Eugene Cornwell

[leg17]

Part of a pile of old wrenches. Very slender, like a tappet wrench, but with SAE sizing. Alloy Artifacts seems to peg it as c.1927

OOB I can't make out the size. is that 5/16 or 9/16 or???

 

[Mintgrun]

Cornwell tools are scarce in these parts, so I'm celebrating finding these two little spin handles. The black one's handle diameter is 1-1/8" and the yellow is only 1". They're not nearly as cool as the older tools above, but hopefully reviving the thread will inspire more sharing.



Tom

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I’ve only ever found two Cornwell tools. We used to have a rep here but not anymore he passed away is what I heard. The Cornwell I have found has been old. I’ll have to take some pictures of them it’s just two sockets. I might have one or two other things laying around too that I have forgotten about.


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Snagged these at the flea yesterday. Impressed by the ratchet (50's), never handled one before. Not sure what the detent ball is for on the hexagonal rotating handle on the speeder (likely prewar).

 

[Oldtuleguy]

There is a groove on the bar that ball rides in, keeps it in that spot.

 

[outofbounds]

Snagged these at the flea yesterday. Impressed by the ratchet (50's), never handled one before. Not sure what the detent ball is for on the hexagonal rotating handle on the speeder (likely prewar).

I'm flabbergasted that you haven't had that ratchet before. They seem rather ubiquitous in the Motor City, I have several laying around that have been included in box and contents purchases and reasonably common at garage sales. For some reason usually roached and abused.

A few Cornwell items picked up in the last few weeks at a barn sale:

A 36" long speeder (first cousin to yours) as well as a carbon scraper, a nice beefy awl and screwdriver, and a DBE

Not a huge fan of Cornwell, but it seems to stalk me and follow me home!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

There is a groove on the bar that ball rides in, keeps it in that spot.

Ahhh. That makes sense. Better than the stops hidden underneath.

I'm flabbergasted that you haven't had that ratchet before.

They do seem very common, I just haven't come across one before, OOB. Funny, too, because I had a bunch of Cornwell (at least fifty (50) pieces, 1/2- and 3/8 drive, angle wrenches, ignition wrenches - see posts #29, #44, and #58) that I traded to UNAIU, all kinds of handles, but no ratchets! I was looking for the matching older style ratchets for a number of years and never did run into those either.

 

[MR.X]

So when I stopped in LA and picked up a box of 20's/30's era tools from a guy whose grandfather was a mechanic about 75% of the stuff was Plomb. Among the other makes was this cool early Cornwell. I've run across and sold a lot of old Cornwell stuff but I can't remember if I've seen these little distinctive stops...the side that would be against the socket is flat of course but the handle side of both stops has almost half circle look. There's NO indication that some guy just decided to grind off a regular lip either for style or so he could get his greasy fingers farther underneath the base of a stuck socket to push it off. Has anyone seen similar stops on a Cornwell wrench or extension? BTW this thing is a serious acoustic resonator.

 

[Targa68]

Have this little Flex-Box Wrench.
17 CORNWELL FS7 - USA sizes are 1/2'' and 7/16''.
Cadmium plated, maybe war-time?




Thank you.

 

[Shelbylex]

I have 5 Cornwell wrenches I picked up last year. Like the tappet wrenches - they cleaned up very well compared to original condition...

 

[Shelbylex]

Got another few Cornwell wrenches. I guess being old and oxidized is a theme here (did not see a great condition one yet - may be we did not have them back in the day or people just tend to keep them.
Before and after... $1 for both...

 

[Mintgrun]

Just a couple of little 3/8" wrenches to share. The head on the 10-1/4" long wrench seems too thick to be a tappet wrench. What might it's purpose be?





This stamp makes me think of the United States Army Air Corps, but it's missing one "A". Wikipedia taught me that the USAAC was active from 1926-1942 (disbanded in 1947). Did someone just get lazy and skip an "A" when stamping it?

 

[Provincial]

Can you make out the 42 C_____ number they stamped over? I think that will be the best clue.

 

[Mintgrun]

The 42 C(ornwell)? It seems a bit rude to put the stamp right on top of the maker's mark.

I will try to find an old catalog to look up the #22 wrench. I just thought maybe someone knew the purpose off hand.

I'm being lazy.

Tom

 

[Mintgrun]

Okay, the 21A catalog shows a 3/8" tappet wrench with a 1/4" thick head, which is part # TW-0. My wrench has an 0 stamped into the shank, but the one in the catalog is 12" long; so maybe someone cut mine a little shorter. I guess not all tappet wrenches have slim heads.

