Tool Talk
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: HeelSpur on March 14, 2014, 03:08:47 PM
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Just a quick question, how long has L&S been making tools?
Finding a lot about bolts and things but not much at all about tools.
A buddy of mine bought 16 pipe/monkey wrenches and one of these were in the batch.
Looks like this;
http://www.rubylane.com/item/167844-11536/Lamson-Sessions-Co-Cleveland-Ohio
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This is only a guess , but I think that is a marking to ID where it was stolen from.
Pretty sure they didn't make tools. Electric motors and such. My aunt worked there during the
second world war , winding armatures.
They quit selling nuts and bolts about 1981. I think they owned at least part of Republic steel at one time.
Never heard a reference to tool manufacturing.
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L&S ENGINEERS CASE HARDENED is a legitimate marking for this model of wrench sold by (if not actually manufactured by) Lamson & Sessions in the late 1880s / early 1890s time frame. Patent # 257,468 ( http://www.datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=257468&id=22753&set=2 ) is the relevant patent. They included "WRENCHES" in the title of their catalogs of the period & show up in trade directories as a source for wrenches as well.
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The full name (Lamson Sessions Co) doesn't start until 1883, after they moved to Ohio and incorporated.
Datamp associates patent 257,468 (1882) with them, so I'd guess around that era....
Early history is complex for this company, especially in the war era, when they had aircraft parts divisions, fastener divisions, etc etc...
Not certain how datamp concludes they made the wrench as opposed to just labeling it, they were making fasteners , mostly...
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According to Cope-p197
"About 1890 the firm began making monkey wrenches. Products included a small monkey wrench marked Steel Bicycle (Schulz #104) and the Buckeye (Schulz #105) bicycle wrenches.Their 1908 catalog offered a variety of bolts, nuts , rivets, washers and wrenches."
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Haven't looked thru everything here but found a couple L&S tools.
#112 has a Dbl-ended S shape adjustable (click on highlited area for pic).
http://www.horstauction.com/Tool-Feb-16-13.html
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My guess was wrong. I learn a lot on this site. One more thing to be on the hunt for.
Can't imagine there are a lot of survivors out there.
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I have two or three of the monkey wrenches.
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There are examples of the L&S "case hardened" & L&S "STEEL BICYCLE" wrenches on the 2014 auction "Bus" has put together for April 4 & 5.
The fact that so many manufacturing companies made a run at wrench manufacture at one time or another is part of what makes wrench collecting so fascinating -- you never know where one might show up. For example, how many of you have the "Apple logo" wrench that came with early add-on boards for APPLE computers?
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This one?-
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/GYoAAOxyg7xSYH-f/$(KGrHqFHJEQFJGC5nmP9BSYH-fGIWQ~~60_57.JPG)
On Ebay now- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-Apple-logo-Hand-Tool-Nut-Wrench-for-Apple-II-/301112156218?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461baee03a (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-Apple-logo-Hand-Tool-Nut-Wrench-for-Apple-II-/301112156218?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item461baee03a)