Chicago industrial tools

[Joconnor5032]

I have a set of metric wrenches that were my grandfather's, Chicago industrial is the brand. They look like a pretty good set of wrenches. Anyone heard of them? Can't find much about the brand.

 

[DadsTools]

They look like some of the Japanese imports that were being marketed here in the 1960s-70s. I used to sell similar wrenches, only our brand was Allied Industrial. They look almost identical. They were using American city names to put on the tools even back then (favorites were Chicago and Detroit). They were decent wrenches.

 

[rlitman]

I'm pretty sure that was a Harbor Freight brand back in the day.

 

[DFB]

Any COO stamping on them?

 

[Joconnor5032]

B
13-56 forged alloy steel Japan

 

[DadsTools]

Looks I was right on the Japan call. These Japanese makers could stamp any brand name on them you wanted, so it's difficult sometimes to nail down the exact source. They could have been stamped for a chain store like HF, department store or auto parts store chains, or for a west coast wholesale jobber who would then sell them to other chains or mom-and-pops. They could have even been made for the tool telemarketing or mail order trades. They could be a one-off where only a single entire production run was ever labeled like this. Fuller is a brand that comes to mind reminiscent of these wrenches and era. I believe they are decent wrenches and should serve the homeowner or DIYer just fine.

 

[DadsTools]

How about these for comps? Alloy Artifacts lists these as Kyoto Tool Company KTC Japan 1970s-80s. Could be the mfr here.