Oldest Metric Tools Made In USA?

[nutsnbolts]

I really like a lot of the old American tools but most of them never made metric, because everything was standard back then. Does anyone know when US tool manufacturers started making metric tools, and who the first companies to do it were? Bonus if you have some and can show them off

 

[Musicinabottle]

I would imagine that the first to introduce metric, would have been the tool manufactures catering to the professional, so I bet it was some outfit like Snap on.

 

[rkj427]

I remember in the early '70's while employed as a technician at a GM dealership, the US automakers were starting to incorporate some metric fasteners in vehicles.

Think that the 1977 model year was when it first was seen on the GM vehicles.

Snap-On, and Mac were the tool trucks which typically visited, and had the initial tools for those metric fasteners. Also had a Cornwall dealer, but those were not too common outside of the one dealer in our area.

 

[retDAC]

... Think that the 1977 model year was when it first was seen on the GM vehicles. ...

Close!
It was '78.

 

[rhandwor]

I remember the dealers asked the parts stores to remove 18mm and 15mm sockets from their sets.
SK manufactured them but they were removed from all sets. I had to go to a parts store and request them and they would be sent out the next day. If you worked on a Chevy you were out of luck. A tool truck may only come once a month.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

L.S.Starrett&Co advertised metric tools at least as early as 1915 American Exporter.

 

[AceofSpad3s]

I remember the dealers asked the parts stores to remove 18mm and 15mm sockets from their sets.
SK manufactured them but they were removed from all sets. I had to go to a parts store and request them and they would be sent out the next day. If you worked on a Chevy you were out of luck. A tool truck may only come once a month.

Why would they do that?

 

[snapmom]

Snap on showed them in the 38 cat, but these look older, no date code or model number. 12 pt

 

[DFB]

Wow I would think it easily go quite a ways back. Though how much machine importing was done before the second WW ended would be just a guess for me


I have an 3/8" drive SK set from about 1980. That has both 15mm and 18mm in shallow and 15mm in deep but no 18. My younger brother bought it for use on his Yamaha IT motorcycle. I bought from him went he went in the Army.

My '57 Zundapp was all metric. That was sold stateside new.

 

[lauver]

Just as a point of reference, Sears/Craftsman 1st offered metric tools in their 1959 catalog.

My 1st set of tools in 1965 were all metric. I didn't buy any SAE tools until the 1980's when I got interested in vintage American iron.

 

[bonneyman]

Somebody on the forum stated that - for metric applications back in the day - mechanics used the 64th increment tools. And lots of brands made those.

It made sense to me. I can't remember seeing tools sets offered in both 64ths and mm at the same time.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

The 1970 Proto tool catalog lists a full line of metric tools. Not sure how far back their metric offerings go. But

For years; there have been foreign cars and motorcycles roaming the USA that have needed metric tools to do the repairs.

 

[nutsnbolts]

Thanks for all the info guys. Now the search begins

 

[ganymede]

Metric mics are offered in my 1893 Brown & Sharpe catalog.
Here's a pre WW2 metric mic by JT Slocomb.

View media item 83148

 

[Packard V8]

Somebody on the forum stated that - for metric applications back in the day - mechanics used the 64th increment tools. And lots of brands made those.

I don't recall 64ths, but with the 32nds which were offered, most techs could git 'er done on the occasional furrin' car with a full set of inch.

Only slightly OT, but the old guys here will remember when 1/2' drive socket sets were the the standard and 3/8" drive was uncommon. All the 1/2" drive sets had sockets down to 3/8" hex.

jack vines

 

[Jim C.]

I think Sears/Craftsman started offering metric tools somewhere right around 1960.

Edit: Sorry Lauver, I missed your post above.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Sombody on the other garage site bought this for two bucks

 

[WWheeler]

Sombody on the other garage site bought this for two bucks.

^ That pic's not showing up for me, at least not until after I went and got the cookie from visiting "the other garage site". Now I see it (a vintage metric Plomb DOE wrench), but I suspect most others won't. Not sure the other site will appreciate sharing their bandwidth by hotlinking their images on other forums either. A lot of sites frown pretty hard on such as it's commonly seen as stealing bandwidth. Some even have scripts that automatically change the hotlinked images to highly objectionable material (usually ****) that will get unkowing people banned from whatever other site they post their images to. That's why it's always better to upload images to an image host or to GJ itself instead. Just sayin'.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hotlinking+images

- - - - - - -
On another semi-related note, read an article the other day explaining how if it wasn't for those pesky 'Pirates of the Caribbean' the US might well have went metric more than 200 yrs ago.

How Pirates Of The Caribbean Hijacked America's Metric System
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo...the-caribbean-hijacked-americas-metric-system

 

[rhandwor]

Why would they do that?

They wanted you to go to the dealer to get your vehicle worked on,The parts store manager told me he was asked to remove them from sets. Even a lot of foreign sets had them removed.

 

[Barnabas]

FYI - The United States adopted the Metric System in 1866, right after the Civil War.

 

[ssdave]

They wanted you to go to the dealer to get your vehicle worked on,The parts store manager told me he was asked to remove them from sets. Even a lot of foreign sets had them removed.

Now why would a parts store manager, whose business presumably relied heavily on non-dealer sales, want to restrict tools so as to discourage his buyers from working on their cars, and take them to the dealership instead?

That guy didn't have his thought process right.

 

[Gmonkee]

All one needed was a 7/16-3/8 Whitworth wrench and you had both. Or a 19/32" wrench/socket to get the 15mm.

The same sizes in different names go back to the USS standard wrenches also.
How hard for a wrench?
Sockets would be better purchased correctly. Too hard to fake that 18.

 

[anndel]

I have some 1980's Snap-on metric wrenches and sockets.

 

[pilotmotor]

my dad had a 78 lemans and it had metric fasteners , 18mm upper control arm nuts. I remember that distinctly because my metric set was missing the 18mm for some reason , and I didn't loose it. Also if I remember correctly all the body hardware was metric.

 

[5ktq]

There are a few different metric standards for "preferred size", ISO, german (DIN), japanese (JIS), and I think there is an American one too.

A German M10 bolt would have 17mm across the flats, but an ISO one would be 16mm. A German flanged M10 would be 15mm - ISO still 16mm.

So an incomplete German wrench set would go 13, 15, 17, 19.
ISO would be 13, 16, 18, 21.

Japanese loves 12 and 14mm, which german cars mostly never use.

My older german cars were 17mm all over the place, but my "new" ones (2000+) use a lot of 16/18, I guess germany has withdrawn the DIN standard on that particular aspect to harmonize with ISO.

So that might explain your "missing" 18mm socket.

 

[shawndp]

I have some 1980's Snap-on metric wrenches and sockets.

I have 80's era Snap-On chrome and impact sockets but they are not US made...

 

[bonneyman]

I don't recall 64ths, but with the 32nds which were offered, most techs could git 'er done on the occasional furrin' car with a full set of inch.

Only slightly OT, but the old guys here will remember when 1/2' drive socket sets were the the standard and 3/8" drive was uncommon. All the 1/2" drive sets had sockets down to 3/8" hex.

jack vines

Maybe it was 32nds.
I use a 19/32" for 15mm.