Challenger Tools

From Mechanix Illustrated magazine

Part of Pendleton Tool Industries, the manufacturer of Proto Tools which still exists today. The Challenger name was applied to an inexpensive line of tools in the late 1940s to cover the growing amateur tool market. The company was started in 1907 by three German immigrants in Los Angeles who picked the shortest of their last names - Plomb- for their line of tools. They are credited with inventing the first combination wrench in the '30s.
 A trademark infringement suit in 1946 by a competitor, Fayette Plumb resulted in them losing the rights to the "Plomb" name and they continued under the name Pendleton Tool Industries although Proto (derived from PROfessional TOols) was the name stamped on their tools. The Duke covered the Canadian connection in a previous post.