Historical question about wrenches...

[Junkdrawer Dog]

My Dad was born in 1930. From 1947 through 1954, he worked at a series of gas stations, starting as a pump jockey and working his way up to bay mechanic. (Such was the nature of on the job training in those days!) During this time, he acquired the bulk of his mechanics tools. Virtually everything was Craftsman. My specific questions are about his wrenches. He had double open end wrenches from 1/4" to 1 1/4". Some were sized in 32nds. He also had offset double box end wrenches from 3/8" to 3/4". He had absolutely zero combination wrenches until about 1980 when he bought a small set of metric combination wrenches. Was this a common way for a guy to build out a wrench set back in the forties and fifties? Is this the way Craftsman assembled mechanics sets back then? Or, was this just his personal preference? He didn't buy many mechanics tools after 1954 because he bailed on wrenching and became a TV repairman. Those were some damn good tools though, because he used them at home until he passed away in 2011.

 

[kbeefy]

I don't know for sure, but I know all of the really old wrenches I've seen have been open end. Not sure when box wrenches come on the scene.

 

[matthew]

IIRC, it is Proto that claims to have invented combination wrenches in the late ‘30’s. I suspect it took a while for them to be adopted universally.

 

[techkelly]

Combination wrenches didn't seem to gain any traction until the sixties. Really didn't show up in the catalogs until
after WW2. My dad and my uncle always had open end and box ends. When I first started building my own set in
71, I had box and open end. My thinking was that way I would be able to back up a bolt. Didn't start buying combinations
until after high school in 76.

 

[matthew]

Combo wrenches seem to have become what people think of as a wrench, but when you think about it there’s good reasons to have separate sets for each type. Ironically enough I think that’s more true today with the many different lengths and end types now available (open/flank drive plus open/flare/box/6pt box/offset/ratchet) but the mentality that a wrench has one open and one box end has become pretty engrained.

 

[nadogail]

Some Ford engines had fasteners sized in 32nds particularly 19/32 and 21/32. The wrenches I started with were hand me downs and mostly double or single open end styles. Sears and Wards tools were decent quality and popular priced.

 

[Bockscar]

IIRC, it is Proto that claims to have invented combination wrenches in the late ‘30’s. I suspect it took a while for them to be adopted universally.

They were Plomb at the time....they didn't change their name until the late 40's I think after they were sued by Plumb

 

[Bockscar]

If you want some real answers ask this over in the vintage tool thread....a lot of smart guys who have invested a lot of time in the history of modern tools

 

[finn]

Plumb marketed the first combination wrenches in 1933.

Craftsman, per Alloy Artifacts, marketed their version in late 1937 or 1938, so they would have been generally available by the time the op’s father was acquiring tools.

 

[seber]

When I was wrenching professionally back in the dark ages it was recommended to have a set of open ends and a set of box ends. That way you always had whatever was needed for both ends of a nut and bolt combination. Massive tool boxes that held multiples like two sets of combination wrenches were simply not seen.

 

[redwrench60]

My Dad and his older brother both had double open end and double box end wrenches as their primary users. From what I’ve seen that used to be very common. The box wrenches were long and deeply offset while the open ends were shorter and no offset. That gave you plenty of options to access nuts and bolts as well as hold a nut while you turn the bolt of the same size.

 

[lardy1]

In my thinking, having both dbe's and doe's provides a wider range of coverage than a single set of combo's. Tools were not cheap or readily available in many parts of the country. Particularly rural areas.

 

[MarkH]

Going back in time. The original farm shop had two sets of wrenches when I joined the family working it. One open end and one box end. Both 3/8 to 1 1/4. That was all. These sets covered almost everything we needed to do. Then a young me started adding wrenches to get to the huge sets we need today. When I started our tools all fit in a 3 drawer Craftsman top box which was big compared to our neighbors. Now each shop has 3 sets of boxes. One 46 or 52 inch top and bottom and 2 26 inchers with top intermediate and bottom boxes. We are adding 5 drawer tool carts to them too.

The reason when I started in the country we had a box and open end set was there were places only the open end set could get to and the same for the box end set. Still most bolts on farm machines had two sides you needed to use a wrench on. One side to hold and one to turn on. Very seldom at that time did you see a nut that you did not have to get something on the other side to hold it. So you took the 1/2 X 9/16 or what fit from both sets and went to work.

A single combination set was not a money saver. You would have to have two sets to do what the open and box end set would do. If you needed a 9/16 on both sides you need two wrenches. So if you used a combo set you needed two of them or an open end set or a box end set. So my older relatives thought for farming the combo set was not worth the extra expense at that time. The open end and box end sets had as many wrenches between them as a single combo set would have. So two combo sets were more expensive than an open and box set. They taught me an old lesson if the buffalo does not leave a stain when you let the coin go you had spent too much.

I never saw a combo set until I was taking auto mechanics in my junior year in high school. Snap on had provided the tools and had a standard set ups that the schools could use. Did move to using a combo and a box end most of the time when they were available. It was a little more convenient and did save some time which is money in our business. So we moved to what we still use today. 3 sets one combo, one box, and one open. That also represents our order of use.

Many things we work on still require a wrench on each side. The time savings from the combo was if we needed two box ends to work fastest we had them. If we needed two open ends we had them. We estimated a 3 payback period for the extra wrench set.

