue / https://connecticutmills.org/find/details/union-hardware-co /
(* not to be confused with any number of other companies named "Union" *)
1920s Union Hardware Co. catalog Champion Screwdrivers pp 6
four.cycle
Well-known member
At #20 and #21 is the Champion Silo Company of Des Moines, Iowa, makers of the "Champion" Silo Wrench:
Champion / Champion Silo Co., Des Moines, IA / (see also Western Silo Co.) /
Champion / Champion silo wrench see Western Silo Co. /
Western / Western Silo Co., Des Moines, IA / "Champion" silo wrench / est. 1910 /
Manufacturers of silos supplied tools necessary for assembly of the silo. Among these were "Silo Wrenches", as they are known:
Western Silo Co. (Des Moines IA) Champion Silo Wrench (photo: ebay 384712893600 01)
Western Silo Co. Champion Silo Wrench (photo: ebay 303734652211 01)
Champion / Champion Silo Co., Des Moines, IA / (see also Western Silo Co.) /
Champion / Champion silo wrench see Western Silo Co. /
Western / Western Silo Co., Des Moines, IA / "Champion" silo wrench / est. 1910 /
Manufacturers of silos supplied tools necessary for assembly of the silo. Among these were "Silo Wrenches", as they are known:
Western Silo Co. (Des Moines IA) Champion Silo Wrench (photo: ebay 384712893600 01)
Western Silo Co. Champion Silo Wrench (photo: ebay 303734652211 01)
four.cycle
Well-known member
Finally, (I've lost count) we have the Champion Spark Plug Company of Toledo, Ohio. While they didn't actually make it, they did market the "Champion Plug-Master" ratchet that was manufactured by The New Britain Machine Company of New Britain, Connecticut:
Champion / Champion Spark Plug Co., Toledo, OH / "Plug Master" ratchet manufactured by New Britain Machine /
Champion's "Plug Master" ratchet was heavily promoted in magazines and trade journals:
1958 Motor Age Champion Plug Master ad pp 92-93
1958 Motor Age Champion Plug Master ad pp 126-127
Champion, Champion, or Champion? < starts here
Champion / Champion Spark Plug Co., Toledo, OH / "Plug Master" ratchet manufactured by New Britain Machine /
Champion's "Plug Master" ratchet was heavily promoted in magazines and trade journals:
1958 Motor Age Champion Plug Master ad pp 92-93
1958 Motor Age Champion Plug Master ad pp 126-127
Champion, Champion, or Champion? < starts here
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four.cycle
Well-known member
I have, of course, exceeded my "edit" limit, so I am unable to correct those errors in the above posts that I have found thus far.
(I have made multiple attempts to correct the "Syracuse" post and remove the "YALA" reference, but have been unable to do so.)
Please let me know if you spot any other errors in my above posts. As should be evident, this is not a project I started yesterday.
Did Todd take his site down? None of the links to toolarchives.com seem to be working.
08/05/22 BK 05:11 PDT
(I have made multiple attempts to correct the "Syracuse" post and remove the "YALA" reference, but have been unable to do so.)
Please let me know if you spot any other errors in my above posts. As should be evident, this is not a project I started yesterday.
Did Todd take his site down? None of the links to toolarchives.com seem to be working.
08/05/22 BK 05:11 PDT
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I was and still am.
I wasn't actually doubting their existence, 4.c, so much as pointing out in a lighted-hearted manner that "we" collectors here on GJ were doing a bang up job on the 501's and pretty much getting skunked across the board on the others so far!
But thanks.I think we'd need harder evidence, of course, but the backwards "N" on one of the textile style DOE wrenches that Levi noted in post # 10 is at least a little intriguing. Is it possible that two die makers for two completely different companies making two different kinds of wrenches ("S", and textile) with the same name each happen to configure a die with the same mistake? Yes. But given the same name, it is possible it was one die maker with the same bad habit, too. The rectangle bothers me for it being the same as the DeArment company, though.