The following image was taken from the Internet Archive catalog, seen here.

Cornwell Quality Tools : Catalog No. 21A : Cornwell Quality Tools Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

68 p., illus., 22.7 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[four.cycle]

December 1929 Popular Mechanics Cornwell Tool advertisement pp 149

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Did someone just get lazy and skip an "A" when stamping it?

Not lazy, but exclusionarily prideful. It shows up quite often and if you search GJ VB on "USAC" you'll see a variety of several other examples where I provide this same kind of response. Not as common as "USAAC" or just "AC" on tools, but it's almost like a hopeful, prescient version of "USAF".

 

[four.cycle]

1952 Cornwell Catalog No. 28 now available for download at International Tool Catalog Library!

thanks Mark!

 

[saukit]

That was a convenient bump fourcycle, I didn't even have to go to the sticky to find this thread! Here are a few random pieces of Cornwell. I'm not too attached to this stuff but as someone above said, "it just follows me home".

 

[thisistheshow]

11/16 angle head wrench.
Marked 24 Cornwell AW12 .

I searched and found some models without USA (as mine is). But none of those had the AW. I read that not having USA meant early perhaps, but that the AW came later. I am sure you guys can straighten me out on this one!

Any help appreciated! I am newish to vintage tools but love this place!

 

[woody 73]

Post Reply to the above post.

Please help me date this Cornwell angle head wrench

11/16 angle head wrench. Marked 24 Cornwell AW12 . I searched and found some models without USA (as mine is). But none of those had the AW. I read that not having USA meant early perhaps, but that the AW came later. I am sure you guys can straighten me out on this one! Any help appreciated...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I am usually hard on AA, but credit where credit is due, they do a pretty good job on Cornwell dating. You have to read their torturously-worded rationale and parse through the examples to really understand it chronologically, though.

From my notes the general sequence was...

1919-1926
- The Cornwell name and hardware standard (U.S.S., S.A.E., etc) sizes, not milled opening sizes

1927-1932
- The Cornwell name with a letter (e.g., A through F) and hardware standard sizes

1933-1934
- Unknown one- or two-digit numbers (e.g., 17, 24, etc), the Cornwell name, one- or two-digit model numbers, NO letter, and the switch to milled opening sizes

1935->
- Unknown one- or two-digit numbers (e.g., 17, 24, etc), the Cornwell name, an alphanumeric model number with a functional phonetic prefix (e.g., AW for Angle Wrench, TW for Tappet Wrench, etc) followed by a number (e.g., 6, 12, etc) and NO "USA"

Later in the 30's through the 40's and into 50's
- Unknown one- or two-digit numbers (e.g., 17, 24, etc), the Cornwell name, the alphanumeric model number, and "USA"

Later still (and AA says 1954->)
- Unknown one- or two-digit numbers (e.g., 17, 24, etc), the Cornwell name, the alphanumeric model number with the prefix where the model number (e.g., 1814) now corresponds to milled opening size(s) in 32/nds, and "USA"

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I picked up this Cornwell CF-70 spark plug gapper yesterday. It is an early PAT. PEND. model. The patent that the notice refers to (2,645,142) was granted in July 1953 to Otto Schwenzfeier. I have a Herbrand version with the patent number on it, and as I noted on the Herbrand thread when I posted it, here, the patent was assigned to James T. Clark, of Fort Morgan, Colorado, the home of Clark-Feather, which is where the "CF" part number comes from. Like their valve lifters, Clark-Feather made these for 'Lottie, Dottie, and Everybody', as we used to say in the Army, and some of those other brand examples have been posted elsewhere on GJ. But I am sure that this one was made between January 1951 and June 1953, after the patent application was submitted and before the number was assigned.

It will eventually live out the rest of its days in a vintage era retirement Cornwell box in Ohio!

 

[Username already in use]

It will eventually live out the rest of its days in a vintage era retirement Cornwell box in Ohio!

Oh, oh…!
I know which box that is!

I picked up these two SOE Tappet wrenches today to go in that same box.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Those are Longfellows!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Snatched this Cornwell ignition set "hiding in plain sight" on a table of other unrelated miscellaneous stuff on the table of a house closeout at the flea this morning. It had the missing later "IW" marked wrench (see attached Pic below), which made me wonder if it might not've come that way in some postwar transitional period, or lost and replaced later by PO (more likely!), but either way, I will be on the lookout for that wrench (7/32"-15* x 1/4"-60*) in the earlier more primitive hand forged type and earlier more primitive marking to complete it. Classic GMTK early war spec style with every opening except the largest getting a 15* or 60* angle.

