Tiny shop made wrench

[Lons]

Well if you can call it a wrench as it's very thin maybe suitable for Meccano or similar size nuts and bolts.

I don't remember where I got it but it looks workshop made, though I could be wrong and it works though I've never used it in anger. A curiosity really.

 

[AndyT]

Interesting!

I wouldn't describe myself as a collector of such tools, but I did treat myself to a copy of Ron Geesin's excellent book in which he documented his years of research, "The Adjustable Spanner, History, origins and development to 1970."

Flicking through and looking at the pictures I can see that most adjustables like yours have the knurled knob within a slot in the moving jaw, or else captive within a square hole in the body. In yours, I presume the knob rotates on a rounded stem at the bottom of the inner part of the moving jaw and is held on by the end of the stem being peened over.

I expect that wouldn't be strong enough in the bigger sizes but is ok at this scale and would be easier for a beginner to make.

Geesin does say that it was a common challenge to apprentices to have them make an adjustable, either by copying a commercial example or from a drawing. It does look like a good exercise, taking in forging, filing threading, riveting etc and could be done with just hand tools.

As for the size, some commercial makers did go down to around 3 inches. Back then there would have been small nuts on bicycles, motorbikes and electric terminals where your tool could have been used.

He also says that they were popular as advertising gifts and includes this group photo.



But I agree with you, that yours probably was handmade, as there's no brand name on it.

 

[Lons]

Thanks Andy. The depth of your knowledge is amazing.

There's definitely no brand name, the jaws look used and the main body is approx 2.5mm thick and I've now remembered where I got it so it's almost certainly shop made.

It was in a box of stuff I got from a neighbour after her husband died a good 20 or so years ago. He was an electrical engineer but made large scale locos from scratch in his workshop. I bought his Meddings drill press but unfortunately couldn't justify the Myflord ML7 or his milling machine at the time, a decision I regret.

 

[AndyT]

Thanks, but sometimes it's not really knowledge, just a tendency to acquire slightly niche reference books!

I used to have a distant cousin who had worked as an engineer. I remember that it was a problem for his family after he died, about 50 years ago. What could they do with that big heavy lathe in his shed? Nobody else had a clue what it was or what all the other stuff was.

I was hundreds of miles away, head in the clouds, with no thought for the opportunity that I was missing...

 

[AndyP]

My grandfather, ex engineer for EMI, managed to get a Myford lathe into an upstairs bedroom in a Victorian terrace in Walthamstow. My father had to let it go when he cleared out the house, he never had the space nor the time to shift it and always regretted it too..

 

[fuse]

As apprentices we had to make one of those.
Centre punch,tap wrench,die holder,lathe centre,drifts,plumbob too ,and a metal toolbox to keep it all in.
Various house moves over the decades and I think it's all gone....
Got factory discount on bought tools and I managed to hang on to those- Mitotoyu micrometers and depth gauges,decent screwdrivers and a Kamasa deep socket set( 40 years later the chrome is starting to wear thin)