Early Plomb Wrenches

 

Troy Dietz found a very early wrench and asked us to post a page describing them. 

 

These wrenches date from the early 1920's.  They are named "Cap Screw" wrenches in an early undated and unnumbered catalog.  By catalog #8, from 1928, they are listed as "Garage Wrenches".  The stamping "ALAM" stands for "Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers".  This is tied to the Selden patent on all automobiles which Henry Ford successfully challenged in court.

 

The early wrenches were made from Ford Model T axles, which were plentiful and inexpensive.  In the early 1900's, Model T axles were a great source of alloy steel strong enough to be forged into tools.