What is this tool called?

[Stillgottimefor1]

Also haven’t found anything about the company…It says ‘Syracuse’. Kinda busy today since it is quite warm and sunny here and the cedar pollen isn’t making me sick. I will do more digging this evening.

 

[Copymutt]

Form looks to be a small alignment tool for steel workers. Had uncles that worked in the steel mills in Syracuse back in the 60’s.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks like a cotter pin/brake adjuster

 

[four.cycle]

cotter pin removal tool.

1914 Cray Bros. catalog No. 26 cotter pin removal tool

cotter pin removal tool

 

[gmcgeo]

yep cotter pin remover looks like

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It belongs in a large early Syracuse Wrench Company socket set (EDIT: No. 99), all the pieces likely cast from so-called "silver metal" (Charles Miller made), similar to the large Mossberg sets. The largest supersize socket sets, like very early versions of later Master Mechanic type sets, always included a few DOE wrenches, a cotter pin tool, and a few other miscellaneous tools.

I have an XL size Mossberg No. 14 set that has one stored under the lid. I have a Syracuse Wrench Company Champion socket set, shown in a GJ thread here, which was smaller, and did not have one.

I have never seen the big box set, shown in an ad on AA here, but someone may need that to complete their set and pay handsomely. I would.

 

[malibu101]

Thanks!
One of those found me many years ago. I've often used it as a small prybar but never knew what it was originally sold as.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

I read about the Syracuse Wrench co. But didn’t see the connection because I didn’t know this is an automotive tool. Those sets seem to be pretty rare, so it would be sacrilegious for me to keep this tool away from a set it came in (if it is truly from that company. A cursory look at the stuff on A.A. This morning didn’t show me anything, but I didn’t think it was them. Thanks for the replies folks, this is a good thing. I had that in my ‘to be cleaned’ pile for well over a month and it got lost under there. I hope it finds a rightful place…

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They were not the kind of outfit selling individual tools. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident it's the puller than came in that set.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

This one came in my old blackhawk set. Maybe a thing back then.

 

[nadogail]

I last used a cotter pin puller like that while I was in High School, class of 1958.

 

[leg17]

Used to be a number of cotter pins on autos. (and other machinery as well)

 

[bubinga]

A Cotter pin removal tool, was a required tool for state inspection in Pennsylvania.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Maybe a thing back then.

No maybe about it. Definitely a thing in the Teens and early 20's. As I alluded to in post #6, they came in the big Mossberg sets, too. As I was telling SGT41 in a PM, though, I have never seen the big Syracuse set. I have a small one and a medium one. Plenty of Mossberg 14's around. A few Blackhawk (all in your shop probably! ). But that Syracuse set is rare.

EDIT: Just to qualify..., split pin pullers were clearly made and sold individually. I have a few. Vlchek, V&B if I remember correctly, and unmarked, too. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. But putting them in bigger master mechanic type sets was clearly a "thing", and the SYRACUSE marking on that one strongly suggests it was from the No. 99 set.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Model A and Model T rod nuts and main bearing nuts used cotter pins. Wheel bearings did all through the ‘60s and ‘70s. I’ve always considered them pretty common.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

No maybe about it. Definitely a thing in the Teens and early 20's. As I alluded to in post #6, they came in the big Mossberg sets, too. As I was telling SGT41 in a PM, though, I have never seen the big Syracuse set. I have a small one and a medium one. Plenty of Mossberg 14's around. A few Blackhawk (all in your shop probably! ). But that Syracuse set is rare. When I found it in a drawer full of files I was in a hurry, last day of the sale and I had gone through everything at least twice. One drawer had something big and heavy in front of it, couldn’t be opened…when that left I opened the drawer and bought pretty much everything in it for a few dollars. The piece we are talking about looked good, not much rust, but the original black finish was flaking. I thought it said Stanley, tossed it in the bucket. I soaked it in evaporust and hand cleaned it up.

EDIT: Just to qualify..., split pin pullers were clearly made and sold individually. I have a few. Vlchek, V&B if I remember correctly, and unmarked, too. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. But putting them in bigger master mechanic type sets was clearly a "thing", and the SYRACUSE marking on that one strongly suggests it was from the No. 99 set.

