Onli-1 Socket Set

[Private Lugnutz]

Onli-1 Socket Set





Guy wanted $50 for this set at the flea market today and would not come down!

Granted, it’s unique, and probably very rare (might be the “Onli-1” - literally and figuratively) - the only reference I can find to King Tool Company is a pair of patents (1,385,214, and 1,420,635) from 1920 and 1921 - but he was mainly pricing it because of the interesting branding and the “Asbury Park, N.J.” (i.e., Bruce Springsteen, etc) embossed on the lid. The pieces, all hex drive, and hex openings, are completely unmarked – except for the old Duro piece I separated off to the right for the pic, which is not hex drive and not part of the set.

I really wanted it badly! If only for the novelty. Not only because I live on the Jersey Shore, but because I had never seen this set or heard of this name before anywhere in collecting circles. But it wasn't worth a Ulysses S. Grant!

Posting here for future research or in case anyone knows anything more about the company or the set.

 

[Cope]

Maybe "The Boss" will buy it.

 

[notlob]

Very Cool! A bit of info and an image:

https://books.google.com/books?id=GAk0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA7-PA48&lpg=RA7-PA48&dq=%22king+tool+co%22+asbury&source=bl&ots=I5ObaZqxsB&sig=4G8EG4oPzGSqeHASR6awHHdnMiQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0gNHeoafTAhWpjFQKHXJeBYYQ6AEIMDAE#v=onepage&q=%22king%20tool%20co%22%20asbury&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=cSpaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA745&lpg=PA745&dq=%22king+tool+co%22+asbury&source=bl&ots=_FLSc37mjT&sig=DIeuHdlPSUur-v43z8Jmw1B7mO8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6lrbjoqfTAhXog1QKHfBqCqQQ6AEINDAG#v=onepage&q=%22king%20tool%20co%22%20asbury&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=2OMcAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1799&lpg=PA1799&dq=%22king+tool+co%22+asbury&source=bl&ots=4mF55xsZed&sig=HiiQ_fe3KsQ27cW5fxf4YEgv_98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6lrbjoqfTAhXog1QKHfBqCqQQ6AEINjAH#v=onepage&q=%22king%20tool%20co%22%20asbury&f=false

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2933516&postcount=414

https://mjdtools.com/ToolItem.php?item=284051&list=1685

 

[3baygarage]

That box is sweet, too bad they wouldn't come down any.

Nice research Notlob. Hard to ask that amount without the wrench.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Very Cool! A bit of info and an image:

That's one of the two patents I referenced above, found after I got home. Thanks for the GJ thread link. Funny that the only other box to show up on GJ was from Jim No Garage who lives in Millington, NJ. I found this one in Farmingdale, NJ. Apparently, these nifty little offset socket kits did not travel that far in the 1920's!

That box is sweet, too bad they wouldn't come down any...[ ]...Hard to ask that amount without the wrench.

It is sweet with the raised embossing! I told the guy that the set was obviously incomplete (even though I didn't know about the offset wrench when I was standing there), but he was not a tool vendor. Everything else on his table was antique-y knick knacks. I'm going to go back tomorrow and try again.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

I actually saw what appeared to be a complete one in the wild at the local flea and DIDN'T buy it - regret it now.

Jim

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

That is a very cool set, but @ $50 I would have passed as well.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I actually saw what appeared to be a complete one in the wild at the local flea and DIDN'T buy it - regret it now.

Ouch. Been there, done that. Maybe it will pop up again. That happens, too.

That is a very cool set, but @ $50 I would have passed as well.

A man has to have limits - or end up in the poorhouse or the doghouse!

3BAY: You need to clear your PM's.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Thanks for sharing, I would not of paid 50.00 for it either.
But a few years ago, had I found a craftsman speeder ratchet at an sale for 50.00 I would not of bought it either. Thanks to G.J. I now own two of them. Now if I found one in the wild for 50.00 it would be hard to walk away from. Good luck..

 

[twertsy]

Looks like they started about 1921/22. Not sure what to discern from the "Real Estate Transfers" clip?

I still see them in the local bowling league in 1937 but that is the final mention in newspapers.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Looks like they started about 1921/22.

Circa June 1921, with $100,000 capital, per notlob's link. That was a busy month for August Klapper. It looks like he submitted the initial patent (1,385,214) in November 1920. He used the winter of 1920 and spring of 1921 to find investors (I am picturing neighbors and/or bowling team members). In June 1921, just a month before the patent was granted, he submitted an improvement patent (1,420,635) and started a company to make and market the funky two-gear offset wrench.

