Hmm, I had replied to this post, but the forum ate it : (
Yes, it is a textile pattern, they were offered to mechanics as well as well as loom fixers, but auto mechanics don't seem to have liked them very much..
The odd offset isn't very helpfull on an automobile, but it works well for getting at frame bolts in a loom. Most things in textile machinery are square, rectangular, or assembled at right angles to other things mounted in or on the frame, so a wrench that points straight+ with a small offset works generally well. On the other hand, almost nothing in an automobile is at right angles to anything else - P
Also, if you try using it on a stubborn bolt sometime, you will discover its other redeeming feature....it likes knuckles...the shallow offset virtually guarantees that if you push on it with the head reversed, it will slip off the bolt, planting your knuckles into the nearest hard object...
They are hard to date generally, the pattern is at least as old as S-wrenches, and they still appear in catalogs into the 40's....
