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Symco Shim Punch & Pipe Flaring Set

RTM

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OK, this may be a first of a kind (FOAK to steal a term from Lugz) here on GJ. I;ve checked both the name (Symco) and the manufacturer (Yerrick), and got no hits, so here we go. This was acquired (4/23) as part of a garage cleanout of a neighbor, tools from his dad's auto repair shop. This was not reported in the 2023 thread, as I was overwhelmed with what I had. This was in gross condition when I found it.

Here is the first image of it, as found, the box barely readable from the grease, the tools very rust. Took a few minutes to determine what exactly it was, but here we go.
PXL_20230426_172119660-X2.jpg


Here it is after a 24 hour soak in Evaporust for the metal pieces, some time on the Scotchbrite 220 grit radial bristle brush afterwards, a bit of sharpening and stray whisker removal on the punches, and lots of degreasing on the box. Unfortunately, while degreasing the box, I dropped it, and all the metal dividers etc went flying, one end fell off (it was already repaired once) The wrench needs to be reblued, the Evaporust pretty much removed it all. The back side is what was "up" in the initial pic, so not showing that here, some pretty deep pitting.

Whoever designed this box did not waste any space, the bolts on the clamp need to be tight for them to fit in, and I have to use the smallest punch in the largest hole to leverage the thing out.

PXL_20240713_235858045-X2.jpg


The Cover reads
SYMCO
Combination
Shim Punch
And
Pipe Flaring Tool
For
Automobile Truck Tractor Gas and Steam Engine Mechanic
Yerrick Manufacturing Co.
Manufactured ??
Denver USA Colorado

I had a heck of a time degreasing it, stopping several times to let it dry out, and wedging it under caul pressure to keep it flat. I may go back with more effort later, but I was afraid of ruining the wood or the embossed (debossed) lettering with what I had done so far.

PXL_20240713_235836317-X2.jpg

So here is the tool marking
SYMCO
Yerrick Mfg Co Denver
Pat Pend.
Made in USA

PXL_20240713_235907027-X2.jpg

Here is an image of the internal shape. You clamp the tubing in place then hit (not sure how hard) with the tapered punch, one size fits all, and you get a flare. In this age of gentle screw driven flaring tools, I can see why this may not have lasted long. To punch something, you anchor it between the two layers, and then hit the punch, and you have a hole, or a small disk, whichever you needed. Couple of the punches had rough spots on the cutting end, and one had a bit of mushrooming on the whacking end, all of which was cleaned up, gently with a diamond hone on one end, one the grinder for the mushroomed end.

PXL_20240714_000008626-X2.jpgPXL_20240714_000048410-X2.jpg

So, not to leave this as an "I got this tool" post, there is a bit of the back story, that I've found so far, in the next post.
 
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RTM

Well-known member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
13,246
Location
SF Bay Area
So, as noted above, Pat Pend on the tool. Here is the patent


US1451727A, from Dec 21, 1921, to James E Harburg


There is little out in the world that I’ve found so far, except this reference to the tools introduction in Hardware World v17 issue 1 in 1922




And the USPTO patent list


And that’s all I know so far. But one more tool partially rescued from the rust pile
 
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