Vintage Bristol Wrenches

[d42jeep]

One of the tools included in a WW2 Jeep toolset is a small splined wrench that has historically been difficult to find even though they were included with hundreds of thousands of WW2 Jeep’s. I have a book authored by the late John Barton that resides in my flea market bag that shows the tools in the set and I was excited to find one in the wild in 2015. I had previously purchased a more modern equivalent from a prominent Jeep supplier.
Here is that wrench. It measured .183”.

Here is that wrench below it’s more modern equivalent.
In 2018 there were further developments. It had been thought by experts (including Lugz) that the wrench shouldn’t be fluted it’s entire length but rather just fluted on the ends based on this document.

Some wrenches surfaced that matched the document that had a Federal Stock Number stamped on the sides.

These were snapped up by collectors at quite high prices. Another development was a listing by an eBay seller that came up with a sealed package with original Ford markings along with some individual wrenches. I was able to purchase one of the individual wrenches and Tin Medic bought the sealed package. All of these wrenches proved to be fully fluted.
Some early sets of Bristol wrenches have surfaced here and there and haven’t included the exact size of the Jeep wrench although that hasn’t deterred me from continuing to buy them. Some have been marked “Bristo” rather then “Bristol”.

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a picture supplied by Username that I saved.
I have collected quite a few Bristol wrenches when I’ve come across them in the wild.

One of the FSN examples in cosmoline is in the cosmoline box. That one was sourced by Tin Medic in Europe.
Here is a nice complete early set that recently arrived from an eBay seller. I’m hoping that Lugz and others will happen along and post their examples along with more information.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

Some time ago, I picked up this little IBM pouch of hex keys


And inside, along with all the very tiny hex wrenches, were a couple of the splinned keys that you mention

 

[woody 73]

Sigh late for the party, I found a lot of information, but alas no story for me...

Some pictures for you on this nice cold December night.

 

[four.cycle]

The Bristol Company also filled a government contract for a set of hex wrenches. The same set was also manufactured by Century Tool Co. (Pendell PA), Wright Tool Co. (Barberton OH), and Granco Industries (Grandview MO) as NSN 5120-00-679-4459:


Bristol Co., Waterbury, CT 4-piece hex wrench set NSN 5120-00-679-4459 ( photo: ebay)

This looks maybe like Don's work... surprised it's not posted in this thread:


Bristol Co., Waterbury, CT ad 1918

There is also some discussion about "Bristol" in THIS THREAD

 

[MisterEd]

Socket Keys for Spline Screws

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a picture supplied by Username that I saved.
I have collected quite a few Bristol wrenches when I’ve come across them in the wild.

One of the FSN examples in cosmoline is in the cosmoline box. That one was sourced by Tin Medic in Europe.
Here is a nice complete early set that recently arrived from an eBay seller. I’m hoping that Lugz and others will happen along and post their examples along with more information.
-Don

Even though I already have this set, I couldn’t resist this one because the condition was amazing. It arrived today.
-Don

 

[garilla]

Those spline wrenches were also used for US Army radio equipment. My father being in the signal corps for 28 yrs and being a ham radio enthusiast had many sets of those wrenches around and now I have them, I'm going to take a closer look at them. radio equipment is the only place I thought they were used, what used them in automotive?

 

[d42jeep]

I posted about their WW2 Jeep usage at the beginning of this thread.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...what used them in automotive?

If you read from the top, you'll see it.

EDIT: Classic X-post.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hmm, to be fair, upon re-reading, I guess you weren't specific.

@garilla - It was used to adjust the set screws in the top of the T84 shift forks. This was considered Level 1 driver-mechanic maintenance during WWII and the tool was in the on-board kit.

I know the feeling! The Dana T84 was notoriously touchy in my experience. Mine (in a Willys '43/'45 frankenjeep) seized up frequently. Not every trip. But every third or fourth, maybe. It got to the point where I wouldn't even bother screwing down the access plate (around the stick on the floorpan of the jeep) all the way. Don's experience might be different.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It had been thought by experts (including Lugz) that the wrench shouldn’t be fluted its entire length but rather just fluted on the ends based on this document.

Thought, and still think. It's likely that the Ordnance Dept models - with the FSN - only fluted on the ends were also early. Then they probably capitulated or discovered it was more proficient to acquire them fully fluted. Or maybe there were always two variants.

