PL MB sockets or PLOMB?

[bobbyu]

I bought some sockets at a garage sale mostly for a 3/8" SK rachet. There was a bunch of sockets made in the USA by a company called PL MB. There is a symbol between the PL and MB that looks like upside down V. I google it and came up with PLOMB tools. Any one heard of them? They look good. The Rachet turn out to have the retention ball stuck in. Trying to soak it to see if it helps. Well I found this- https://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/plomb-gallery.html
Thanks

 

[AA/FC]

Any one heard of them?

Thanks

Yes. Do a search on this site. They have been talked about countless times. If I remember correctly they started out as PLVMB, then went to PLOMB, then after being sued for their name, they went to PROTO..... which is still around today. They are now owned by Stanley and made in Texas.

 

[zeet]

Actually, that's close.

The company was always called "Plomb". The man that started it was Alphonse Plomb. Ol' Alphonse was a whiz at building tools but apparently not much at trademarking or social skills... A company named "Plumb" from the east coast that specialized in hammers and hatchets challenged him in court. As I understand it, an agreement was initially reached whereby Plomb could retain the name provided they refrained from building....Hammers or Hatchets! Sure enough Plomb built hammers. Plumb took Plomb back to court and won the case. The court said "No more Plomb" and made Plomb grind the name off their current crop of tools (You see these at swap meets fairly regularly) but permitted Plomb to produce tools for a short transitional period with the legend "Proto by Plomb Tool Co." around 1948-49.

A lot of the confusion has come from the inverted triangle Plomb used for the letter "O" in their name... It has even been suggested that doing so (And the downward-pointing arrows, or "plumb-bobs" at either end of the name) was an intentional "dig" at Plumb (The hammer/hatchet guys)

I've seen the name spelled a number of ways including Plvmb, plamb, or even just leaving the one letter out for pl mb.... But the fact is, it's Plomb... Spelled with an "O".

I know there are guys here on GJ that have more information than I do on this subject. (Some could probably recite the case numbers of the lawsuits! ;-) This is just what I've gleaned over the last 30 years of putting my set together.

 

[bobbyu]

Thanks. I did find quite a bit of info. They look like decent sockets. I really didn't want them or need them but they were in a pile with a couple 1/2" extensions and ratchet that I wanted.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Nope, never heard of them My wallet also wishes I have never heard of them Just kidding, they are some of the best made vintage tools ever! Their quality is superb and they look cool as well. If you have a chance, post up some pictures of the tools you found in the vintage tool section. There is a plomb tool thread and folks there love them.

 

[bobbyu]

Nope, never heard of them My wallet also wishes I have never heard of them Just kidding, they are some of the best made vintage tools ever! Their quality is superb and they look cool as well. If you have a chance, post up some pictures of the tools you found in the vintage tool section. There is a plomb tool thread and folks there love them.

Thanks for the info. I will check the Plomb thread out.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Yeah, check it out but repeatedly tell your self you will not buy any more plvmb tools Don't worry it worked for my for the 1st few weeks after I found my 1st few plvmb sockets. They where pretty rusty but I cleaned them up and held on to them for almost a year before I found a double box end plvmb wrench. Then I needed to start buying various standard wrenches and wobble sockets for working on cars and it was downhill from there. I started buying tools off ebay and I enjoy collecting them and using them. I like them because they are a little different than any other brand out there but are some of the most well made tools ever. Hope you will enjoy them as much as most of us on here do!