GMTK: Duro-Chrome 41-W-900 wrench

[Hartofoak]

I aquired this Duo-Chrome Electrical/Ignition Wrench Set (E61- E67) from a well known auction site in July here in the U.K. for £1.99! Although a bit tatty, the manufacturer's label on the leatherette roll is readable. I bought it out of interest before reading all about the GMTK on G503.com. A missing wrench had been substituted for a broken 13/64 x 15/64 wrench with 41-W-900 marked on it. I wondered if others had found similarly marked wrenches.




Hartofoak

[lucakiki]

Nice set! Every general mechanics toolbox needs one, and the 41-w- xxxx marking on that wrench makes it even more appealing.
Seeing new addicts in the GMTK Collectors guild is a real pleasure for me!
Show us more of your treasures!

[Greg Hines]

Greg

[Awd261]

Hi,

that is looking something familiar









Alex

[MB399579]

Greg,
Could you please list the size combinaison of your wrenches and indicate if the other side have a marking ?
Thanks

[Wingnutt]

Greg,
Could you please list the size combinaison of your wrenches and indicate if the other side have a marking ?
Thanks

If you’re still interested, and in case you did not find this yourself, Greg posted the size combinations of his “41-W-900” marked ignition wrenches on the ‘General Mechanics Tool-Set’ thread back in 2008...

(from smallest to largest):
13/64 x 15/64
15/64 x 13/64 (same size as the wrench above just the sizes are reversed)
7/32 x 1/4
1/4 x 7/32 (same size as the wrench above just the sizes are reversed)
9/32 x 5/16
5/16 x 9/32 (same size as the wrench above just the sizes are reversed)
11/32 x 3/8

On the same thread, Greg reported that the wrenches have no manufacturer markings, but they came with a set of ignition pliers made by WILDE. He didn’t say if there was anything marked on the other side. I am assuming not.

Here is my ignition toolset:


The wrenches are Duro-Chrome…

…E-Series 61-67…





Unlike awd261’s Duro-Chrome G-series set above, but in keeping with the incestuous relationship between Indestro and Duro-Chrome, the pliers are Indestro…


The midget screwdriver is unmarked but looks like the Duro-Lite model that came with the era Duro-Chrome 11-piece ignition sets (including the E68/1768 and E69/1769 wrenches).

Does anyone have a mechanical reason why the 41-W-900 ignition wrench set would not need/include the E68 (with the 11/32 opening afforded a greater offset)?

[MB399579]

Thanks Wingnutt for the help !

[lucakiki]

Greg

Greg, would by any chance your mouthwatering set show how the Federal Stock Number was not only used in WWII( which is a given by now) but also at times actually stamped on tools already in WWII ?

[Wingnutt]

Thanks Wingnutt for the help !

Glad to oblige!

I have also been very intrigued by Greg's '41-W-900' marked wrench set (as well as the '41-W-900' marked 13/64 x 15/64 wrench found in Hartofoak's Duro-Chrome E-series set) since the first time I saw them right here on this thread, not only for the '41-W-900' marking, but for their very unusual construction, which nobody here has mentioned or discussed as far as I can tell.

Dovetailing off your interest into Luca's query, I will discuss it a little.

Notice that the wrenches are more or less flat (with no rounded edges) and they have no true heads. Or better said, that the heads or ends are of the same exact thickness as the shanks, with no visible separation between them (heads and shank). Each wrench is one contiguous solitary piece. The size markings cannot be said to be placed on the head or the shank. They are placed as if there is no difference. To me this gives them the same appearance as wrenches that have been stamped from a single sheet of soft steel, then hardened and tempered.

This method is referred to by Alloy Artifacts as "stamped construction" or "stamped-steel construction."

Examples of this construction can be found from all the major manufacturers, including Bonney, Williams, and Duro-Chrome/Indestro, just to name a few. However, all the examples are single or double open-ended engineer's wrenches or nut & tap wrenches, and, most importantly, can be dated to the 1910's, 20's and 30's, but no later. A good example is the open-ended wrench in Figure 65 of the Mossberg section.

I have not found a single ignition wrench of this construction on AA, of any era, and not any wrench of this construction dated later than early 1930's. By then, most major wrench manufacturer's had moved into carbon steel and alloys and the forged consruction of shanks with massive parabolic heads that we are more familiar with. As far as I can tell, all of the ignition wrenches (as can be seen above in the Duro-Chrome E-series) illustrated and detailed in AA were constructed using the more modern method.

Given the FSN marking on the Hines/Hartofoak wrenches, I find this seeming incongruity (between the era of stamped-steel wrench construction and what we know - or think we know - about FSN markings) VERY strange, to say the least.

[Greg Hines]

I think you will find that original brake bleeder wrenches are of stamped construction.

Greg

[Wingnutt]

Good point, Greg. I didn't see anything called out as a BBW on AA,,, there were certainly single open end wrenches, but again all dated prior to 1930 as far as I could tell. I have a repro. Who manufactured them?

And now that you're here (hi!) what is your theory on the Duro-Chrome E-series and other era ignition set examples being like midget forged open-enders rather than stamped, but your unique set with FSN markings being stamped? The only conclusion I can reach is that the supplier of that set (and Hartofoak's single 13/64 x 15/64 looks like a kissin cousin...) was certainly at least FSN era (and therefore, at least 40's, leaving it at that...), and decided to use stamped construction. But do you think those preceded or came after the use of Duro-Chrome E-series? I tend to agree with what you have said elsewhere - that the general flow is from no FSN markings to FSN marks middle to late or post-war. I don't think it's very likely that Duro-Chrome would go back to that style of construction, which leads me to think those were manufactured by a different company. I'm sure you've seen the Wilde 9/32 x 11/32 ignition wrench on AA (Figure 9), but I'll mention it just in case. Not dated, unfortunately.

EDIT: Still curious for a mechanical reason why the 41-W-900 ignition wrench set would not need/include the E68 (with the 11/32 opening afforded a greater offset)...

[Greg Hines]

"And now that you're here (hi!) what is your theory on the Duro-Chrome E-series and other era ignition set examples being like midget forged open-enders rather than stamped, but your unique set with FSN markings being stamped? ...

My theory is my set is late war and was stamped as a cost cutting/savings measure. I don't have a lot of absolute proof of that but the fact that they are stamped with the FSN and made with what I assume is a less expensive process (I'm not an engineer or tool maker, just a simple Geographer/Historian) lead me to think that. I would also not rule out that stamped and forged sets were being made at the same time.

BTW here are pics of my brake bleeder wrench (original) showing construction http://jeepdraw.com/images/BRAKE-Wrench-Ford.jpg

Greg

[Wingnutt]

My theory is my set is late war and was stamped as a cost cutting/savings measure...

Thanks. Makes good sense to me.

I would also not rule out that stamped and forged sets were being made at the same time.

I considered that also. But almost assuredly by different manufacturers. And, if we accept this possibility (instead of a serial progression), why the FSN requirement on the stamped and not on the forged? (Of course, it's possible that there are forged carb wrenches with the FSN on them out there and we just haven't seen any yet...) Open question/wonder, not assessment of or poke at theory, which I do believe is just as plausible as not.

[Hartofoak]

An interesting 1935 advert for a duro-chrome ignition set ...

[Wingnutt]

Post-modern version (70's era?) of the tune-up set, obviously, in an OD canvas roll-up, but I thought it was an interesting reminder of how consistent the GMTK has been through the years - and, interestingly enough, the pliers are WILDE brand, which is what Greg Hines says he has in his WW2 era set...