Made or sold? Isn't there some evidence on the Eberhard thread to suggest they were made by Eberhard? LS, who refers to your chevrons as cravats, has a few with the Circle-E. Or is the make/sold the other way around?
It's my understanding that it's a number and time (24 hours?) limit, 4.c. If you try tomorrow, and you don't make a bunch of other edits today, I think you will be allowed to edit them.
Oh, and nice work! It's obvious that the popular proliferation of this word as a brand name among various hand tool makers has been itching at you for quite some time! You are a champ!
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d42jeep
Well-known member
That has been my experience as well. What is left of Tool Archives no longer seems to be working.
-Don
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I haven't talked to Todd in a few months, guys, but I'm pretty sure that letting the yearly server fee lapse on his website goes hand in hand with his absence here, and his brief return to announce the sale of a bunch of his tools, all precipitated by him downshifting some personal life gears that he doesn't feel like discussing but GJ well-wishers should not read as drastic or tragic.
four.cycle
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz regarding the 'OK Champion' DOE wrench said:
"Cravat" was the word I could not remember.
Yes, LesserSon's "E in a circle" examples certainly cause one to wonder. Eberhard certainly had the manufacturing capacity, as did "OK Champion".
The "Chevron" (or "Cravat", as LS refers to it)(which is "tie" in French, which is probably why it didn't really register with me when I first saw it posted) does raise a question.
Assigned to "OK Champion", but only because we haven't seen evidence to the contrary.
Based on the way LS's brain works and his reticence to leap to conclusions, we need to do some more digging on this one.
ergo:
O.K. / O.K. Champion Corp., 4714 Sheffield Ave., Hammond, IN 46327 / est. 1897 / farm implements / "OK Champion" wrench possibly manufactured by Eberhard / acquired by TSE International see https://tse-international.com/products/underground/ok-champion/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/champion-wrench.491400/ /
four.cycle
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz said:
How'd I manage to miss that one?
I've cropped and enlarged the image of bus1's "Champion" textile wrenches (posts #22 and #33), and I am not seeing any backwards "N" on any of those examples. There are, however, a couple "Champion" textile wrenches with the "backwards N" currently listed on ebay, photos of which are posted below.
I have seen the backwards "N" on other models of the "S"-shaped service wrenches - it was certainly not exclusive to the model 501. (A couple examples below.)
Again, you're correct: We need more evidence to establish who the manufacturer of the "textile" type wrench was.
Private Lugnutz said:
That sounds like a good argument for them both being made in the same house, on the same line, with (possibly) the same dyslexic set-up guy working with the dies.
Attachments
four.cycle
Well-known member
That is unfortunate that Todd's site went down. He did have information posted on the site that was not posted anywhere else on the web.
I suppose it would be appropriate then to remove the T/A links from the list.
This thread wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of at least ONE Asian-made "Champion" knock-off, so here you go:
Champion 4-pc SAE ratcheting open end wrench set (Taiwan)(photo: ebay 254813712388 01)
Champion 4-pc SAE ratcheting open end wrench set (Taiwan)(photo: ebay 254813712388 01)
Not a clue who "SCM" is, and I don't care, and I am NOT going down a Taiwanese rabbit hole, but feel free to do so yourself:
www.taiwanhandtools.com.tw
I suppose it would be appropriate then to remove the T/A links from the list.
