z28lsc
Well-known member
I'm looking for info in What company made this screwdrivers. The handle looks like plomb/proto with the metal cap but with plastic handle. I seen other colors as well. This picture is from the internet.
Who made this screwdriver?
- Thread starter z28lsc
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Mintgrun
Well-known member
I have similar examples with yellow handles. I might have a green one now too.... No brand names, but one is marked Taiwan. I posted mine in the Plomb thread, just for fun and was told they'd been discussed previously, but there wasn't a brand name associated with them.
Tom
Tom
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Which I have been extremely jealous of!
Lending credence to the Asian import knockoff theory whenever these show up.
Credit where credit is due, they're very attractive screwdrivers, and whoever did it had a brilliant idea, out-Plombing Plomb, so to speak.
The evolution of Plomb wood-handled screwdrivers to moulded composite (pyroxylin) from the late 1930's to the mid 1940's was a harsher departure.
Initially, they essentially mimicked the hexagonal shape of their venerable woodies, and even kept a semblance of a recessed ring in the middle of the handle, as if to retain a design that was popular with loyal customers, but lost the end cap and the ferrule.
Then, they eventually went to a uniform space age-y shaped composite handle.
Plomb Tool Co and then Pendleton Tool Industries, Inc, continued making and offering the wood handled jobbies into the early 70's at least. Somewhere along the line in the middle of the Asian Import wave, some mfgr liked the design.
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Which I have been extremely jealous of!
Lending credence to the Asian import knockoff theory whenever these show up.
Credit where credit is due, they're very attractive screwdrivers, and whoever did it had a brilliant idea, out-Plombing Plomb, so to speak.
The evolution of Plomb wood-handled screwdrivers to moulded composite (pyroxylin) from the late 1930's to the mid 1940's was a harsher departure.
Initially, they essentially mimicked the hexagonal shape of their venerable woodies, and even kept a semblance of a recessed ring in the middle of the handle, as if to retain a design that was popular with loyal customers, but lost the end cap and the ferrule.
Thank you for the info. I haven't seen the plastic hexagonal shape but I do have one of the later design.
Mintgrun
Well-known member
I was right, I do have a green-handled example.
I like it when threads like this make me take a closer look at tools and I notice details I'd missed. For Taiwanese knock-offs, these are actually well made. The shank runs clear up to the cap, so they'll take some abuse from a hammer.
There's some variation in the caps on these three. The two Phillips have nubs in the plastic that poke through holes in the caps. There are two holes opposite each other on the green one and the yellow cap has three; which seems like an odd choice on an octagonal handle. (The red handled example in the first post has two holes, like the green one).
The yellow cap has a curvy shape where it meets the handle and the plastic is molded to match it. At first, I assumed the shape was distortion from sloppy manufacturing, but now I see it was done on purpose. I'm not sure how the large cap is held on. It doesn't have holes like the others.
The outline around Taiwan is faint, but I noticed that the one on the green handle is curvier and not a simple oval.
Maybe one of the most interesting details is the patent number.
Why would it have so few digits?
Tom
I like it when threads like this make me take a closer look at tools and I notice details I'd missed. For Taiwanese knock-offs, these are actually well made. The shank runs clear up to the cap, so they'll take some abuse from a hammer.
There's some variation in the caps on these three. The two Phillips have nubs in the plastic that poke through holes in the caps. There are two holes opposite each other on the green one and the yellow cap has three; which seems like an odd choice on an octagonal handle. (The red handled example in the first post has two holes, like the green one).
The yellow cap has a curvy shape where it meets the handle and the plastic is molded to match it. At first, I assumed the shape was distortion from sloppy manufacturing, but now I see it was done on purpose. I'm not sure how the large cap is held on. It doesn't have holes like the others.
The outline around Taiwan is faint, but I noticed that the one on the green handle is curvier and not a simple oval.
Maybe one of the most interesting details is the patent number.
Why would it have so few digits?
Tom
Thanks Tom those look really nice. About the four digits, maybe they wanted it to be similar to plomb/proto's 4 digits.I was right, I do have a green-handled example.
I like it when threads like this make me take a closer look at tools and I notice details I'd missed. For Taiwanese knock-offs, these are actually well made. The shank runs clear up to the cap, so they'll take some abuse from a hammer.
There's some variation in the caps on these three. The two Phillips have nubs in the plastic that poke through holes in the caps. There are two holes opposite each other on the green one and the yellow cap has three; which seems like an odd choice on an octagonal handle. (The red handled example in the first post has two holes, like the green one).
The yellow cap has a curvy shape where it meets the handle and the plastic is molded to match it. At first, I assumed the shape was distortion from sloppy manufacturing, but now I see it was done on purpose. I'm not sure how the large cap is held on. It doesn't have holes like the others.
The outline around Taiwan is faint, but I noticed that the one on the green handle is curvier and not a simple oval.
Maybe one of the most interesting details is the patent number.
Why would it have so few digits?
Tom
RTM
Well-known member
Another country’s patent number?Maybe one of the most interesting details is the patent number.
Why would it have so few digits?
Tom
Date issued?
Complete FU by someone?
All valid options we’ve seen before here on the Vintage Board.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I'm so happy for you.
If it was older, and US, I would guess Design Patent. The most common reason we see vintage hand tools and other stuff with an oddly low patent number is that it's a Design Patent. Historically, here in the US, they were (and still are) sought and awarded at a much slower rate than Utility Patents, and their numbers are therefore sequentially smaller/lower. D is running more than 100 years behind U.
Just to illustrate...
Utility Patent 1,097,966, for a Loose Leaf Folder, was awarded on May 26, 1914
Design Patent 1,097,966, for an Automobile Wheel, was awarded (to Hyundai) on October 14, 2025.
That is not a US Design Patent, though, obviously. (US Design Patent 4,967 - for a lady's foot pry bar! - was awarded in 1871.
)Aren't you the Google Patents guy? I thought you would be all over this new info. I am not familiar enough with the format. I searched TW4967 and CN4967 and also the same format with a few to several zeroes between the prefix and the number. No dice. I see that Taiwan has its own patent search system (TIPO), but I am not venturing there.
1967 has promise - but April 9th was a Sunday and September 4th was a Monday.
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RTM
Well-known member
Just no time to go digging right now. Gotta get a few things to settle down before I can dig into the international patent chaos. Now I gotta get up and shower for work.
Mintgrun
Well-known member
I googled [ vintage plastic screwdriver pat 4967 taiwan ] and found this video.
There is a faint partial logo that appears to say ALLTRADE. Sorry for the graininess of the screen photo.
He does not make the connection with the Plvmb handles and would prefer that it have six sides, instead of eight.
I prefer eight sides. So, there!
Tom
There is a faint partial logo that appears to say ALLTRADE. Sorry for the graininess of the screen photo.
He does not make the connection with the Plvmb handles and would prefer that it have six sides, instead of eight.
I prefer eight sides. So, there!
Tom