Lectrolite, Lectrolite Tru Fit

[Oldtuleguy]

I have not looked at the periodic table lately that must be a new one...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lectromium?...[ ]...I have not looked at the periodic table lately that must be a new one...

Snerk.

The first thing that comes to my mind is a portmanteau-ish compositional branding attempt, such as Fairalloy (Fairmount alloy), but given Lectrolite's quirky compositional-related markings (e.g., turning "FORGED ALLOY STEEL" on wrench shanks into the unmistakably conspicuous "FORGED (BLANK) STEEL" - see post #5) and the much more common and even more irrational ".05 CHROMIUM .05 VANADIUM" markings, I suspect it could also be related to their legal issues with the FTC in 1939.

EDIT:

Well, I scrolled back through this thread to link a post on that subject that isn't there. I searched the DBE thread and the Tappet Wrenches thread to see if I had left it there instead, but I can't find it anywhere.

This is something I found last year and apparently forgot to post.



We have wondered often in the past about those weird .05 markings. GJ is littered with me pointing out again and again in numerous threads that .05% is not even close to the amount of chromium and vanadium in AISI 6000 series formula CV wrenches of that era. It is so far off that I openly wondered if maybe they had the decimal point in the wrong place and didn't bother to fix it, but remarked that even .5 Cr and .5 V would be too low for AISI 6000 CV. I also remarked that it is too low for "New Emergency" AISI 8000 series triple-alloy formulas.

With the strong caveat that I am only speculating, deriving a possible conclusion based on available information, one possible explanation is that the the precise .05 Cr and .05 V markings could be Lectrolite's response to the 1939 FTC smackdown for false advertising and marketing. Who knows what the steel actually is (high Carbon, probably, maybe something else) with ridiculously low trace amounts of Chromium and Vanadium.

Conversely, maybe those markings are what the FTC was reacting to, thinking that most consumers, uneducated on the precise math involved, are going to see the Chromium and Vanadium markings and mistake the wrenches as CV.

Either way, in that same vein, maybe "Lectromium" was an attempt to word brand the .05 Cr .05 V formula.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a nice DOE at a local estate sale today. The previous owner had IDed it by painting it which probably preserved the finish.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Although I keep these in with the S-K tools, they are all Lectrolite.
-Don

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[genog]

Small Lectrolite 8" pipe wrench

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a Lectrolite Tru-Fit DBE I found on Saturday at an estate sale.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found a Lectrolite 8” adjustable wrench at a Nevada sale on Friday. It cleaned up pretty well in the evaporust.
-Don

 

[oknope]

TrueFit set, 3/8" to 1" including 25/32". No mention of LECTROLITE on them, just TrueFit made in USA. They don't appear to have held up that well, with surface rust growing on all of them.

 

[Gwizjames]

--> Starting with the LC/SK collaboration circa 1953, all LC raised panel wrenches are dual-marked S-K Lectrolite. This became LC's own main line end wrench. If you have an end wrench that looks just like a classic SK raised panel but is marked with Lectrolite only, it was made during that brief Post-R period just before the LC/SK era.
--> By about 1964, Wayne killed off the Lectrolite and Tru-Fit brand names. It also did away with the Tru-Fit recessed panel design altogether. At this time, the SEARS brand wrenches begin appearing with the famous BF JAPAN mark, which were essentially exact counterfeits of the Tru-Fit design that Wayne abandoned. I suspect Wayne gave Sears its blessing to have its old Tru-Fit wrenches made by anyone Sears wanted.

So from what I read and see in this thread, SK raised panel wrenches adopted the Lectrolite style from here (1953) to eternity. Is that correct?
What did SK combination wrenches look like before they adopted the Lectrolite raised panel style?

 

[d42jeep]

During WW2, S-K offered DBE wrenches only. Combination wrenches from S-K have always looked pretty much like their Lectrolite counterparts. It’s possible that S-K was sourcing their wrenches from Lectrolite before their marriage of convenience of tools marked S-K Lectrolite. Here are some wartime DBE wrenches. Other than slight differences in offsets they greatly resemble their postwar counterparts.