This thread wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of at least ONE Asian-made "Champion" knock-off, so here you go:
Champion 4-pc SAE ratcheting open end wrench set (Taiwan)(photo: ebay 254813712388 01)
Champion 4-pc SAE ratcheting open end wrench set (Taiwan)(photo: ebay 254813712388 01)
Not a clue who "SCM" is, and I don't care, and I am NOT going down a Taiwanese rabbit hole, but feel free to do so yourself:
Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers' Association(THTMA)-MEMBERS | TaiwanHandTools.com.tw
Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers' Association(THTMA) 台灣手工具工業同業公會。
This is an example of a subject that has nagged at me. The preservation of the wealth of information and research on tool history posted on the internet is more tenuous than what we'd like to think. A number of sites and forums have been set up and maintained by the efforts of one man having the passion and resources to put them together. If something happens to that individual or his resources, the content is lost. Most recently was the passing of "papaw" Noel Hankamer. His son Patrick stepped in to preserve and maintain Noel's Papaw's Wrench website and the Tool Talk forum, which contains a wealth of information. Without Patrick, the site would have likely been lost. But there was no guarantee that his son would have taken over the task, nor is there any guarantee Patrick's enthusiasm and dedication to the project is equal to his father's. There may come a time when he loses interest, runs out of time or resources, or something else may befall him, and the Tool Talk forum will disappear. I can think of one thread here on GJ that was started as an ongoing project but was abandoned by the member when he seemed to have lost interest in it.
Which brings us to the famous Garage Gazette crash where all the forum content was lost because the server service had a major malfunction (this also affected the above-mentioned project where it was being more actively maintained, but was never re-started after the crash). The GG is another of those forums maintained by one man with a single set of resources. Alloy Artifacts is another site that I believe is the project of one man, and so may be at a similar risk. I seem to recall that even the establishment and maintainence of Garage Journal is the result of a single individual's project. Were GJ to be lost, the loss of the incredible volume of valuable historical information recorded here is a heart-wrenching thought.
If anything happens to those individuals, the chances are good that the content of their respective forums will be lost. Things happen. People and their circumstances change. There will come a day when none of us commenting on this thread will be around. It is the inescapable fate of any one-man show.
I've thought about publishing my RHFT type study and other research I've recorded in GJ on Amazon in a digital format to insure its preservation. But I too have reached a state in my life where I simply don't want to devote what little time and energy I have left to its undertaking--I have more important fish to fry before I go which now command my motivation. Perhaps when the major project I'm working on now is completed, I may do it. Or maybe not.
Todd's toolarchives is not the first, nor will it be the last.
four.cycle: thank you for your extensive research on this subject.
four.cycle
Well-known member
DadsTools said:
Unfortunately there really isn't a "place" for this information to be archived in any sort of permanent fashion.
It is, unfortunately, a tenuous connection at best.
I originally posted my "list" on Wikipedia (as well as here on GJ), but when I went to update it, I got an error message telling me the list contained URLs with "offensive or questionable content". Needless to say, I deleted the entry at Wikipedia, and the "list" has a home here on GJ and on my hard drive. If it's lost, it's lost.
I've spent the last several years researching and mining the web for every little scrap of material I could find that had to do with "tool".
What you see above is just a little bit of a small portion of the "C" section in my "tools" folder. (see attached)
Like many others, I'm out of time. I have many other projects that need my attention. Like Todd, events here have caused me to reexamine the use of my time and my priorities.
What do I do with this material?
Attachments
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
No worries.
With the caution that the rectangle around the textile style is a little troublesome, agreed and thanks. Credit to Levi who made first note of it.
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ I completely misunderstood your statement above regarding the rectangle, then.
I had interpreted (or rather misinterpreted) your statement to mean that the "rectangle" was a "Champion DeArment" thing.
No?
Is the rectangle associated with another maker?
The backward "N" thing ..... what are the odds of that happening in two different manufacturing plants concurrently?
The more I think about THAT part of it, the less it makes sense that those came out of two different houses.
I had interpreted (or rather misinterpreted) your statement to mean that the "rectangle" was a "Champion DeArment" thing.
No?
Is the rectangle associated with another maker?
The backward "N" thing ..... what are the odds of that happening in two different manufacturing plants concurrently?
The more I think about THAT part of it, the less it makes sense that those came out of two different houses.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
To clarify, I was relaying Levi's observation to point out that the backwards N's in the same name on two different wrenches could mean the same guy assembling the dies, which would lend some credence to Champion DeArment making both the "S" and textile wrenches.