The open end set was cheaper as it was more common so that is why you see them. The old timers had a budget and no credit cards. So hopefully this explains much of the method to the madness of why your family members bought what they bought.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

Awesome responses to my questions! Thank you very much to all who replied! So I guess it boils down to machine design and economy. Mechanical connections in those days were more often through holes with a nut and bolt that required two wrenches of the same size. DOE and DBE gave you good options for turning and holding while being the least cost solution. This puts a lot of other stuff in perspective. When I bought my first set of wrenches in 1970, they were combination wrenches bought at the same time as a small socket set. The things I was wrenching on had more mechanical connections that were a threaded hole in a casting or some kind of captive nut and you only needed a socket or a combination wrench to tighten. No need for two wrenches. Probably why I never bought DOE or DBE wrenches. Another difference between Dad and myself was the he was very "wrench orientated " and I was "socket orientated ". Although he had wrenched on cars a fair amount, his socket set was very limited. His default response was to reach for a pair of wrenches. Was this a chicken or egg scenario ie, he reached for wrenches because he didn't have many sockets OR he didn't have many sockets because wrenches were the more common approach in his era of wrenching? Or he was just unable to afford both? My tool set was far fewer wrenches and way more sockets. Again, thanks to all and if anyone can shed some light on my last question, I'd love to hear.

 

[Dave455]

Part of the reason for the change was the switch from SAE to metric. With SAE, if you bought a complete set of wrenches, chances were you would need every size

When metric came along you had potentially more wrench sizes, but each countries standards were, (and still are to a degree) different. German DIN metric used 10, 13, 17, etc, Japanese 10, 12, 14, British 10, 13, 16 and so it went on. There was no point most folks buying a complete set as they wouldn’t use many sizes.

Buying combination wrenches was an easy way to go, as you just picked the sizes you needed. The downside, is that you might need two of every size!

Personally, I much prefer separate open enders and ring spanners / box end wrenches, and that’s the way I’ve gone at home. In my “road box” I’ve gone with combo’s.

 

[Kscardsfan]

Very cool thread you have going here.

 

[RedneckWelder]

My grandfather was a millwright for a cotton mill post WWII until he retired in the 80s. After his death I got some of his tools. Most wrenches were double box end (both deep offset and 10-15 degree like the box end of a normal combo wrench is) and then some double open end. Some metric as well. No combo wrenches.

 

[fourjeepin]

I have my grandfathers wrenches and his are the same - open ended, mostly Craftsman. One reason that I didn’t see mentioned above could be because many fasteners back then were square instead of hex. I inherited an almost complete set of double square sockets from my grandfather. Something I would guess is not in most modern tool boxes.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

This is true. I was born in 1956. I recall that a lot of inexpensive hardware still used square nuts. Fasteners for things like swing sets, lawn furniture, clotheslines, etc., still used square nuts. When I started working in factories, a lot of the older toolroom fixtures still used square nuts in larger sizes. In a tool room setting, double open end and adjustable wrenches were common.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

This is true. I was born in 1956. I recall that a lot of inexpensive hardware still used square nuts. Fasteners for things like swing sets, lawn furniture, clotheslines, etc., still used square nuts. When I started working in factories, a lot of the older toolroom fixtures still used square nuts in larger sizes. In a tool room setting, double open end and adjustable wrenches were common.

In my machine shop it’s still very much the norm for DOEs and adjustables to be the only wrenches used. I’m the weirdo that has some combo wrenches. What’s crazy is we have DOEs from like the ‘30s still in working use. For us, wrenches just aren’t doing much heavy work. We use them for adjustments on the mills or to tighten guards or fasten grinding wheels. It’s light touch stuff and the older guys say that has been that way forever. We have some guys that literally own a couple of adjustable wrenches and that’s it. Hex keys on the other hand….everyone owns like ten sets and all manner of lengths.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

Hahaha...very true about hex keys and toolmakers! I learned early on to be specific about fasteners when having fixtures and gaging built. Unless specified, a toolmaker would give you something assembled entirely with socket head cap screws. Sometimes that's not what you wanted, lol!

 

[Dave455]

This is true. I was born in 1956. I recall that a lot of inexpensive hardware still used square nuts. Fasteners for things like swing sets, lawn furniture, clotheslines, etc., still used square nuts. When I started working in factories, a lot of the older toolroom fixtures still used square nuts in larger sizes. In a tool room setting, double open end and adjustable wrenches were common.

In the U.K. square heads are still common on some things, such as coach screws.

Personally, I find a set of “bi square” sockets to be invaluable. Not just for these screws, but also for square head screws on machine toolposts, and square shafts on machine vices. I couldn’t be without them.

The nicest modern ones are Snap On. They actually offer their bi square sockets with “flank drive”. Koken offer them as well.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

Are coach screws the same as what we call lag screws? A large coarse thread used for heavy wood construction? Is so, those used to have primarily square heads until they started turning up with hex heads. When used outdoors, the hex corrodes away until it becomes difficult to remove. A square remains a square even with corrosion, making it somewhat easier to remove. I guess that's what I like about square head fasteners for some things. Even when corroded and buggered up, you can still turn 'em.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

I think my signature line should be "I'm just a square nut guy living in an e-torx world."

 

[Dave455]

Are coach screws the same as what we call lag screws? A large coarse thread used for heavy wood construction? Is so, those used to have primarily square heads until they started turning up with hex heads. When used outdoors, the hex corrodes away until it becomes difficult to remove. A square remains a square even with corrosion, making it somewhat easier to remove. I guess that's what I like about square head fasteners for some things. Even when corroded and buggered up, you can still turn 'em.

Yes, that’s exactly what they are.

I hadn’t thought of the reason why they were traditionally square head, but that’s obviously it!

Ironically, the majority of these that I use now are stainless steel. Very easy to use.