A reader sent in pictures of this McKinnon wrench, an old style "monkey wrench", wondering if it was possible to date it. It looks like an early 20th century type of tool, one that would work on square nuts, but less well on hexes and was largely obsolete by the 20s.
We've covered the McKinnon company of St. Catherines and it seems the long-established company started making wrenches around 1925. Mention has been made of them manufacturing tools for Williams. Other sources mention that the tool making part of the company was spun off when General Motors bought the company in 1929. So were all these wrenches that turn up made during a 4 year period? Other sources don't mention the toolmaking part at all.
On a forum someone mentions a wrench marked on one side DREADNAUGHT, 1/4 & 5/16 USS, 5/16 OC. The other side CHROME-MOLYBDENUM, 1025, MCKINNON, Made in Canada. Gray Tools lists a Dreadnaught adjustable in their 1941 catalogue so possibly production was continued by Gray Tools after McKinnon stopped?
So it appears that McKinnon made wrenches for different companies in the time they were on the tool-making business. All these old companies seem to have conflicting and misleading accounts of their history. In the hopes that someone knows more than I've found, I'll leave this post here for awhile but will move it to the main McKinnon post eventually.
2 comments:
This looks very similar to my Coes wrench made in Worcester, Mass., USA.
According to Wikipedia: "the patent on the screw wrench that Loring Coes was granted on April 16, 1841".
I think Coes licensed the design to many other US companies who made this style of wrench. The design was almost unchanged for possibly close to 100 years.
I recently purchased an old McKinnon 10 inch wrench that has made in Canada on the shaft and 'McKinnon 10 inch" on other, complete with the thistle logo. The wrench is in very good condition considering its age.
I also aquired a Coes wrench made in Worcester, Mass.USA, at the the same time. I am in the process of cleaning up both wrenches, to preserve both from any further deterioration.
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