But, as my Heller wrench exemplifies, the letter "N" seems to give plenty of die assemblers trouble. And they could also be from two different mfgrs with two different die assemblers who each have trouble with the letter "N". (With Heller in the mix, at least three different mfgrs.)
Lending credence to THAT caution, in my opinion, is the rectangle. The textile wrenches have it. The "S" wrenches don't. In my experience, shapes around brands are not random, they are arbitrary, and they are usually part of the branding.
But, as my Heller wrench exemplifies, the letter "N" seems to give plenty of die assemblers trouble. And they could also be from two different mfgrs with two different die assemblers who each have trouble with the letter "N". (With Heller in the mix, at least three different mfgrs.)
Lending credence to THAT caution, in my opinion, is the rectangle. The textile wrenches have it. The "S" wrenches don't. In my experience, shapes around brands are not random, they are arbitrary, and they are usually part of the branding.
Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 10,459
Not sure where this odd little set fits into all this
Amen. Which brings us to another aspect of this circumstance (sorry, Leviton, if I'm kind of hijacking this thread). What might be the 'cash value' of this information? Traditional collector references in book form are a traditional avenue for preserving such information in a permanent form, but are expense to produce and print. To make the venture worthwhile, the target audience has to be sufficiently large and/or sufficiently affluent. It's easy in our GJ world to lose sight of the reality that vintage tool collecting represents such a minuscule segment of the general population. Of all the people I've personally known in my life, I don't recall any of them having any interest (or even a passing curiosity) in vintage tools aside from the few individuals that inherited tools owned by their family, and even here the interest was limited to what was inherited. I know of a couple print references referring to antique wrenches (true antiques) and wood hand planes, both of which have audiences willing to dig into deep pockets for the associated artifacts. Then consider fields like Christmas or fishing collectibles, the audience for which have given rise to numerous published references, local and regional clubs, and multiple annual conventions and other related gatherings. Just take collectible fishing lures, where some have sold in the tens of thousands, topped by the rarest Haskell minnow that sold for over $100,000. With vintage tools, however, many if not most will not acquire unless they can get it at yard sale prices, and even the more valuable examples run only in the hundreds. It's a very limited market.
Awhile back I published a collector reference book on a very narrow and marginal category of fishing tackle collectibles. My publisher who specializes in vintage tackle references has sold less than 100 copies at about $40 a shot. There is no way I will ever recoup the many hours devoted to its writing or the time it took to contact information sources by phone (I was able to finally track down one key person in a nursing home), or the thousands of dollars I spend acquiring artifacts to be photographed and described. It was a labor of love, dedicated to one of my childhood fishing heroes. Were it not for a publisher who specialized in this category of book, mine would have never found a home.
As to what can be done with all the historical information you've acquired, four.cycle, the answer lies in what you're willing to personally sacrifice and spend in time, money and resources in order to get it all organized and preserved in a permanent form. It would have to be a labor of love, because the actual open-market cash value of this information is very small. A lot of it is free on the internet to access, along with all the info published in GJ and other forums.
four.cycle
Well-known member
We're way off on a tangent here, and I was hoping to avoid that, but I'll address your comment above:
I never had any intention of trying to make money, or even break even, on this venture. The intent from the very beginning was to help build an open-source database. (Todd and I had several phone conversations way way way back about this.)
The "list" is only a starting point.
The "plan" is to organize and clean up all the files and folders - and there are a lot of them, as you can see from the image above - and copy it all to a flash drive and simply distribute the flash drives to "interested parties".
If somebody wants to take that material and try to publish a book, I wish 'em all the luck in the world.
I never had any intention of trying to make money, or even break even, on this venture. The intent from the very beginning was to help build an open-source database. (Todd and I had several phone conversations way way way back about this.)
The "list" is only a starting point.
