There were some French made screwdrivers produced under several brands that used a similar shank design. I believe Facom and SAM were two of the brands under which the design was sold, but there were at least one or two other French tool brands that also sold the design, and Paramo tools in the UK also sold a French made set.
The French made ones have been pictured in the Tools From The Old World thread. I saw the Paramo ones a while back in an Ebay auction.
The handle on that screwdriver really looks like something that you would find on a USA made screwdriver.
I suspect one of the advantages for the design, was that an extra step in manufacturing could be eliminated by not having to crimp wings on the area of the blade that is pressed into the handle.
Back in the 1950's, New Britain sold a specialty wrench called the "Nut Master". An almost identical wrench was manufactured in France by Peugeot Freres. Maybe that wrench was made by New Britain as some kind of design or patent exchange with Peugeot?
