Spanner has a UK patent 157284 number on it, granted to Julius Kind and Willy Kreinberger of Bergstasse Mehli, Thuringen, Germany it is not well forged but has a different head outline to the patent
August 14, 2010
August 6, 2010
Webmore (Birmingham) and Company Ltd
Webmore (Birmingham) and Company Ltd were located at 10 Camp Lane, Kings Norton, Birmingham 30
They made a small cheap to make adjustable that was made of only 4 parts, the folded sheet handle a two pressed out jaws and a worm.
They obtained a patent also in the name of Ivor Richard Harris who worked at the company.
My example is marked Prov Patt which dates it to the period Dec 1947 (application date) to March 1950 when the patent was granted.
August 4, 2010
ATC or ATL adjustable spanner
This one is taking some discovering at the moment, it has the following stamped in the recess as far as I can tell.
AT C MARCH 26 1895 but it could be AT L MARCH 26 1895
Thanks to Stan I now have the design patent but it is from Design 29520 Oct 18 1898 by a Charles Metz, probably a case like another spanner I have where they were keen to manufacture but the paperwork takes too long so they just start manufacture with something such as an application date on the tool.
Mauser Adjustable Spanner (Engländer, verstellbarer Schraubenschlüssel)
I got this on Ebay, very little wear but does have some damage to the worm which after a little investigation is a basic design fault, there is a turning moment that rotates the worm out of mesh when the force is applied, this can be demonstrated with just finger force on the moving jaw.
The Lovell Wrench Co
They made an adjustable wrench that was supposed to be cheap and light it was patented by
Albert Kingman Lovell, May 12 1896 No 559901.
The example I have found differs in the way the worm is attached.
They failed to think too hard about where they stamped the name on the front and patent details on the back, both are on the upper jaw joggled bend.
July 20, 2010
Easterbrook, Allcard Co Ltd, Sheffield
In 1843 a young Sheffield mechanic named John Easterbrook began working for himself. By 1852 he had entered into a partnership and traded as the firm of Easterbrook & Scatchard working as toolmakers and machinists in Suffolk Road. Two years later the firm was known as Easterbrook, Scatchard & Drury, and at its Albert Works in Suffolk Road was making ratchet braces, hammers, spanners, screw stocks, taps and dies, lathes and all kinds of tools made to order.
Around 1858 the name changed yet again to Easterbrook and Allcard with premises in both Leadmill Road as well as Suffolk Road. In the following years the business expanded its range of products significantly, not least into making railway tools in addition to existing markets.
The business became a limited company Easterbrook Allcard & Co Ltd in October 1897 with Harry Allcard, James Allcard’s son, becoming chairman.
By the time of James Allcard’s death the once small enterprise had become a substantial concern with fine offices, a number of turning shops, an erecting shop and a number of smithies. Contracts for the firm’s output had been obtained from such prominent clients as the British Admiralty, the War Office, the India Office, railways both at home and abroad, and even the German Navy was buying Easterbrook Allcard tools. And what tools. Made for engineers, boiler makers, smiths, ship builders and plate layers the range of tools now produced was truly
astonishing. The firm’s 26th catalogue published in 1900 lists around 200 different hand tools being
offered for sale in addition to the company’s machine tools.
They used the name PRESTO as a trademark and later the company became Presto International Limited
July 17, 2010
Wooden handled adjustable spanners
These are often American made as most of my examples where I can read the makers name.
July 13, 2010
Design Faults
When you collect adjustables you soon see some damage and wear, the severity varies somewhat.
In many respects is due to the design of the tool in question.
An example is the Mauser quick adjust spanner where the worm is held into mesh by a spring, that part of the design is ok but the fatal flaw is the turning moment applied from the force when the tool is used, this pulls the worm out of mesh and in the extreme it will come out of mesh or break the edges from the worm or rack, the example I have shows damage to the worm and only hand pressure on the jaw shows the worm coming out of mesh, the tool shows little wear as is to be expected with a tool that comes out of mesh and slips.
July 5, 2010
Peugeot Double headed adjustable spanner or Clé à molette
An early French adjustable from Peugeot Aines (Peugeot Seniors) Pont de Roide which probably dates this spanner to between 1846 and 1880’s see http://www.lexilogos.com/famille/peugeot_frederic.htm
Peugeot Spanner
June 28, 2010
Lucas Girder
There is an odd hole in some girder type adjustables from Lucas the reason becomes obvious from the
1923 patent it has an extra part that can be swung into place to make it usable as a pipe wrench, even the little 3″ has the extra hole