I'm still trying to picture its use. It's either wonderfully over-engineered or it had a peculiar (and perhaps too peculiar) application. The offset implies limited access directly above a fastener. The crank on the back end implies limited turning radius, where an L-handle would normally be used. So you position the business end with a socket over the fastener and instead of turning the entire wrench, you turn the crank. It's ingenious, but couldn't have had much torque with two tiny gears, and again, how many mechanical applications? Note that the gears could be locked in place and the whole unit used as an L-handle.

I love this thing, but I can also see why it didn't survive, in hindsight.

EDIT: Ah, 'eff it. In the spirit of total transparency, I was kindly tipped off to an Onli-1 wrench for sale as a BIN OBO on eBait. Guess how much? $50. Me, the nut job, made three offers up to $34.99, all auto-declined. I just got back from the flea market. Sparsely populated as one might expect on Easter Sunday, and no sign of the same guy with the Onli-1 case, six sockets, and extension. If it was there, I was going to buy it for full price, then buy the wrench on eBait for full price. Per the period ads, that would've been the complete set. Why? 'Cuz I'm totally hooked now. But no dice. So I saved $100.

Not sure what to discern from the "Real Estate Transfers" clip?

It is weird. Almost looks like some kind of seized property foreclosure to me. Same property going from the sheriff to the company principals, then from the principals to a realty company.

 

[bonneyman]

That is a very cool set, but @ $50 I would have passed as well.

Me, too. You've gotta pick your battles.

 

[SuperCat]

I'm sure everyone is now looking for one of these kits with one thought in mind:
selling it to you for $50! Just kidding. If I ever run across one of these, you'll be the first person I contact. Just to rub it in! Again, just kidding. I'd send it you for postage. The reality is, there is so much good stuff out there, we can't have it all, so we have to try to focus. Notice I said "try".......

 

[Private Lugnutz]

There's been some incremental progress on this subject in the past few months. I'll have more to say and post next week. For now, I'll just leave this big hint...

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[snapmom]

here is another one I have not seen.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Me neither. The calligraphy on that box is a work of art! It's interesting how the packaging in that era is often more valuable than the tools.

Just in case you only saw the photos in my first post and skimmed the rest of the thread, what makes the Onli-1 set unique, and gives the kit its name, is the beveled-gear offset wrench. A 7/16-inch hex drive socket attached to the 7/16-inch hex drive wrench stud on the business end, is turned, from around corners and under obstructions, etc, with the spindle crank on the back end. The sockets and extension came with it, but it would work with any 7/16-inch hex sockets. No need to turn the entire handle, unless the nut or bolt was stubborn, in which case you push a pin to lock the gears in place.

Quite original, really. I greatly admire the ingenuity and the engineering, although, as I said upthread, the pragmatist in me can see why its somewhat quirky limited utility obviously doomed it almost from the start. The latest ad I can find is December 1922, which is only two years after the company was formed, and they appear to have had a liquidation sale five years later. And the most damning evidence is their rarity of course.

I can vouch for one thing: despite its complexity, the wrench I now have in my joyful possession is well made, in terrific condition, and still works like a clock!

EDIT: Here's a Motor Age ad from May 1922...

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[3baygarage]

Way to go Lugz! Can't wait to see these reunited.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, 3bay. Reunited is the word for it! And there is a long story behind the reunion...

So the case I posted a photo of in the first post showed up again at the same flea market a few weeks after the initial flurry of posting here. But this time around it was empty. Sans sockets. For $40. (He was originally asking $50, if you recall, with the sockets and extension.) I told the vendor (an antiques dealer) that I remembered the case, and I asked him where the sockets and extension were.

He said he took them out, because he didn't think they were original to the case. He said he did some research and found a patent for a strange gear-drive wrench, and that's what went in the case.

As you can imagine, I was in quite a pickle, knowing that his research was incomplete, and the sockets were, in fact, original to the case. I could snag the case for $40, and possibly even talk him down a little. But I really wanted the sockets and extension. Pressing him about their whereabouts was risky, however, possibly tipping him off to them being more than he originally thought. I bought the case for $30, and decided to take a chance, inquiring as casually as possible if he still had the missing pieces, and he said he did, he repeated his conclusion that they were not original to the case, but that he would bring them the following week.

