Did you know??

[kams1973]

"The overall length is 9.4 inches, and the finish is chrome plating. The chrome plating is unusual for this model, as the Williams catalogs from 1931 through 1950 consistently report the finish as cadmium plating."

"The patent pending notice refers to patent #1,811,137, filed by W.C. Kress in 1930, and issued in 1931 with assignment to J.H Williams. "

 

[Pukeballs]

The original dogbone. Cool find.

 

[lauver]

Nice wrench, where did you find it? I'd be willing to bet that Cad plating was only used during the WWII years.

Williams also made the first dog bone wrench for Sears/Craftsman back in the day. There were a few other OEMs for that style of wrench over the years. The current crop are all made in Taiwan. Sad.

 

[superautobacs]

Nice wrench, where did you find it? I'd be willing to bet that Cad plating was only used during the WWII years.

Williams also made the first dog bone wrench for Sears/Craftsman back in the day. There were a few other OEM for that syle of wrench over the years. The current crop are all made in Taiwan. Sad.

Straight from AA ....i thought you'd recognize those photos.


I believe there was an old German patent for a German-made dog-bone wrench as well. Hopefully Monte will pop in here.

 

[Joe B.]

Take a look at the patent. It is just for improvements to the Dog Bone and not the invention of it. These things have been around a lot longer than I had thought.

 

[lauver]

Super,

As much as I use and enjoy AA, they sometimes get things wrong (just like anybody else). I have seen and handled a few of the vintage Williams dog bone wrenches and they were indeed chrome plated.

Because chrome is hard and cadnium is comparitively softer, there is a good test: Take a medium or coarse 3M scuff pad and rub it real hard on the plating. If it's cad, there will be a grey coating on the pad. If its chrome, there will be no visible coating on the pad.

Yes there was a nice German made version of the dog bone. Tool Pants posted one. It had no OEM markings on the tool though. I'd like to hear what Monte thinks.

 

[kams1973]

These things have been around a lot longer than I had thought.

Exactly my point for starting this thread.


and yes, the pic is from AA

 

[MBeaty]

Exactly my point for starting this thread.

It is funny that you bring this up, because I was noticing the same thing a few weeks back. I was trying to dig up some info on a late 1950's vintage Craftsman machinist vise and found a dogbone wrench in a 1959 Craftsman catalog.

From all the hype about those things on TV right now, you would think they were a new idea. I wonder if the original patent had the drop in LED light or soft rubber handle in it.

 

[kams1973]

Nice avatar MBeaty

 

[bczygan]

Dogbone Patent

Here's the patent:

http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=PhBFAAAAEBAJ&dq=1,811,137

 

[cheap bastard]

They've been around all these years and folks still bite on the bad idea.

 

[mrholeshot]

They've been around all these years and folks still bite on the bad idea.

It's not a bad idea but a rather good one. You just can't ever seriously think it would replace a complete set of wrenches or sockets.

 

[MBeaty]

Nice avatar MBeaty

Thanks kams1973, right now I have one of them buried a little over 21000 ft below me and a lot of water

 

[Monte]

@superautobacs @lauver

"Eugen Zerver" ("Zerem" brand) patented his version in 1956. If you search for "Zerem socket wrench" in google sometimes you can find it on ebay or old tool websites and even in advertisements in old magazines from the US (Popular Mechanics IIRC)

 

[Rickster]

I've got one of those.... here's a pic.

 

[bczygan]

They've been around all these years and folks still bite on the bad idea.

Certainly a sell-able idea. My wife bought one at Lowe's or Big Lots and keeps it in the car. Don't know if anyone will ever use it for anything........kind of like a Swiss army knife.

 

[four.cycle]

"Eugen Zerver" ("Zerem" brand) patented his version in 1956. If you search for "Zerem socket wrench" in google sometimes you can find it on ebay or old tool websites and even in advertisements in old magazines from the US (Popular Mechanics IIRC)

Zerem / Zerem see Eugen Zerver, Remscheid, Germany /

Zerver / Eugen Zerver, Remscheid, Germany / patent DE 1723496 Mar 30 1956 Eugen Zerver / https://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?pn=1723496&id=58696 /

^ If you take a look at that datamp.org page, at the bottom you will see Stan's note saying that Eugen Zerver ("Zerem") became Hazet.
Maybe @Monte or @Orangina can weigh in on that one.


1952 Eugen Zerver Werkzeuk-Fabrik Remsheid ad

 

[Orangina]

To me, this is a wild mix of two companies because the last name of the founders are the same.
(In such a case, I would also be a famous pianist and would make shoes and produce documentaries etc - nope )

www.datamp.org ... Eugen Zerver / ZEREM Remscheid-
"The Zerver family has operated the company for over 150 years;"
The ZEREM company as far as I know only 40-50 years - I suspect they only existed until the '60s.
This is correct for HAZET - founded in 1868 by "Hermann Zerver" - a different company.

"in the 21st Century the company uses the HAZET brand name."
definitely not... also since the early 20th century.
HA-ZET (as the first letters H & Z pronounced in German of Hermann Zerver, born 1840) was registered in 1913 and used till today.
HAZET has some other sub-brands as VIGOR or used the yellow HAZET Standard series for cheaper tools in the '70s.
The family of Hermann Zerver is somehow known till back to 1585 and the family name changed step by step from Zörb to Zerver.

Eugen Zerver (born 1897) was not mentioned in the HAZET chronicle or this Hermann Zerver family — nor was his company ZEREM. He was apparently active before and after WWII. Apparently mainly pliers. Perhaps he, like other companies as Stahlwille or Belzer and others, manufactured tools for HAZET.

Keep in mind the German city and region around Remscheid and Wuppertal have till today a lot of well known old tool brands.
(Knipex, Wera, Picard, Stahlwille, GEDORE, DOWIDAT, Belzer, ...). So what will you do if you were born in the region during this time...

regards,