 

[d42jeep]

Shiftless stopped by yesterday and allowed me to go through his treasure trove of free tools. One of the goodies I grabbed was this rusty 3/8” drive Cornwell ratchet that had been assembled backwards. I took it apart and added a bit of 3 in one oil. I spent some time de-rusting it with my 3M rotary 220 brush. It now works almost as smoothly as my others.
Here is my newerJR-3 in a catalog listing
-Don

 

[ForrestT]

Piggybacking off of Don’s post, I acquired this Cornwell ratchet last April or May. I want to know more about it so asking the Cornwell experts. The only markings on this ratchet are a 39 and USA. Why no Cornwell stamp or model number?

 

[ForrestT]

Shiftless stopped by yesterday and allowed me to go through his treasure trove of free tools. One of the goodies I grabbed was this rusty 3/8” drive Cornwell ratchet that had been assembled backwards. I took it apart and added a bit of 3 in one oil. I spent some time de-rusting it with my 3M rotary 220 brush. It now works almost as smoothly as my others.
Here is my newerJR-3 in a catalog listing
-Don

Don, what did you use to unscrew your cover? Thanks.

 

[d42jeep]

I used a pair of vacuum grip longnoses with fairly thin tips that fit into the holes. I was a little nervous about hurting the longnoses but fortunately the nut wasn’t too tight.
-Don

 

[softailgarage]

When I became a Cornwell dealer I was sent to Wadsworth, Ohio for a week of training. The second day we were loaded up and taken to Mogadore to tour the forge. Its the oldest, still operating tool forge in the U.S. and me, being a tool and history freak was in 7th heaven. I was surprised that a building that small could house so much production with a very limited amount of employees. For instance, there are two, yes, two women that assemble the socket wrenches, by hand, thats it. Putting aside my disdain for their business practices, that is one day I will never forget.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I only have 2 Cornwell tools in my collection, a spinner and a dollar table wrench. The spinner is pretty cool, it’s got a 1/4 inch drive stub that comes out the end of the handle then it has an extension. I found it in a bin of cheap screwdrivers, so I got it for 50¢. If you have info about it I would love to know, so please share!
-Tommy

Before

After
I’ll get a picture of it with the extension off of it later.

 

[d42jeep]

I was gifted this nice Cornwell DOE today by an old friend. It went right into my user toolbox.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

Based on Lugz's post #102 above, I'm thinking this little DBE was made between 1933-'34.

1933-1934
- Unknown one- or two-digit numbers (e.g., 17, 24, etc), the Cornwell name, one- or two-digit model numbers, NO letter, and the switch to milled opening sizes

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Got this 3/8 drive ratchet from my cousin, tore it apart, cleaned out the awful grease and re-greased it. It’s pretty decent for a batwing ratchet design.

 

[twertsy]

Snatched this Cornwell ignition set "hiding in plain sight" on a table of other unrelated miscellaneous stuff on the table of a house closeout at the flea this morning. It had the missing later "IW" marked wrench (see attached Pic below), which made me wonder if it might not've come that way in some postwar transitional period, or lost and replaced later by PO (more likely!), but either way, I will be on the lookout for that wrench (7/32"-15* x 1/4"-60*) in the earlier more primitive hand forged type and earlier more primitive marking to complete it. Classic GMTK early war spec style with every opening except the largest getting a 15* or 60* angle.

Pretty sure I have one of those Lugz. Just gotta get the Cornwell stuff into my new shop!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I've managed to pick up a few stamped looking ones

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Pretty sure I have one of those Lugz.

Terrific!

Just gotta get the Cornwell stuff into my new shop

I'd say I'd stop in have a 10AM beer and do some horsetradin' next time I'm at Ft Belvoir - but you up and moved away on me!

 

[bmwrd0]

A friend and co-Garage Journaler sent me this:



The box shows up in the '36 catalog as the Expert Mechanics Socket Set. I had only previously seen this particular box used by Craftsman and Hinsdale, and was pleasently surprised to be gifted one with such a nice decal. It is now a work in progress to fill it with the proper sockets and drive tools, of which I only had a few of.

 

[MR.X]

Hit a garage sale yesterday...as I'm looking thru dude's stuff he mentions that ALL tools are $1.00 each........... obviously I start stuffing my bag. Dude's grandfather was a mechanic and what was for sale was what was left after everyone in the family had taken what they wanted. I can't imagine what all that could have been. I acquired one of these Cornwell ratchets with the screw in handles before but it only had the 12" handle. This one had the 10 & 15.