Long story short, I saw him three or four more times selling antique riding toys, a spinning wheel, a pre-war bicycle, and a huge oxen yoke, and each time I inquired, as casually as possible, he didn't have the pieces. Finally, last week, he had them. I was thinking fat chance he was going to sell the pieces for $20 (the delta between what I paid for the case and what he was asking a few months ago), and I was right. Let's just say in the spirit of a completely honest you-win-some-you-lose-some philosophy, that I paid a little more than I would have if I had bought the case and pieces for $50 a few months ago!

The rest of the story turns in my favor.

I sat on the acquisition of the case, sockets, and extension without saying anything here, because I wanted to wait until I had the whole enchilada. For 5 weeks I ran variously termed searches on fleaBay and general Google for the wrench with no dice. Then, last week, it turned up on fleaBay again. Same seller. In Philly. (Again, this set really didn't travel too far, despite the claims in some of the 1922 trade journal I found that it was selling like hotcakes all over the country.) If you recall, it was a BIN for $50. I made three offers at that time maxing out at $35 when I was cut off from making any more offers. Guess what his new BIN price was? Yup. $34.99!

EDIT: Lots of photos to come of a tool that an auction house (selling the only other one I have ever seen a photo of!) once described as "a plumbing experiment gone wrong."

I'm still examining the tools and spec'ing them out and doing more research, including deep archived newspaper queries, which has produced an interesting life story for the inventor, August C. ("Gus") Klopper, as well as an interesting SAT type question challenge for all the antique wrenchers out there (time to get out yer 5th ed. Machinery's Handbook), and a stumper about one of the pieces that just doesn't seem to make sense. Let's see if anyone can guess which piece.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Lugz:

So you have a complete set - case and all? Nice work!

Post pic's - I'd love to see it.

Jim (only have a battered Only-1 case)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lugz:

So you have a complete set - case and all? Nice work!

Post pic's - I'd love to see it.

Jim (only have a battered Only-1 case)

Thanks, Jim. Pics coming soon. Edit: I've been obsessed with research, on Klopper and the company history, and it sort of put me in a bit of funk. The demise of the company had some sad personal affects. He got through it, eventually. I just didn't expect to get so caught up in it.

As for your case, it's the only one that comes up in a Google search. I mentioned it and you in post #5 of this thread. Here's a link to your old 2013 post.

The only wrench I’ve ever seen is item 160 on this page, from back in 2008, when Don Ervin of The Wrenching News sold off all his antique wrenches at auction.

I haven't found a picture of the entire set, case, wrench, sockets and extension together. Only in the ads. But I'm about to change that!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Without further ado, it’s my honor to present the Onli-1 socket wrench set – including the embossed, black-japanned case, the one-of-a-kind gear-driven wrench, five of the six sockets, and the extension. It may not be the only one in existence, but it’s certainly the only (more-or-less) complete one that I have ever seen anywhere on the internet or in person.

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August C. “Gus” Klopper, the man responsible for these wondrous tools now sitting in a high and dry place in my little basement Tool Hall of Fame, died in 1972 at the age of 82.

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While his Asbury Park Press obituary identifies him as a tool and die maker by profession, a mechanical engineer, and the owner-operator of a machine shop on Corlies Avenue in Neptune, NJ, it never mentions the Onli-1. Given the 50 years that separated the wrench’s exhilarating debut (and it has to be said, its almost immediate and monumental flop) and his death, that’s not surprising, and may even be kind, based on everything I have learned about the man’s life. Those fifty years were not always easy on Gus Klopper or his family, especially not at first.

Before we get to the tragic aftermath of his invention, let’s go a little further back in time first...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It’s safe to conclude that Gus Klopper was always attracted to automobiles. On April 13, 1914, at the age of 24, he participated in a series of spectacular dirt track races at the old Athletic Grounds in Asbury Park (now the site of the High School athletic fields), as the driver of a locally famous cyclecar known as the “Yellow Jacket”.

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He was racing against his own brother-in-law that day, a young man named Elvir Stossel Jr.

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Gus and Elvir Jr had starred in many chorale and theater productions together in high school and in their church, and Elvir eventually married Gus’s sister, Ann, all dutifully reported in the “Happenings” section of the Asbury Park Evening Press. The significance of these relationships on my historical research was the discovery that Elvir’s father, Elvir Stossel Sr, owned and operated an automotive repair and machine shop, located – as you may guess – on Corlies Avenue in Neptune, NJ. This is in fact one and the same machine shop that Gus Klopper would one day take over. Here is a HELP WANTED ad from 1917, and a quirky article about Elvir Sr from 1951.

