How old could this be?

[jodeyo]

Hi guys! I found this the other day in my great grandpas tool shed and was curious what year it could be from?

 

[jd_1138]

Looks like 1950's post-war Japan when their quality was horrible. Pot metal, junk.

 

[4xdog]

Looks like nicely stamped steel. I'd guess anywhere from 1920s-1970s. Someone here will recognize that way of writing "Chicago".

 

[lis2323]

Looks like 1950's post-war Japan when their quality was horrible. Pot metal, junk.

Because it’s stamped it’s not likely pot metal.


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[Sevenhills1952]

My guess is it was used with something like an electric saw to remove blade?

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[Oldtuleguy]

Some accessory wrench, for changing a blade or something

 

[Leviton]

Welcome. Thanks for posting. I enjoy and cherish the few tools that I have that used to belong to my grandfather. It is great that you have one from your great-grandfather.

I searched around on the web and came up empty. It will be interesting to see if some of the experts here can identify this.

 

[The Cobbler]

a stamped wrench that came with a tool or something . looks like the box end has a dimpled screwdriver too. perhaps used for adjusting something

 

[FrankieD]

My thought it could be for adjusting roller skates.
I believe Chicago was a brand of skates.

 

[WWShop]

FrankieD got it right. The description said from the 60s/70s. Its for skates.

 

[Leviton]

My thought it could be for adjusting roller skates.
I believe Chicago was a brand of skates.

Nice job Frankie!

 

[lis2323]

Yes. Good work Frankie. Mystery solved!

 

[Leviton]

And since you were wondering how old it could be, here is an exact date for a similar wrench:

 

[bczygan]

Great grandpa must have taken up roller skating in his old age.

Bill

 

[Private Lugnutz]

HAHA! Or more likely scarfed it up at a flea market or somewhere thinking, "I don't know what the heck this was for originally, but I'm sure I could use it on something."

 

[BarryWells]

Looks like 1950's post-war Japan when their quality was horrible. Pot metal, junk.

Good ol "Jap ****" like the recent chin music currently coming about Chi-com stuff( but not so much from the Milwaukee addiction club or i-this or i-that)

 

[vavet]

I love that Chicago is in quotes. Is that supposed to be the place it was made? Or the brand?
They wanted it to be more prestigious than stamping "Tokyo" on there, but they wanted to be honest about it. Maybe they had a place outside Tokyo known as "Chicago", just so they could put that on there?
Chicago...wink wink.
IDK why I got such a kick out of that.

 

[driftpin]

Without looking on the internet, I believe that in the days of tandem wheels and dual axles skates, Chicago brand was 'one of the good ones.'

I never had any strap-on your-shoe skates, but I robbed one of my younger sister's to make a skateboard, back in the early 1960's. It had narrow steel wheels. I used carriage bolts and a scrap of a 2x6 culled from one of the new houses being built in the neighborhood, to craft my first skateboard, which I put a painted design onto and shellacked. I wore those steel wheels down to the point they were like razor blades on their edges, we used to use baby oil on the bearings, which would get black oily residue all-over our clothes as we hiked back up our favorite hill for another 'go.'

I think Chicago was the brand in the 1960's that were shoes you'd rent at the local skate rink if you didn't have a pair of your own. When you gave the attendant your shoe size, he'd pull a pair out of the cubbyholes behind the counter, and give 'em a blast of Lysol, or some other disinfectant, before handing them to you.

On that tool, I'd guess the big open-end was for the truck to the shoe, and the box-end was for the axle.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Without looking on the internet, I believe that in the days of tandem wheels and dual axles skates, Chicago brand was 'one of the good ones.'

Indeed. "Chicago" is short for Chicago Roller Skate Company, established in 1907. In the 1950's, the Chicago Roller Skate Company and the Richardson Ballbearing Skate Company (which was converted into a war production plant during WWII!) were the two biggest suppliers in the world. Apparently Chicago was the roller skating capital of the world. Read more here.

I suppose it's possible they outsourced the wrenches, and if so, that they imported them from Japan or elsewhere, but I doubt it. They certainly had the capability to stamp those out.

 

[jodeyo]

You guys are wonderful. Thank you all for the help and information.