Who made these sockets?

[Oldtuleguy]

Picked these up because I rarely find any sparkplug socket sets. Not sure who made them, but numbers match cornwell...

They are stamped defiance sparkplug company, toledo, ohio.

 

[woody 73]

Very interesting find you have there, anyway to see more close up, shots of the numbers?
Same state as Cornwell so you might have something there.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

When do you reckon those were made? Late 30's? 40's? Not saying they're not Cornwell, but none of my Cornwell sockets - including spark plug sockets, have any knurling, let alone three bands of knurling separated by deep grooves like that. They also don't have the groove around the wall. All from the 1940's. None of that could mean anything. Just sayin.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Got a 2220 1 1/8, 2222 1", 2224 15/16, 2226 7/8, 2228 13/16, a 2210 ell handle. Also one 15/16 sparkplug...

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Actually I think numbered in reverse order of cornwell

 

[3baygarage]

Wow those are some beauties.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Box looks kinda sk.

 

[four.cycle]

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/2004/03/07/Hot-spot-for-spark-plugs/stories/200403070047

Through the years, other spark plug operations have largely disappeared from northwest Ohio, including Champion and Toledo's Defiance Spark Plug Co., which for years had exported to Iraq, Haiti, and elsewhere.

Not a clue, although there definitely was a "Defiance Spark Plug Company" in Toledo, Ohio at some point. I'm guessing that they were not one of the leading brands in 1920 - they do not appear in the 1920 catalog advertisement for spark plugs along with the other big names of the day.

 

[twertsy]

Yet another acquisition of Cooper in 1989. If I had to guess (which I do), I'd say those are S-K although I do believe I have Herbrand deeps that look like those.....which makes more sense?

 

[3baygarage]

They just look so different from everything.

I’ll tell what I noticed though. The font of the number 1 in the size is similar to these New Britain. These NB also had a similar MADE IN U.S.A. stamp, but others did too. I think NB also had a 1/2” L handle in None Better sets.

I’m still not convinced of anything though.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

It's a tough one to figure. The more I research it the more it seems like they did not want these to look like anything else.

 

[3baygarage]

Exactly my thoughts OTG, whoever designed them wanted them to look so far from anything else they made. A hole big enough to fit an L handle is unusual in itself, it’s so much bigger than a cross bar.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I may have solved this one. Found this walden set on ebay looks pretty close. Same socket sizes, similar knurling

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yet another set of defiance sparkplug sockets have surfaced! I got these after a bit of a bidding war on ebay. My apologies if anyone here was bidding. Was transfixed by the amazing decal so spent a bit more than I should have..... definately seem to match up with my walden set.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

You may recall that I made a long distance Dallas TX area CL purchase with a GJer assist of an Edison spark plug set a few years ago, Otg, so I can sympathize with the desire. That decal is persuasive!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That was a nice set lugz! Only one I have seen.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I think we can probably very safely say the same thing about your Defiance set with that decal.

The name is interesting in its own right in that area. I know that the county and town of Defiance (home of Lectrolite, btw!) is very close to Toledo. Historically, it derives from Fort Defiance in the post-Revolutionary lingering Indian Wars era. I don't know if the Stanley line has anything to do with that, though.

 

[930dreamer]

In an era when tools looked beautiful.

 

[Steven 33]

Debating on keeping till I find the missing socket or not. Pretty sweet set

 

[Mintgrun]

I asked about this Walden driver a while back and OTG said it came in a spark plug set. It's fun to finally see one in this thread. It's eight inches long, so if it fits one of those boxes, they're a little longer than they look. It's marked 133.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yup they came in the walden sets

 

[twertsy]

When do you reckon those were made? Late 30's? 40's? Not saying they're not Cornwell, but none of my Cornwell sockets - including spark plug sockets, have any knurling, let alone three bands of knurling separated by deep grooves like that. They also don't have the groove around the wall. All from the 1940's. None of that could mean anything. Just sayin.

Well did you expect a “blacksmith” to do actual knurling?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

? I didn't say anything about them being shopmade, and I'm not sure what you're referring to, Todd. Looks like I made that post back in 2018 when we were still trying to figure out who made OTG's coolass Defiance spark plug sockets. ?