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There’s no doubt that Gus was mechanically inclined as a main fixture in the elder Stossel’s machine shop. In February 1921, he witnessed a train and automobile accident that took place a block away.

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[Private Lugnutz]

It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that his early experiences in the shop - perhaps one too many busted knuckles, or one too many cursed disassemblies just to get a wrench on an inaccessible nut – was probably his motivation for the Onli-1. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), he applied for his first patent (1,385,214) on November 6, 1920. He was 30 years old at the time.

If you haven’t been following along, that spindle on the back end of the wrench turns a series of beveled-gears inside both of those elbows, transferring the rotary motion to the hex drive stud on the business end of the wrench. The idea was to reach around a corner or underneath a component or in any spot where no swing of a wrench or socket handle was possible. No swing of a handle was necessary, because the crank did the turning.

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His first design had a small pinion and hinge-levered rod, operated with a button, that was used to lock in place a beveled gear inside the head of the wrench, allowing the wrench to be used as a routine L-handle, to start a tough nut when more torque was necessary.

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More information on this first design can be reviewed here, on DATAMP, where I got the compressed figure, and you can also click on a link to view a PDF of the original figures and full text of the patent at the USPTO site.

Gus must’ve used the winter of 1920 and the spring of 1921 to raise investors for his idea. He was a member of many fraternal organizations at the time, and an officer in the Asbury Park lodge of the International Order of Odd Fellows, so he had a large network of enterprising men to solicit. His persuasiveness paid off. Vol. 5 Issue No. 3 of the American Machinist reported that Klopper started the King Tool Company, in Asbury Park, NJ, – “to manufacture tools and other mechanical equipment” – with $100,000 capital, in June of 1921. That same month, just a month before the first patent was to be granted (July 1921), he applied for a second patent (1,420,635), which was an improvement on the first.

In the second patent design, the entire socket drive stud was retractable. When the drive stud is pushed all the way out – by depressing a large button on the top of the head of the wrench, the gears would engage, and the wrench was in crank mode. When the drive stud was pushed in, the button pops out, the gears are locked, and the wrench is in regular L-handle mode.

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More information on that design can be reviewed here, on DATAMP.

Here are some more photos of the business end and its mechanical operation.

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[Private Lugnutz]

I don’t think the first design was ever manufactured. King Tool Company hosted a meeting in December 1921 to introduce the company and the tool. In that meeting, the company announced that it was already taking orders, but abandoning plans to manufacture the tools locally, planning to contract mass production to other companies instead, beginning no later than January 15, 1922.

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At that time, the second patent had already been applied for. Note also how my wrench is marked.
PAT. ONLI-1- PAT. PEN.

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I think the first “PAT.” refers to 1,385,214, and the “PAT. PEN.” refers to 1,420,365, which had not yet been granted.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

King Tool Company certainly spared no expense in marketing their innovative wrench throughout 1922. They had professional ads with artist’s renderings and several different views of the tools running in several different trade journals of the time in February, April, and May. An ad in the May 5 issue of Motor Age claimed that the company had received an “avalanche of orders”, including 903 from dealers, 112 from jobbers, and “hundreds” directly from car owners. It may have been a last desperate gasp.

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[Private Lugnutz]

Notice that neither of the patents or any of the trade journal ads cite the size of the hex drive. I can confirm that the set is 7/16-inch hex drive. That is the O.D. of the wrench’s drive stud and the O.D. of the extension, and the I.D. of the drive openings in the sockets.

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One of the ads (in Automobile Topics, October 27, 1922, page 745) states that the “socket sizes are 1/4 inch U.S.S. to 5/8 inch S.A.E., fitting sixteen different sizes of bolts and nuts.”

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Using the smallest and largest bolt head size that the sockets would fit rather than the milled opening sizes of the sockets to state the set’s range is not that odd for 1922, but I’m not sure how that’s possible when checked against any period U.S.S./S.A.E./hex cap/milled opening nut and bolt chart. The openings of my sockets, measured with digital Vernier calipers, appear to be 1/2”, 9/16”, 5/8”, 11/16”, and 3/4”. (I think the missing socket is 15/16”.)

Here are some photos of the sockets – all unmarked:

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In my interpretation, the socket with the 1/2-inch milled opening would match the “1/4 inch U.S.S.” spec, and a socket with a 15/16-inch milled opening – missing from my set – would match the “5/8 inch S.A.E.” spec. Here’s a little chart to show my analysis, with the measured milled opening sizes of the sockets in the set in the first column, and what standard nuts and bolts they would turn in 1922, which totals fourteen (14) different standards of fasteners, not sixteen (16) different sizes.