The "plan" is to organize and clean up all the files and folders - and there are a lot of them, as you can see from the image above - and copy it all to a flash drive and simply distribute the flash drives to "interested parties".
If somebody wants to take that material and try to publish a book, I wish 'em all the luck in the world.
RTM
Well-known member
You can find some fragments of certain sites on the WayBack Machine.
Here is Twertsy on the wayback, not sure how complete it is, I was never fortunate to find much stuff on it. Seems kinda circular right now. Often images get dropped, which is painful for one site which was picture heavy describing a certain tool.
Wayback Machine
web.archive.org
Continuing the off tangent on archiving for a moment:
Another site I knew of, a one man show, "gave" his source files to a younger guy, who buried the one website inside his own. Another website grabbed some key "articles" from a soon to be defunct site, and kept them alive. Its really a matter of thinking of your own mortality, and the value of the site's information to others. Others have slurped* sites post-mortem.
Opposite edge of the spectrum: Another site I knew of gathered lots of great information, had some stuff that was custom authored by others, and just took the whole thing down with no notice. He didn't even have the courtesy to give the authors back copies of their work I was told. A few people slurped up his site, but kept it for their personal use, as he was throwing a fit, seeing all the download action. Don't know why the authors didn't have copies of their work.
I dunno about others, but I suspect one or two others besides four.cycle are keeping copies of their better work in an offline form. I keep all my pictures on a separate server, as I was a member of a site that went down, and took all the images and legends with it. Was before I had my own photo site, and motivated me to keep stuff there instead of on a forum site. Still have not figure out who all the people were in one set of pictures.
* slurp, I forget the program, but Unix people were using it down download a copy of a website very quickly, for recreation at a later time.
Four.cycle. Wow. Thank you for the extensive work in this post and those that followed.
four.cycle
Well-known member
You gentlemen are all very welcome, and I seriously hope that this effort finally ends some of the confusion about who made what and for who.
It looks to me like we are left with but TWO mysteries, the answers to at least one of which may have been staring us in the face all along:
1. The 10-inch adjustable nut wrench with "CHAMPION" forged into the handle (on both sides), which has been often confused with a very similar-looking model manufactured by Girard Wrench Mfg. Co.. (see post #25) That theory has been debunked, and we know that Girard did not make that unit.
Mr. Stan Schulz looked into it and came up with a manufacturer in Springfield Ohio. Until more definitive evidence is found, that is as close as we're going to get on this one.
2. The 22½° offset double-open-end "textile" wrench with "CHAMPION" stamped on the center of the shank inside a rectangle, some of which have been found to be stamped with a backwards "N" character. (see post #33)
By sheer coincidence, there exist great numbers of "S" shaped "service wrenches" which were, as near as we have been able to ascertain, manufactured by the Champion Tool Company (or alternatively either of Champion DeArment's two other iterations), which also have the same backwards "N" character stamped on them.
Thus far, however, no document connects the "CHAMPION" branded "textile" wrench to Champion DeArment (or Champion Tool Co. or Champion Wrench Mfg. Co.)
As for me, I'm going with Occam's Razor and Judge Judy 101 ("If it doesn't make sense, it can't be true.") But I look forward to the discussion on this. - BK
It looks to me like we are left with but TWO mysteries, the answers to at least one of which may have been staring us in the face all along:
1. The 10-inch adjustable nut wrench with "CHAMPION" forged into the handle (on both sides), which has been often confused with a very similar-looking model manufactured by Girard Wrench Mfg. Co.. (see post #25) That theory has been debunked, and we know that Girard did not make that unit.
Mr. Stan Schulz looked into it and came up with a manufacturer in Springfield Ohio. Until more definitive evidence is found, that is as close as we're going to get on this one.
