Tool Talk
Wrench Forum => Wrench Forum => Topic started by: dimwittedmoose51 on June 17, 2011, 05:37:33 AM
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Decided to sponge of the local pawn shops AC as it was hot out after work, and found these wrenches for like $5.
The 4 off to the right I think are all Indestros and then top to bottom there's:
NO name cool offset wrench
Vlchek WBE20
Billings
Westline
DuroChrome
A metric of some sort
Merit
Waldes Tru Arc
Pliers say CRONK on them, but that could be a name.
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Cronk was a toolmaker.
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Cronk was a toolmaker.
And those are Cronk Button's patent pliers. You can find them on AA.
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"NO name cool offset wrench"
came across one of those the other week, I agree, visually a cool wrench. It came home with me.
Brian L.
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Decided to sponge of the local pawn shops AC as it was hot out after work...
:) As an HVAC contractor, I know all the best places to get A/C for free!
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Gang,
Don't know if it's common knowledge, but Sears used to carry Merit wrenches in their "Big Book" catalogs back in the mid 1920's to early 1930's. Merit was not a Sears brand, they were simply offered as an alternative to Sears Craftsman tools.
I have never run into a single Merit branded tool in several decades of tool trolling. Great snag Dim!
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Thanks for the info. At least it wasn't made by the cigarette co. by the same name!!! The guy sold that stash for .40 per piece. Hell, I was needing a wrench fix.....
DM&FS
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A metric of some sort
It's hard to tell from the photo, but that mark resembles a keystone...
Is there an "L" inside the keystone? If so, it's the Lakeside Forge Company.
But having said that, I'd be surprised to find a metric Lakeside Forge wrench, so..?
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No L inside the logo and I'm not sure exactly what a keystone looks like, but the shape is similar to the Heinz ketchup logo shape.
The Merit wrench has an AF on one side of the logo side of the wrench and a 27 in the middle of the other. The end sizes are 11/16"x19/32".
The Metric wrench says "forged steel" on the other side if that helps. Now on to posting today's finds
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Here is the Keystone Lakeside logo-
(http://home.uid.onemain.com/~dwh/index/logos/L-in-keystone-logo.jpg)
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Papaw,
Actually that the logo for Lakeview Forge Co. not Lakeside. They are still in business.
http://lakeviewforge.com/ (http://lakeviewforge.com/)
When I started the Wrenching News Wrench Logo Identification page I found some Lakeview history in an article in Forging Magazine on the web. It's doesn't seem to be available now.
http://www.wrenchingnews.com/wrench-logos/logos-page-1.html (http://www.wrenchingnews.com/wrench-logos/logos-page-1.html)
I have it saved as a .pdf file here:
http://www.wrenchingnews.com/web-misc/Lakeview-Forge-History.pdf (http://www.wrenchingnews.com/web-misc/Lakeview-Forge-History.pdf)
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Sorry, Bus, I've made that same mistake before. I saw the keystone and read what my mind said it wanted me to read.
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Sorry, Bus, I've made that same mistake before. I saw the keystone and read what my mind said it wanted me to read.
Don't feel bad, I made the very same mistake up until right now. I just changed the name on my inventory sheet.
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Hmm, but there must be more to this story...
This is from an ad in Maintainance of way, 1921, for
the Lakeside Forge Co, Erie,PA
(Also shown are track wrenches, S wrenches)
http://books.google.com/books?id=lLApAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA733&dq=%22lakeside+forge%22&hl=en&ei=OP_9TbTzFYHqgAelqJneCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22lakeside%20forge%22&f=false
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Look at this as shown on http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/other-makers-p2.html (http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/other-makers-p2.html) Alloy Artifacts. Is the difference in the L, or some other characteristic?
(http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/Photos/tools/lakeside_forge_adj_4in_wrench_bicycle_f_cropped_inset2_w400_h283.jpg)
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It must be the same company; you can't convince me there are/were two companies based in Erie, PA in the same line of work, with such similar names and both using an "L-in-a-keystone" mark!
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I'm wondering if they got in a trademark dispute with a certain mail order company....
As a weird coincidence, while going through the stuff in the dungeon this morning,
I found the auto wrench in the photo, tho with the other (bridge) logo...
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Looks like I have to change my inventory back to Lakeside. I was checking AA and found this.
http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/Photos/tools/lakeside_oe1824_wrench_raised_logo_f_cropped_inset.jpg
It is definetly marked Lakeside with a "Keystone L"
I'm guessing that if Bus is correct then Lakeside and Lakeview are the same company.
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Ahh, here we go.
Iron Age, 1925
"The Lakeview Drop Forge Co., Erie, Pa., has been organized to succeed the Lakeside Forge Co., Erie, which has been In the drop forging Industry for many years..."
I can' read the entire article on google, but that's the hint at least...
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Mystery solved.
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Good work!
As an aside, I inherited my grandfather's Erie Tool Works No. 1-R Yoke Vise a few years back. The PDF file Bus links to on the history of Lakeside/Lakeview nicely explains what became of this company too!
The article reads, in part, as follows:
A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR FOUR GENERATIONS
Frank Bacon founded Erie Tool Works in Erie, PA, in 1902 to produce hand tools. He and his descendents have managed the successor organizations for 100 years. Except for a half dozen years beginning in the late 1960s, the business was family-owned also. Frank’s son, Edwin Warner Bacon, and grandson, F. Warner Bacon, served at the helm of the business, and currently, Frank’s great grandson, Matthew L. Bacon, is president and CEO.
For much of its history, Erie Tool specialized in hand tools and vises for the plumbing trade. In fact, for more than 30 years, Erie Tool produced a line of plumbing tools for Sears. Another significant chunk of the business involved producing hand tools under private brand names.
In the early 1950s, Erie Tool moved to larger quarters in Erie and acquired Lakeview Forge, also in Erie, to serve its growing need for forgings.
In the late 1960s, the Bacon family sold the companies to Textron, which was looking for a captive forging operation to serve its defense contracting needs.
F. Warner Bacon bought back the companies from Textron in 1973 and created Lakeview Forge Corp. with Lakeview Forge Co. and Erie Tool Works as divisions.
Later in the 1970s, the hand tool business was sold, but the Erie Tool Works name and operation was retained because it had a good reputation in defense contracting.
And if Mr. Lauver reads this, it appears we have a potential new lead for a Craftsman code related to vintage plumbing tools (although nothing "unknown" on the current list seems to fit with Erie Tool Works)...
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wow, thanks guys! i have a number of wrenches with all variations of the 'keystone' logo.... glad to figure out what's what!
cheers, bird