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I welcome those of you with a 5th Edition of Machinery’s Handbook, vintage 1920’s era catalogs, or a working knowledge of vintage wrench to nut and bolt specs to help me unravel this mystery. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the ad. For now, though, I’m chalking it up to exaggerated marketing.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That same ad also states that “the extension shaft is made from 1/2 inch hexagon cold rolled steel.” The extension may have been made from 1/2-inch stock, but it’s been machined down to the 7/16 inch hex drive size in final O.D. It does present a bit of a puzzle, though. Without a female opening on one end, it’s useless to the male hex drive stud in the wrench.

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My first thought was that it replaces the shorter drive stud, but that’s not intuitive, and I can see no readily easy way to release and remove the one in the head, which seems integrated with the button.

My second thought was this piece, found inside the case with the other sockets.

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It has a 7/16-inch hex opening on both ends. It appears to either be a coupler, or perhaps a 7/16” socket. The set did not come with a 7/16” socket, which would be smaller than the 1/4-inch U.S.S. size bolt cited as fitting the smallest socket in the set in trade journal ads. But the set didn’t come with a coupler for the extension, either – not according to the ads, anyway – and this piece does not look like its organic to the set, made differently, with two bands of thin knurling around it. Perhaps someone had it with the set to function as a coupler, which will work, albeit very unstably.

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My third thought was through one of the sockets (as in old pressed steel hex drive sets), catching part of the female drive opening, which is equally unstable.

If someone has any ideas for how this double-male end piece acts as an extension for this male drive wrench, please let me know.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I can find no references to King Tool Company, August C. Klopper, or his Onli-1 wrench in newspapers or trade journals in 1923, an ominous silence after such a rambunctious start, as his story and that of his fantastic wrench are about to take a sad turn.

In March 1924, just two years after King Tool Company was formed, its property was seized and sold by the sheriff.

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Three years later, in April of 1927, the building itself was the subject of a real estate transfer from the sheriff to the company and back to the real estate company, culminating no doubt some kind of debt settlement with lenders.

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Here’s a map of Asbury Park from 1922 marked up to show the corner of 7th and Steiner. You can see how close he was to the famous fin de siècle boardwalk, bath houses, carousel, and casino.

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I live in a small shore town about a 15 minute drive north on Ocean Avenue from Asbury Park. Here are some photos of the 7th and Steiner corner today, occupied, somewhat ignobly, by a 711 convenience store, which faces toward Main Street. I believe King Tool faced toward the railroad tracks and the old Athletic Fields (where he raced cars as a young man) on the other side of the tracks, and Deal Lake, now the site of a small boat or kayak launch.

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[Private Lugnutz]

Gus, who was 37 years old in 1927, must’ve taken the demise of his invention and the company very hard.

The Asbury Park Evening Press in November of 1928 reported that his children were "traveling by motor" to their grandparents house in Florida, where they would “resume their studies.” A March 14, 1932 trial notice reported that he was found guilty of deserting his wife and four children, bail set at $1,000. Then, on 13 April 1935, he was arrested for a parole violation, and jailed again until he would raise $25, and he was given two weeks to find a job or be thrown in jail again. He was 45.

His son, August jr, graduated from Ohio University in 1940, reported for flight training at Floyd Benet Field in Jacksonville, FLA as a cadet in the Naval Reserve, earned his wings in December 1941, and was flying missions for the Naval Air Corps in the Pacific in 1943. His daughters all married.

The good news is that Gus pulled his life back together again at some point, reuniting with his wife, kids, and eight grandchildren, and running the old Stossel machine shop (renamed H.E.P.) on Corlies Avenue in Neptune until his death in 1972.

One year later, Bruce Springsteen released his debut album…

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…and the machine shop and its contents were sold at public auction.

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By the looks of it, he ran a well-appointed shop.

So often in the vintage tool hobby we learn about men who seem larger than life. Industrialists, like Alphonse Plomb, Karl Peterson (Crescent), and Mason Sherman and Noah Glover Klove, to name just a few. And there are others with wildly successful inventions whose names nevertheless slip away into obscurity, such as George B. DeArment (“Channellock” branded water pump pliers).

In a way, perhaps I can relate to a guy like Gus Klopper the most. He was a motor head with a wild idea and a catchy name. It was ingenious and certainly unique. It was also, as I said from the outset, over-engineered and too quirky and limited for mass utility. But dammit I admire the guy. I like to think he got over its abysmal failure. It probably haunted him his whole life. But I like to think he led a good one, probably spending most of it with a wrench in his hand.