2. The 22½° offset double-open-end "textile" wrench with "CHAMPION" stamped on the center of the shank inside a rectangle, some of which have been found to be stamped with a backwards "N" character. (see post #33)
By sheer coincidence, there exist great numbers of "S" shaped "service wrenches" which were, as near as we have been able to ascertain, manufactured by the Champion Tool Company (or alternatively either of Champion DeArment's two other iterations), which also have the same backwards "N" character stamped on them.
Thus far, however, no document connects the "CHAMPION" branded "textile" wrench to Champion DeArment (or Champion Tool Co. or Champion Wrench Mfg. Co.)
As for me, I'm going with Occam's Razor and Judge Judy 101 ("If it doesn't make sense, it can't be true.") But I look forward to the discussion on this. - BK
Just to clarify, I never thought that you were intending to make money, nor did I intend to even infer that in my post. I'm not sure how you may have got that impression, so I must have not made my meaning clear. I was talking about the kinds of resources, efforts and expenses it requires to convert this kind of collector information into a permanent form, which is a printed paper book that cannot be lost by system crashes or website abandonment, all of which would be pretty much impossible to recoup were someone to undertake that task in this field. So rather than suggesting you might try to make money from it, my meaning was quite the opposite! Nor did I ever imagine that someone would try to take your information and publish a book with it, so I'm not sure how my post may have led to that thought. Sorry for any miscommunication--I hope it's cleared up now.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I've been on-board with Champion DeArment for the "S" wrenches since post #4. As for the textiles, for the reasons I've already mentioned, I tend to agree with leg17 from post #7.
As for the rest of the tools using the Champion name, I don't own any and I've never seen or paid much attention to them before, but it's a neat, long, and hopefully exhaustive list!
But I look forward to any new evidence one way or another that might turn up one day.
As for the rest of the tools using the Champion name, I don't own any and I've never seen or paid much attention to them before, but it's a neat, long, and hopefully exhaustive list!
four.cycle
Well-known member
leg17 said:
And that's why I'm trying to avoid making any definitive statement other than what I said just above.
You are correct: Marks mean something. They're not just randomly and capriciously stamped on tools.
That's why the rectangle gets in the way of claiming they're all from the same house.
At some point that "new evidence" will turn up.
four.cycle
Well-known member
DadsTools said:
That is exactly what I am hoping for.
They can use the information I've managed to amass and assemble and figure out how to package it all up in a neat little bundle. If they can manage to make a buck on it - Buddy, that's the American way.
Like I said above - I have a whole mess of other fish that need fryin' here... "tools" is just one part of my world.
We're good - don't worry. No harm, no foul.
Hopefully somebody will dig into this with new eyes and ferret out the rest of the pieces of the puzzle.
d42jeep
Well-known member
I found another S wrench with the backwards N today. Early Champion deArment. I guess I’ll store it with the Channellock tools.
-Don
-Don
It's actually made by Hampton Machine & Tool Company of Hampton, Iowa.
RTM
Well-known member
Geez, it does say that, doesn't it. @four.cycle
four.cycle
Well-known member
Champion Hardware Company, Geneva OH, founded 1883 in Cleveland as Champion Safety Lock and Novelty Co. Registered March 9, 1885. (bizapedia) Sold in 1954, closed in 1957.
Advertisements in Hardware (Archive)
Vintage machinery mentions this vise. There are three variations of the casting: plain font with “pat applied for,” plain font with “pat’d 1-2-17,” and script logo with “patented.” I have the first version. (other examples from eBay listings)
Note that their script logo is very similar to one Champion Blower used, with the “C” extending under the rest of the letters (like the Colt and Coca-Cola logos), so at a casual glance products of the two companies could be mis-attributed.
EDIT - This is not a Champion Hardware garage vise (photo from eBay listing), but a Champion Blower, with lowercase script letters following the underscore “C”.
CH made iron toys, too (stillbankclub).
Worthpoint has info, too, including a nice photo of the script logo at bottom of the page.
