As you can see the thing is pretty crude but the idea is there. I should note that I had the idea of the captive object in the skeletonized handle even before seeing this piece with the wrench cut outs. Anyway, the piece is heavy duty, made of about 5/32" thick steel, obviously stamped out then the end had a very rudimentary screwdriver tip forged out from it. I estimate that is certainly early 20th century vintage if not earlier.
Well I'll be darned! A customer emailed me with information from the US Patent database and this tool or one very similar to it turns out to have been patented in 1898 by Vaughn and Bushnell and sure enough it bears the stamp V&B right on it. So it is likely right around 100 years old. Awesome!
No idea where he got it, but huge thanks to the Gadget Guy for sending it to me last winter. :D
THAT is a wicked cool tool!!!!
ReplyDeletePeter, Your stuff is very nice. A tool similar to the hexbaby which is the first of your tools I've bought that would be designed around a 1911 .45 would be cool. Something better than the Wilson Combat tool.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wilsoncombat.com/a_tools_versatool.asp
Awesome score!!
ReplyDelete