Vlchek Fitzall wrench set

[stanley62]

Found this little cutie this weekend at a local antique store.  Wrenches are totally unmarked.  One has a broken ear...sad face...  Jim

[kxxr]

Let's have a closer look at that broken one. Maybe someone has a similarly aged replacement? It looks as though they may have spent their whole lives in their holder, could be tough to match.

[jimwrench]

 Give us more details on broken one. Size of openings;thickness etc. and I'll search some I'm taking to auction this fall. Assume they are drop-forged.

[stanley62]

I'll get a pic and size of the broken one tonight, but you are right about spending their lives in the holder.  For sure, they have spend the most recent years of their lives in the holder on a shelf somewhere. 
They really are about as generic a DOE as you can get.  No real distinctive marks or shape and no markings at all.  It will be hard (if not impossible) to find a replacement
Jim

[keykeeper]

You may be surprised as to what some of us can dig out of boxes.

C'mon, give a picture and size for the broken one. If I have it, I'll send it to you for postage cost!

(Besides, I'd like to see all of them out of the holder!!)

[stanley62]

Here is a picture of all the wrenches including the broken one.  Wrench should be a 3/4" - 7/8"?? combo and be approx. 7 3/4" long.
I also looked up the patent on the holder.  I believe it is 1,808,190 on June 2, 1931.
 Jim

[eddie hudson]

I recently saw just the holder on eBay. The starting price was $15.

[kxxr]

I got the patent document from "FreePatentsOnline" and put it up on media fire here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?b508pwq0cvqrb04

[kxxr]

I measure this one about 7 and 11/16s with openings about 7/8s and 3/4s. Pretty rough shape, and right now I can't remember if it has a shield or a stamp, I'd have to check again, but I think it's Vlchek.

[stanley62]

The wrenches in the holder are completely blank.  No shield or stamp...
Jim

[kxxr]

Sorry, the one pictured definitely has a shield and it is the biggest one I have. I don't usually buy the ones with no markings and without knowing exactly what yours looks like it would be hard to say if there are any around. It has to be a 'findable' item I would think.

[stanley62]

KXXR,

  Thats kind of what I though too.  I never look at the unmarked DOE's other than to move them out of the way looking for rusty gold...

[dimwittedmoose51]

2014 update: I just picked up a complete set of thes from a friend most sitll have the milling marks on the interior of the wrenches.  The holder has some rust, but the set is pretty cool.  did nyone ocme up with a date on these??

TIA


DM&FS

[mvwcnews]

Years ago on eBay the same holder, but marked VLCHEK CHROME-MOLLY instead of FITZALL, had a numbered set of VLCHEK open enders. 
To be "correct," I'd guess the included wrenches would have to be a numbered set from VLCHEK's FITZ ALL line , and given the application & issue dates of the patent, come from the late 1920s, early 1930s.  This closed sided holder matches patent no. 1,877,466 (http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?number=1,877,466&type= ) -- I updated the DATAMP entries for both patents.

According to a "Catalog of Copyright Entries" snippet view, VLCHEK announced FITZALL to the trade in 1928 -- that's when they copyrighted a "new product" flyer.

July 1930 Popular Science  pg. 115 has an illustrated ad showing the set, with the numbers faintly visible -- depending on how good a monitor you have.
( http://books.google.com/books?id=sigDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA115&dq=vlchek%20fitz%20all&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q=vlchek%20fitz%20all&f=true )

This gives me another piece for the March 2014 MVWC newsletter -- Thanks, guys.

[rusty]

Interesting..one of the problems with chrome-molly, and why they don't generally make tools out of it any more, is it is brittle, and snaps easily...