I’m hoping that Lugz and others will happen along and post their examples along with more information.

Here's my published info and the red marker correcting/clarifying myself for another edition (that never happened lol) in my own copy of the book!

 

[KnurledNut]

Here's my vintage Snap-on set and a miniature Bristo set branded G-C for General Cement MFG Co. Rockford Ill.

 

[garilla]

I found my dad's spline wrenches, curious the cardboard box was marked Bristo missing the L, but see sometimes the L is missing. So I would think these were Bristol brand? The little ones look like Allen till you use a magnifier on them, my guess is the jeep never used the real small ones, they are under 1/16" in size. I should add that these wrenches are most likely from the US Army Signal Corps.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

curious the cardboard box was marked Bristo missing the L, but see sometimes the L is missing.

It's deliberate. "Bristo" was a brand derived from the full name of the company, which was Bristol. It didn't stick. They are still known as Bristol wrenches.

my guess is the jeep never used the real small ones, they are under 1/16" in size.

No need for guessing. As indicated in post #1 and again in post #12, only one wrench was issued and only one size was needed for the set screws in all the shift forks. (Originally, they came to Willys with the transmissions!)

 

[NHtoolguy]

The A-1492 drawing is interesting. It shows that a fully-fluted wrench conforms to the "optional construction" in the lower right quadrant. I suspect it was easier in practice to roll-form the flutes in long lengths rather than form the feature on just the ends. The stock could then be cut and bent to create the "ell" shape. Many aerospace drawings I've seen allow optional construction for components, left to the discretion of the manufacturer. One example would be a part machined from bar stock, versus forged blanks.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I suspect it was easier in practice to roll-form the flutes in long lengths rather than form the feature on just the ends.

Agreed. It's what I was alluding to in short, here...

Then they probably capitulated or discovered it was more proficient to acquire them fully fluted.

// break //

It shows that a fully-fluted wrench conforms to the "optional construction" in the lower right quadrant.

Indeed. Note, though, that Change Note (C) in the ledger, accompanying the "OPTIONAL CONSTRUCTION", is dated 1949. When Willys moved into "MC" (better known outside Willys parlance as M38) production, gearing up for the Korean War, they made a slew of changes to WWII engineering drawings. All of them are consistent, and consistently tied to M38 production (Bills of Materiel, other Willys factory docs, etc). This has been the source of all kinds of lively debate among WWII jeep and jeep toolkit enthusiasts, and experts.

If you really want to peep down the rabbit hole, here's how I summarized the issue for this tool in a long discussion on G503.com, but it applies to all of the tools afflicted with similar changes...

"I only see three possibilities:
(1) The change to the "OPTIONAL CONSTRUCTION" (fully fluted) shown on the A-1492 drawing happened before the date the change note was entered (1949).
(2) The NOS packaging on the fully-fluted wrenches are very well-made fakes.
(3) Warner Gear bought fully fluted Fluted Socket Head Wrenches from Bristol during WWII, despite the specifications in Willys drawing A-1492 requiring that only the ends be fluted.

Of the three, I like #3.

It's possible that the fully fluted variants were an upgraded design by Bristol that occurred during MB production. When production began, Willys specified the fluted end wrench. At some point, the fully fluted version superseded the earlier version, which eventually prompted the OPTIONAL CONSTRUCTION change. It has been well-established that Willys engineering drawings were part of the production process, not merely a documentation/clerical process. The pattern for the dates on Willys engineering drawings being effective dates is very solid. Normally I would think the odds of them making a change note on a drawing in 1949 for a change that hit the line during the war to be very low. But of the three possible explanations, it's the most believable."

 

[cvairwerks]

P.L. There's a 4th possibility you didn't account for. Often ECN's or AR's, whatever a manufacturer calls theirs, get released long before drawings get updated. In this case, the change could have been released to manufacturing and the drawing not updated fir months or years even, until there were enough changes accumulated, or it was let for new bids or contracts. I've seen drawings with stacks of ECN's that were 4-5 years old and they were never applied.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

^ What you're describing is what I am describing in #1. But the pattern that all the drawings for all the tools in the kit shows is that drafting, including ECR's, and manufacturing, were lockstep. Drafting in almost all other cases was not clerical and not latent. We have all the BOMs and other factory documents to show it. Willys was running an amazing operation. I do believe this ECR and a couple others on a couple other tools may have been playing catch up though.