How many makers?

[Applesauce]

I bought this set of metric hex bits on fleaBay. While they look pretty nice - the chrome is (mostly) chromey, the broaches (mostly) precise, and the bits are razor sharp - I've yet to use them.

I find it a bit nuts how many "manufacturers" are to be found on the packaging, along. What could their marketing literature have looked like? The sockets read Challenger by Proto; the box Challenger on the front; on the back it's Challenger by Proto; but then, finally, there's Ingersoll-Rand... Maybe I-R made the roll pins?!

It's remarkable that two of the three have (mostly) survived!

 

[transittech]

Ingersoll is a bit like Stanley, they own lots of stuff. They used to own more, but they closed some of it down, like P&C.

 

[transittech]

Just went to their website, they own Kryptonite (bicycle locks).

http://http://company.ingersollrand.com/ircorp/en/discover-us/our-global-brands/portfolio-of-brands.html
http://company.ingersollrand.com/ircorp/en/discover-us/our-global-brands.html

 

[sector9]

Looks like IR used to own Proto from 1962-1980 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_(tools)

Alloy artifacts dates the finalized acquisition at 1964 http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/proto-empire.html

So that would date your new hex bits to that time frame!

 

[nicksnothereman]

I bought this set of metric hex bits on fleaBay. While they look pretty nice - the chrome is (mostly) chromey, the broaches (mostly) precise, and the bits are razor sharp - I've yet to use them.

I find it a bit nuts how many "manufacturers" are to be found on the packaging, along. What could their marketing literature have looked like? The sockets read Challenger by Proto; the box Challenger on the front; on the back it's Challenger by Proto; but then, finally, there's Ingersoll-Rand... Maybe I-R made the roll pins?!

It's remarkable that two of the three have (mostly) survived!

It might've been some sort of regulatory thing that they probably don't have anymore. Like having to post the parent on subsidiary branded stuff. I don't know this for a fact, just throwing it out there.

 

[sberry]

A big thing is steel. New plants make better steel cheaper, pretty soon it doesn't make sense to make a cheaper product and double the inventory, to save 50$ a ton on steel for hex bits,,,, makes way more sense to make a decent bit and pluck them from the line.

They put the same bit in the cheap sets in many cases. Hand can openers at Walmart is worthy of a note, price vs quality. Take a close look. I bought some ATD adjustables wrenches. I think they were plucked off the line just before they stamped the brand on it. It was ready for the chrome plant and I bet they do. Could have stamped snappy on it and never known the difference.

The price difference in small production parts has become so marginal its not worth making a crappy part when you can make so much more by adding chrome and branding it. Even Walmart doesn't want to be a return center for broken tools every day.

I don't buy a lot of it but I cant think of a single tool I bought at a Walmart that didn't work better than I thought it would. The common Stanley retractable knife is still a standard as are tape measures. They sell some brand stuff too.

The sets of torx-hex bits are a couple dollars more than hf but its not a deal breaker.

 

[sberry]

Probably 3 companies make 90% of the bits in the world. Maybe somewhere right in china someone assembles a blister pack of 60 bits for flea mkt real cheap but can one imagine the inventory control it would take to classify quality levels for hundreds of tool brands world wide? Was easier just to spec a level and run them all in a pallet box. You figure western for4ge or who ever is going to sort all these bits one by one?

I can see them shipping all the crappy seconds to sears,, ha

 

[Applesauce]

Looks like IR used to own Proto from 1962-1980 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_(tools)

Alloy artifacts dates the finalized acquisition at 1964 http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/proto-empire.html

So that would date your new hex bits to that time frame!

Interesting...certainly didn't think they were that old. Thanks!

 

[sberry]

They have merged for sure.

 

[fatfillup]

Challenger was an economy line of Proto. Normally not finished as well as Proto. Don't think it was ever a seperate company.

 

[WWIIjeep]

Looks like IR used to own Proto from 1962-1980 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_(tools)

Alloy artifacts dates the finalized acquisition at 1964 http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/proto-empire.html

So that would date your new hex bits to that time frame!

Along with the 1962 date being wrong, the 1980 date is wrong too.

Stanley's own authorized and published history states they purchased Proto from Ingersoll-Rand in 1984.

So the hex bits date from somewhere between 1964 and 1984. By the look of the packaging, I'd say later in that era rather than earlier, so probably more like 1975-84.

Of all the Proto-owned sub-brands and trademarks--Pennens, P&C, Fleet, Challenger, Bet'R-Grip, Vlchek, etc.--Challenger is the only one that made the transition with Proto to Stanley ownership. Ingersoll-Rand had discontinued all the others before 1984.

It was very common in the past for industrial conglomerates (especially those with an established name known for quality, like Ingersoll-Rand) to add their name to the products of their subsidiaries, just as Proto used its name along with Challenger ("Challenger by Proto"). Unlike now, where the capital investment groups not necessarily known for industrial production themselves, might prefer not to advertise who owns what or where it came from.