Progenitor of the Byrdwrench, Spyderench and Spyderguppie - Chamberlain's Wrench

[Yadda]

I discovered this the other day while perusing old wrench photos.  It appears to be the great great grandpappy of the byrdwrench.  This is the Chamberlain's Wrench.   Patented by a fellow from North Dakota(?) in 1912. 

[tosh]

Wow !!

That is just...  

I am turning green with envy!!

[JAfromMn]

Awesome I haven't seen that one before Yadda

[Cupboard]

Very nice.

Why does it have what looks like a die in it?

[Yadda]

Very nice.

Why does it have what looks like a die in it?

Good eye Cupboard!  It is a die. Chamberlain evidently was a tool and die guy...

[J-sews]

Yeah, a thread die. Wonder why so many old tools seem to have thread dies as part of the design?












Says Pat Oct 22, 1912 on the one side, so that makes it near 100 years old. It's built like a sherman tank, and weighs about as much as one too. 

[Yadda]

Wow!  Nice photo's Bob! Great find!   

It is not nearly as large as I thought it would be.  Having never seen measurements I thought it was probably in the 12 to 15 inch range.  Not a pocket tool by any stretch of the imagination, but smaller than I imagined.  This one and the Mathews are high on my list, but will probably stay there due to budgetary restrictions.   

[Mr. Whippy]

When threaded rod with washers and nuts on each side were the fasteners of choice, it made sense to be able to chase damaged threads rather than replace the whole thing.  I know running a die down a section of rusty bolt fixes the problem in 90% of cases.  (Remember this came out when farm equipment and heavy industrial machines were commonplace.)

[gorbag]

Is the die standard?

The world belongs to the funkiest.

[Ray S]

As most common size thread dies share a uniform outside diameter and this tool has a screw on the side to lock the die into position,it would allow a number of sizes to be utilized.

[J-sews]

The round pocket is too small for the dies in my modern tap and die set. Maybe dies were smaller back then, or maybe they sold each wrench with a set of dies especially made for it?

[King_Gorilla]

This is one of the reasons I like this forum.  If Aloha had not recently posted on the "Holy Grail" thread, reviving it from the dead, I would have never seen Yadda's list where he talked about this crazy antique wrench multi tool!!!
 

This thing is so cool.  Look how they made the plier handle end in a slotted driver.  I would love one of these with a ratcheting 1/4 inch driver in place of the thread die.  If I could get that, I would carry this in my truck tool bag today. 

 

What's with the notch on the side of the pliers???  is there another function that I am not seeing?  or is that nothing?

[Yadda]

This is one of the reasons I like this forum.  If Aloha had not recently posted on the "Holy Grail" thread, reviving it from the dead, I would have never seen Yadda's list where he talked about this crazy antique wrench multi tool!!!
 

This thing is so cool.  Look how they made the plier handle end in a slotted driver.  I would love one of these with a ratcheting 1/4 inch driver in place of the thread die.  If I could get that, I would carry this in my truck tool bag today. 

 

What's with the notch on the side of the pliers???  is there another function that I am not seeing?  or is that nothing?

Thank you! Always nice to see these threads pop up as new people discover them.  The notch is for wire cutting. Some lineman's pliers have similar notches.

[ReamerPunch]

That's so cool!