my Britool hex drive socket sets

[GJA]

hi guy's I'm a new member to TGJ and wanted to share my passion for the britool brand, in particular the hex drive socket sets,
does any one know what year britool launched the hex drive range and what year they discontinued,
here's one of my sets; the No 45A

 

[humber2]

Welcome to the site and you reveal quite a neat set from the 1950’s.

I have a hex drive set from the late 1920’s, parts were still being sold in the late 1960’s from stocked items.

Thanks for posting the component list which gives the part numbers for individual items.

It would be a good idea to repost the images in the main Britool thread. You can use search or the sticky to find it.

 

[Dave455]

That’s a superb set!

I agree with humber2, and I think he’s spot on with the dates.

As you probably know, the hex drive predates the square drive. There was a school of thought that the hex drive allowed for a slightly smaller socket (sort of KoKen Z Series of 70 years back) so it had it’s advocates, and hence the two systems were produced in parallel for so long!

Very comprehensive set. Fantastic to have Whitworth, A/F and Metric, as well as female and male square sockets!

But I have to admit, you got the “rough end of the pineapple” ending up with a metric socket set that excludes 10mm and 13mm…!

 

[vssjim]

I have some Britool wrenches and some Sykes-Pickivant sockets and some 150th anniversary King **** wrenches all were made in England which two of the brands are just importers now but what a treat your set is from back when.

 

[Dave455]

I have some Britool wrenches and some Sykes-Pickivant sockets and some 150th anniversary King **** wrenches all were made in England which two of the brands are just importers now but what a treat your set is from back when.

Britool don’t really exist any more. Great shame.

King **** still manufacture in the U.K. Not everything, and my gut feeling is that they buy in forged blanks for a lot of things (which is a travesty) but they are still here.

Sykes Pickavant, although they buy in and rebrand some of their lower cost / mass market tools, manufacture a lot of stuff in house. They make a lot of specialist tools for the major vehicle manufacturers too.

Their stuff is generally very decent to use. I use their pullers almost exclusively.

 

[GJA]

I also have my britool 1073 whitworth ratchet set,
I keep this in my EDC tool kit for my moggy Minor

 

[esben57]

Had these bits of Hex Britool, 1/2" sq to hexagon plug and a drag link socket.
Have Father in laws key drive set in steel box.

 

[Dave455]

Had these bits of Hex Britool, 1/2" sq to hexagon plug and a drag link socket.
Have Father in laws key drive set in steel box.

The hex drive sockets are generally quite inexpensive for the quality, so that’s a very useful thing to have!

I covet GJA’s pipe plug sockets. I only generally see them in hex drive, and not generally a set.

 

[GJA]

That’s a superb set!

I agree with humber2, and I think he’s spot on with the dates.

As you probably know, the hex drive predates the square drive. There was a school of thought that the hex drive allowed for a slightly smaller socket (sort of KoKen Z Series of 70 years back) so it had it’s advocates, and hence the two systems were produced in parallel for so long!

Very comprehensive set. Fantastic to have Whitworth, A/F and Metric, as well as female and male square sockets!

But I have to admit, you got the “rough end of the pineapple” ending up with a metric socket set that excludes 10mm and 13mm…!

I would think back in the day when Britool made these fine set's, metric size nuts and bolts were few and far between in everyday british engineering, and 3/8 and 1/2 AF was close enough for those damn johnny foreigner contraptions ! who knows? not I

 

[Bob H]

Hi GJE, you might also like to have a look at the “Britool made in England“ site on Facebook, if you are on it - Bob