 

[DadsTools]

So from what I read and see in this thread, SK raised panel wrenches adopted the Lectrolite style from here (1953) to eternity. Is that correct?
What did SK combination wrenches look like before they adopted the Lectrolite raised panel style?

Yes, this is essentially correct. All of the raised panel SK/Lectrolite end wrenches starting in 1953 were made in LC's Defiance Ohio plant. When Wayne bought out Lectrolite and SK in 1962, it dropped the Lectrolite name so that the raised panel SK wrenches now only showed SK (or later SK Tools under Dresser), but were still being produced in the LC Defiance Ohio factory until it was closed (IIRC, by Ideal), which ended the raised panel design.

Photos and the catalog page posted by d42jeep give us a good idea of what the SK wrenches looked like prior to the SK/LC collaboration. You can also see WW2-era examples of both SK and LC wrenches on AA. However, I think it's premature to conclude that the SK wrenches from this time period were also made by LC. There were other companies making raised panel wrenches as well. A close examination of the WW2 ear LC and SK show there are some variations in geometry, so they're not a perfect match. During the post WW2 period (what I call the LC Reformation era), the raised panel LC wrenches were only 30-degree offset, while the TruFit (still listed as carbon steel as opposed to the Lectrolite-branded "alloy" steel) having the recessed panels were the 45-degree models. Also, because of the mish-mash of geometries and markings of the LC wrenches pre-Reformation (see post #7), it's really difficult to pin down exactly what LC was making during that era, and so assigning pre-LC SK wrenches to LC can be no better than speculation or assumption. Based on all my research and the artifacts/photos I've seen, I do NOT believe the SK wrenches prior to the LC collaboration were made by LC. I believe a stronger suspect is Duro/Indestro, not only because they were both located in Chicago, but of SK's connection with DI in it's earliest ratchet offerings.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a couple of Lectrolite doe wrenches yesterday. The upper one is fairly common but I believe the lower one is a first for me.
-Don

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[MisterEd]

Lectrolite Defiance 8 Inch Adjustable with J.P. Danielson Date Code? A-10-??

 

[thefraze_1020]

Does anyone know when Lectrolite actually first started using the "Tru-Fit" brand?

Here is an early Tru-Fit DOE that I came across last week.

 

[leg17]

Interesting. Looks like the center panel was a modified from existing dies.

 

[d42jeep]

Does anyone know when Lectrolite actually first started using the "Tru-Fit" brand?

Here is an early Tru-Fit DOE that I came across last week.

According to their 1949 plier catalog, they started in 1917 if my math is correct. I don’t think that I have a DOE that resembles that one.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

According to their 1949 plier catalog, they started in 1917 if my math is correct.

Your math is fine, Don, but Lectrolite was not formed until 1932. How can that be so? Interestingly, that catalog seems to be referring to Milwaukee Tool & Forge, one of their main predecessors, which did form in 1917, and first used "True-Fit" as a brand name, much later inherited and stylistically transformed into "Tru-Fit" by Lectrolite.

 

[d42jeep]

Creative advertising is not a new thing, I guess. Here are some Lectrolite wrenches made right before the marriage of convenience with S-K.
-Don

 

[elidas]

Some MTF True Fit stuff.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's one

 

[Steven 33]

Here's one

Looks just like the ones I got recently. Moved onto the old husky stuff now though

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Those mid 20s husky mtf and snapon ratchets all look suspiciously similar!

 

[MisterEd]

Lectrolite 3004 "Chrome Vanadium Steel" 25/32x3/4 Offset Box Wrench 1930s.
No Depressed Panel

 

[d42jeep]

Snerk.

