safariknut
Well-known member
I posted a picture of this awhile back and at the time the wrench handle was the only thing missing from the set.There was a picture or two of these sets on the Alloy Artifacts site and with them was a photograph of a handle next to a ruler which was most helpful.
A good friend of mine who lives several doors down is a machinist for Eberspacher(the exhaust people)and offered to make me a handle if I had the dimensions. He had manufactured a receiver for a gun awhile back so I knew he was capable. Using the pictures on the site I made an engineering drawing of the part and took it down to him last night. After going over the drawing and asking a few questions to clarify dimensions he said he would get it done.
Imagine my surprise when I got home from a job today and found the tool kit with the new handle sitting on my back porch! He even went so far as to stamp the patent date on the handle!
After checking it on the various sockets I found a couple didn;t quite fit.It wasn't his work but variations in the original tools. A little tweaking with a file and grinder cured that problem.
A quick history:the Rex Wrench Co was founded around 1904 and a patent applied for and granted in 1906 for the method of socket attachment. The socket has a hook on the top that fits into a pin on the wrench handle and rotates 180 degrees.A small detent ball in the handle and dimples in the hook allow the socket to sit either straight or at 30,60,and 90 degree angles to the handle.A hole in the opposite end allows a bar to be slid through to act as a T handle.
The sockets rather than having decimal or fractional sizes on them are numbered 1 to 8.A chart in the lid of the box shows what socket to use with what size(shank diameter)bolt and corresponding nut.There is also an open end wrench and a straight screwdriver blade that will attach to the handle. In the illustration on the AA website they show a whole set of open end wrenches designed to fit this handle.
Apparently they weren't very popular because the company went out of business in 1916. I bought this set at a flea market a couple years ago for $15. Don't know what Scott is going to charge for the handle and it really doesn't matter because now I have a functioning tool set that is over a hundred years old!
A good friend of mine who lives several doors down is a machinist for Eberspacher(the exhaust people)and offered to make me a handle if I had the dimensions. He had manufactured a receiver for a gun awhile back so I knew he was capable. Using the pictures on the site I made an engineering drawing of the part and took it down to him last night. After going over the drawing and asking a few questions to clarify dimensions he said he would get it done.
Imagine my surprise when I got home from a job today and found the tool kit with the new handle sitting on my back porch! He even went so far as to stamp the patent date on the handle!
After checking it on the various sockets I found a couple didn;t quite fit.It wasn't his work but variations in the original tools. A little tweaking with a file and grinder cured that problem.
A quick history:the Rex Wrench Co was founded around 1904 and a patent applied for and granted in 1906 for the method of socket attachment. The socket has a hook on the top that fits into a pin on the wrench handle and rotates 180 degrees.A small detent ball in the handle and dimples in the hook allow the socket to sit either straight or at 30,60,and 90 degree angles to the handle.A hole in the opposite end allows a bar to be slid through to act as a T handle.
The sockets rather than having decimal or fractional sizes on them are numbered 1 to 8.A chart in the lid of the box shows what socket to use with what size(shank diameter)bolt and corresponding nut.There is also an open end wrench and a straight screwdriver blade that will attach to the handle. In the illustration on the AA website they show a whole set of open end wrenches designed to fit this handle.
Apparently they weren't very popular because the company went out of business in 1916. I bought this set at a flea market a couple years ago for $15. Don't know what Scott is going to charge for the handle and it really doesn't matter because now I have a functioning tool set that is over a hundred years old!
