Oldest electricians screwdriver I have seen

[oldpliers1]

Hi , they say local is better in this case my dear neighbour passed away and his wife gave me a pile of old tools that belonged to him .
The screwdriver in the photo below is a early Proprietary made tool ,
the evidence is the insulated blade it’s got a voltage rating on it 5000 v ( it seems makers liked overstating the insulation values of their tools ,many old pliers have values of 10000volts on them )and is moulded to the handle , their is no metal ferrule at the end of the shaft .
I can not find the makers mark and do not have a date on it .
It was a great find and a nice item in my collection

 

[neophyte]

With insulated tools, typically nowadays, the printed insulation rating is around 1/10 of the voltage the item was tested to.
For instance, tools with a 1,000volt rating are usually tested to 10,000volts.
I suspect, at least nowadays, that the insulation can actually withstand significantly higher than 10,000v when new or close to new.

 

[oldpliers1]

Today the rating is tested to withstand fault current or short circuit current over milliseconds.through vde lab certification
perviously it was done with a insulation tester , without true short circuit high current tests ,that’s how they over rated the voltage values . With a litigious world it has to be proper test values under simulated conditions . To cover oneself from lawsuits.