The first thing that comes to my mind is a portmanteau-ish compositional branding attempt, such as Fairalloy (Fairmount alloy), but given Lectrolite's quirky compositional-related markings (e.g., turning "FORGED ALLOY STEEL" on wrench shanks into the unmistakably conspicuous "FORGED (BLANK) STEEL" - see post #5) and the much more common and even more irrational ".05 CHROMIUM .05 VANADIUM" markings, I suspect it could also be related to their legal issues with the FTC in 1939.

EDIT:

Well, I scrolled back through this thread to link a post on that subject that isn't there. I searched the DBE thread and the Tappet Wrenches thread to see if I had left it there instead, but I can't find it anywhere.

This is something I found last year and apparently forgot to post.



We have wondered often in the past about those weird .05 markings. GJ is littered with me pointing out again and again in numerous threads that .05% is not even close to the amount of chromium and vanadium in AISI 6000 series formula CV wrenches of that era. It is so far off that I openly wondered if maybe they had the decimal point in the wrong place and didn't bother to fix it, but remarked that even .5 Cr and .5 V would be too low for AISI 6000 CV. I also remarked that it is too low for "New Emergency" AISI 8000 series triple-alloy formulas.

With the strong caveat that I am only speculating, deriving a possible conclusion based on available information, one possible explanation is that the the precise .05 Cr and .05 V markings could be Lectrolite's response to the 1939 FTC smackdown for false advertising and marketing. Who knows what the steel actually is (high Carbon, probably, maybe something else) with ridiculously low trace amounts of Chromium and Vanadium.

Conversely, maybe those markings are what the FTC was reacting to, thinking that most consumers, uneducated on the precise math involved, are going to see the Chromium and Vanadium markings and mistake the wrenches as CV.

Either way, in that same vein, maybe "Lectromium" was an attempt to word brand the .05 Cr .05 V formula.

I found another “truth in advertising” combo at a Saturday estate sale. Tru-fit on one side and Lectrolite on the other.
-Don

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[Shelbylex]

Time to clean it up, Ricky Joe!!!

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[Shelbylex]

I just try to magnify it and can not see where the Lectrolite sign is. Is it on the handle under the rust?

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[ConductorChris]

I found this one in a tool box I bought at auction.
DOE (1 - 7/8)
Found in Toronto, Canada

 

[d42jeep]

Here are some Tru-Fit pliers found at a tool sale on Sunday. The traces of red paint in the handle area is proving very difficult to remove
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found some DBE wrenches recently and another pair of pliers today. Today‘s pliers are marked SOCO which indicates that they once belonged to Standard Oil Co now Chevron. Pretty common around here.
-Don

 

[Shelbylex]

Nice DBE, Don. Now you need to get 3002, 3003, 3005, 3006 and a rare 3007 (1 1/16-1 1/8) - the last one I saw only once for sale on E-bay, but it was a wrong period to add to my set...

 

[Steven 33]

Nice DBE, Don. Now you need to get 3002, 3003, 3005, 3006 and a rare 3007 (1 1/16-1 1/8) - the last one I saw only once for sale on E-bay, but it was a wrong period to add to my set...

i have one somewhere. didnt know they were rare. i come across them quite a bit

 

[d42jeep]

I found this one yesterday. It came out of the evaporust today. Of course it turns out to be a duplicate.
-Don

 

[Shelbylex]

i have one somewhere. didnt know they were rare. i come across them quite a bit

Which state are you from?

 

[Steven 33]

Which state are you from?

vermont. if you need one i can ship. id have to look around i currently have most of my wrenches in some boxes until i have the energy the sort through them but you can have for just the shipping cost

 

[d42jeep]

Since I’ve been finding some Lectrolite tools lately I decided to go through and organize all of them. For such a small company they made a wide variety of styles of tools.
Lectrolite marked tools
Lectrolite and Tru-Fit pliers
Unmarked Lectrolite wrenches
Lectrolite Tru-Fit wrenches
Lectrolite Tru-Fit tappet wrenches
Tru-Fit marked wrenches
-Don