 

[misterbill]

Very cool set, Lugz, and excellent research as always.

Bill

 

[3baygarage]

Wow, excellent job! A good read. Incredible, all the articles you found.

Congrats on completing that set, I'm very happy you did!

 

[joel63]

Enjoyed reading your research. Very interesting history.

Thanks for taking the time to post it here.

 

[Username already in use]

Nice job on putting it all together. Great read and thanks for sharing his story.

I think the 'coupler' is native to the set. Take a look at this image again:

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There are what appears to be 7 'sockets' shown. 1 on the tool and 6 in the foreground. With the smallest of those appearing to have the same 7/16" opening size as the extension. Of course, it could just be the artist rendering... who knows.

Still pretty damn cool.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Bill, 3bay, Joel, and Jason. I appreciate your interest and enjoyment.

I did notice the "extra" socket in that figure, Jason, which appears in other similar ads that I did not post. But note that it's not shown in the ads that I have posted above that include a photo based rendition of the actual set in its open case, showing six sockets on the extension. Moreover, I'm not sure where it would go in the case. It wouldn't fit on the extension. I found all that strange. And yet you have a good point. It was found with the rest of the set, and it is the most logical explanation.

 

[dngrmse]

Great read Lugz, thanks for sharing all that research. So have you tried the wrench? Is it smooth or clunky?

 

[d42jeep]

Nice job, Lugz. I always enjoy reading anything you write. You are uniquely geographically qualified to tell about this obscure New Jersey toolmaker. We always hear about the successful manufacturers and the lack of acceptance of this odd tool makes the story even more interesting. Thanks for sharing it with us!
-Don

 

[Boilerhouse]

Excellent write up Lug. Loved how you linked the tool to the man and the company with the historical references.

 

[bill300d]

What a great story to put with the tool.
Well done on the research and putting the story together.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Dangermouse, Don, boilerhouse, and bill. Glad you all liked it. It was a fun project.

So have you tried the wrench? Is it smooth or clunky?

Great question! And the answers are yes, and like butter!

With my left hand on the shaft I can spin that T-handle with my right index finger, almost like a vise test. The action is continuous with zero free play and I can't even hear or feel the teeth of the beveled gears engaging. My user testing even worked some grease - I imagine quite old if not original - out of that little slot in the face plate around the drive stud.

Same smooth action with a socket on a bolt and a little more force with a few more fingers.

I can definitely see how torque would be an issue on a stuck bolt or nut, though. As you can imagine, the power generated by turning that spindle, transferred through the offset shaft and two sets of gears to the drive stud, is far less than the force of a firm hand, arm and shoulder directly behind a ratchet or hinge handle.

You are uniquely geographically qualified to tell about this obscure New Jersey toolmaker.

You ain't kiddin', Don! Have a look at this map!

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My favorite flea market is a hop, skip, and jump due west of the former site of the King Tool Company. I'm not sure I would have ever found out about the Onli-1 wrench, the company, and Gus Klopper if I hadn't stumbled on the case and the sockets at that flea market a few months ago. There is no reference to the wrench or the company on Alloy Artifacts. The only other reference I have seen on GJ, by Jim No Garage (who lives in Millington, NJ), was back in 2013, when he found an empty case. As I said, despite the advertising (sales in the West Indies! Really?), I don't think these things traveled very far. I found my wrench, which came from Philly, on fleaBay thanks to a tip from 3baygarage, but I don't know if he would've found that without me finding the case and sockets first. The only other wrench I have ever seen was part of a massive Wrenching News public auction in Nebraska in 2008, but it was owned by Don Ervin, and he lived in Maine.

They are - or at least were - out there somewhere. I am guessing that about 5,000 wrenches sets may have been made. As I noted above, one of the ads in 1922 implies over 1,000 sales. And the sheriff's sale notice in 1924 claims "four thousand wrenches on hand" on the premises of the company's building on 7th and Steiner.

I was very happy to see that Todd added a short King Tool Co blurb to the Tools Archives. Chalk another one up for us!

We always hear about the successful manufacturers and the lack of acceptance of this odd tool makes the story even more interesting.

'Zackly!

 

[twertsy]

Great story Greg. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I've had King Tool Co. on the site for quite some time but with limited info. Thanks for filling in the blanks! And, so eloquently written..............you're from Jersey?