Clark Mfg "foster" brand ignition wrenches?

[Private Lugnutz]

Has anyone ever seen these before? "foster", underlined, with a stylishly intentional small f. Pressed steel type on par with Kastar, Meteor, and the like in a sewn vinyl pouch. Guessing 50's. The other marking may or may not be the OEM. Clark Manufacturing was located on Niagara Street in Buffalo since the late 1800's.

 

[3baygarage]

Neat find Lugz. Nothing to really add other than I have occasionally seen those names, nothing like the amount of Oxwall, Meteor, Williams, or other well known brands of wrenches.

If you dig around some, you’ll see Clark marked wrenches. Not sure if or how the names are connected.

 

[four.cycle]

Clark / Clark Mfg. Co., Buffalo, NY / miniature ignition wrenches /

Foster / (?) / ignition wrench /

^ Those two entries were already in the list (but you already knew that, right?)

Seen - yes. On ebay, which is where the photos are from. I didn't buy them. I have ZERO documentation for any of the names shown: Clark, Foster, or Silkworth's (of Ypsilanti, Michigan, no less.)

This makes me wonder....

Could there be any possible connection to......

Niagara / Niagara Falls Metal Works / Niagara Metal Stamping Corp., 235-47 Tenth St., Dept. 601, Niagara Falls, NY / "Premax", "Premax Radio Rench" / http://toolarchives.com/index.php/node/244 /

(see my next post below)

 

[four.cycle]

Do these look familiar?


Autoware SAE ignition wrench set

pouch looks to be about the same size, although that doesn't really mean a lot.
wrenches look quite similar - just a bit beefier thickness-wise than their Oxwall or Meteor counterparts.
not a clue on who/where/when on "Autoware" - they were crazy cheap so I grabbed them in a moment of foolishness.

After mentioning "Niagara" .... it occured to me that their "Premax" wrench sets were selling in the 1920s. No idea how long they were in business, but none of the ignition wrenches posted in this thread thus far date back anywhere near that far.

edit sorry... disregard the "Niagara" .... don't know what I was thinking there.... Clark was obviously perfectly capable of stamping out a little wrench - looks like they were a major player in the hardware business.... they were issued a patent Nov 17 1891 for a cabinet latch. Them being the outfit doing the private-brand stamping certainly seems entirely plausible.

 

[four.cycle]

follow-up on this one:

fairly confident that the maker of the "Foster" branded wrenches was

Clark / Clark Mfg. Co., Niagara St., Buffalo, NY / "Foster" miniature ignition wrenches / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/clark-mfg-foster-brand-ignition-wrenches.466972/ /

Clark Mfg. Co. of Buffalo also made window sash weight pulleys, padlocks, and other hardware, so they were definitely in the "metal stamping" business - little ignition wrenches would have been a no-brainer for them.

Silkworth's (#10 E. Michigan, Ypsilanti, MI) was a tire repair shop, auto repair shop, and then (apparently) later, an auto parts store, so I have to assume they outsourced that ignition wrench set and had their own name silkscreened onto the little roll-up pouch.

"Autoware" is still something of a mystery. (I'm only on "F" and working my way there.)

I do not believe there is any connection at all to Niagara, as noted in my post above.

12/15/24 15:23 PST