I had thought Stanley bought the company, based on castings I’ve seen of cabinet hardware, and similarity of L-shaped Stanley carpenter vises to the Champion model. But the stillbankclub article states they made components for other manufacturers, so maybe that’sthe relationship. I actually removed and dismantled a cabinet latch looking for the logo, but my memory seems to have pointed to the wrong cabinet. I’ll try a few others.
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I think it most likely Eberhard made that malleable steel wrench for OK Champion.Here's another fun one - the Champion Potato Machinery Company of Hammond, Indiana. This same company also made appearances as "OK Champion":
Champion / Champion Potato Machinery Co., Hammond, IN / "OK Champion" / see OK Champion /
O.K. / O.K. Champion Potato Machinery Co. see O.K. Champion Corp. /
O.K. / O.K. Champion Corp., 4714 Sheffield Ave., Hammond, IN 46327 / est. 1897 / farm implements / acquired by TSE International see https://tse-international.com/products/underground/ok-champion/ /
Originally a manufacturer of farm implements designed to plant and harvest potatoes, this company went on to become an industry leader in underground maintenance equipment for electric power, sewer and communications systems:
1903 Champion Potato Machinery Co. (Hammond IN) ad
1915 O.K. Champion Potato Machinery Co. ad
1937 OK Champion Corp ad
They also just happen to be the company who made that odd "S" shaped service wrench stamped "OK CHAMPION" with the little chevron shapes at the ends of the shanks:
OK Champion open-end wrench (photo: George Roberts 01)
OK Champion open-end wrench (photo: George Roberts 02)
Eberhard Manufacturing Company, Cleveland Ohio:
“E”-circle implement wrenches
all in my collection have since gone to live in Saskatoon
d42jeep
Well-known member
The logo on that vise looks like the logos on my new clamps, just posted on the clamp thread. 
-Don
-Don
four.cycle
Well-known member
Curious.
I have to wonder where and how this comes into play:
August 25 1901 "Hardware" - acquisition of Champion Safety Lock & Novelty Co. of Cleveland by H.B. Ives Co., New Haven, CT.
Not to be confused with W.A. Ives Co., Wallingford, CT - makers of "Mephisto" brand tools.
H.B. Ives Co. specialized in sheet-metal mail boxes and brass door knockers.
The exact same ad for the window sash lock was published in "Hardware" for several months after this acquisition notice, so I'm a bit puzzled - do I interpret that press announcement to mean that Ives only purchased the "Royal Sash Lock" part of Champion?
And yes, the logos on Don's C-clamps most certainly do look like the logo used on @LesserSon's vise, and as noted somewhere here, from "vise" to "clamp" isn't too far a stretch.
@LesserSon -
RE: Eberhard / Champion:
I cannot disagree with you. During my multiple communications with Stan Schulz regarding those "implement wrenches", he indicated that one of the big players in the "Eberhard" operation had his fingers in many pies, and was able to avail himself to the services of various forging facilities. Ergo: there was no one, single operation cranking out "E in a circle" wrenches. There's no reason to think that the "S-wrench with the Chevron ends" might not have been produced the same.
(* It's the line about "Similar "deep pattern" carriage wrenches with the same design number 7320 were produced by several malleable iron manufacturers including Illinois Malleable Iron Co. and Pratt." which is the salient part of the notepad text file below. That's the only notation regarding that I know of - the rest has been all anecdotal notes.)
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“SO FAR AS THEY PERTAIN AND RELATE TO THE ROYAL SASH LOCKS” - not a wholesale acquisition.Curious.
I have to wonder where and how this comes into play:
August 25 1901 "Hardware" - acquisition of Champion Safety Lock & Novelty Co. of Cleveland by H.B. Ives Co., New Haven, CT.
Not my vise, but the third version (on eBay).
Finally found my quilt frame clamps!The logo on that vise looks like the logos on my new clamps, just posted on the clamp thread.
-Don
First three are identical, fourth is smaller with an unreinforced spine, then three unmarked clamps from (apparently) two different manufacturers.