. Last day of the only estate sale in this area in years. I spent most of three days digging through everything and buying too much of it. One drawer in a bench couldn’t be opened because something heavy was in the way. That thing finally left , and I finally got to open it. Full of nice files and some taps and small stuff. I shoveled it all into a bucket and paid for it, didn’t find the tool we are talking about for a month. Threw it in the evaporust for a couple days, it wasn’t really rusty, but some or most of the original black oxide finish was flaking off. I saw that in the beginning and thought the letters st were part of the word Stanley-so a carpentry tool. Anyway I hope to see this go to a set it came in, and heartily thank the Brain Trust on this site for all the great help.! Hats Off!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

STG41,
If you're curious (I was!), these are some* large wood box socket wrench sets that also included extras (DOEs, etc), including a cotter pin puller or extractor, including the ones I have already mentioned...

Syracuse Wrench Co No. 99
Frank Mossberg Co No. 14
Packer Auto Specialty Co ("RAY") No. 39
American Grinder Mfg Co ("Blackhawk") No. 10
Walden Mfg Co No. 11

* There could be more. I just quickly canvassed the usual suspects.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

“Round Up the Usual Suspects : Proof that antique tool junkies aren’t Knuckle Draggers“

 

[four.cycle]

There could be more.

They were ubiquitous well into the 1920s. Many were included in "Auto Kits" which were put together and marketed by various tool manufacturers and wholesale distributors.

 

[archtimb]

Damn. I have one of those and thought it was just a nifty little pry bar/pick. Have used it for a bunch of tasks...but NEVER a cotter pin!

Well, I learned my new thing today. Back to bed.

 

[Ricky Joe]

I never looked to see who made mine until now. Hood.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They were ubiquitous well into the 1920s

The pullers were very common, and it is interesting to see them in roll ups (I'd love to find one if the rollup kits Vlchek was making for the Army QMC during WWI). Just to qualify, though, again, I've been focusing my comments explicitly on them being issued in big wood box socket sets, due to the Syracuse marking.

 

[Farmer J.]

Model A and Model T rod nuts and main bearing nuts used cotter pins. Wheel bearings did all through the ‘60s and ‘70s. I’ve always considered them pretty common.

Combine harvesters and balers have loads of them too... A tool like that is very useful!

 

[2oolhound]

My 2000 grand cherokee front hub/axel lock nut uses a cotter pin. I run into them fairly often.

 

[four.cycle]

The pullers were very common, and it is interesting to see them in roll ups....

I originally had more screenshots of those "auto kit" roll-up kits, but deleted them way back. There were quite a variety of them offered by a number of different sellers, both manufacturers and distributors, as I mentioned above. Most of those I found catalog images of were in the big wholesaler catalogs (Shapleigh, etc.)
Your comment regarding the OP's specimen is not lost on me - that's an incredibly rare find, for sure. Most of those I see online (which are invariably misidentified) are unmarked.
That unit needs to be re-homed in its proper place.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Your comment regarding the OP's specimen is not lost on me -

Oh, I knew you understood the significance, and I enjoyed you following it into auto kits. I was just further qualifying that while the tool was common, and may have even been more common in rollups, it wasn't that common in big wood box socket sets. In addition to identifying the handful of mfgrs who stuck one in their biggest sets, I also identified those who apparently didn't: Bog, Bay State, Billings & Spencer, Will B. Lane, Edgar C. Guthard ("Billmont"), and Chicago Hardware and Manufacturing. So, still a "thing", but not as widespread of a thing as I may have originally thought. Other than the Mossberg sets (plentiful) and the Blackhawk sets (rarer), I don't remember seeing examples of the Walden, RAY, or Syracuse sets with the cotter pin puller inside here or AA or anywhere else. Just the ads for the sets.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Some of them were more substantial than others. The Mossberg, which was made from round bar stock, was almost weapon-grade.

 

[four.cycle]

I wish I had kept all those images, but at the time I couldn't figure out how to sort them out.
There were quite a variety of those kits early on.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Wrong place

 

[Toolmaker51]

A first, I saw a striker - drawn over wet mortar in brickwork. Solid versions cut better than stampings. But there'd be little reason for the inch scale along the handle section. Reading accurate info from tool companies said "cotter pin puller".
Potentially decent prybar on the square end, but curved hole alignment tool? That's not going to work well, likely being heat-treated and small, not ideal for a shearing load.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Here is mine. The marking on it says “HOOD”. Any one know who made it?

 

[Ricky Joe]

Biggest cotter pin puller? Normal one for scale.

 

[Toolmaker51]

Biggest cotter pin puller? Normal one for scale.

We see BIG cotter pins occasionally, in a display, never installed. There's a shop somewhere breeding cotter pin pullers, a few grow up to be pry bars, runts are hoof picks for equestrians.
It's tough being serious, and I have a load of internet-ink.