Ran across this by accident. But, lordie, would you use this to repair fence? Not me.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-atomic-glaskin-mfg-co-cast-532969478
https://www.google.com/search?q=glaskin+mfg+co&sa=X&biw=1441&bih=660&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=UY21FvUCxYfVHM%253A%252CWgpLT0fnbV86_M%252C_&usg=__34gyMTsxeRVmNf5RfvtNBfUNp8g%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiEi5G34aHYAhUl04MKHZiCCv0Q9QEIPTAG#imgrc=UY21FvUCxYfVHM:
Ranch hands would carry that on the saddle horn for quick repairs. Many were made by local blacksmiths.
There are a few different versions of that one and there are a lot of reproductions of that style out there. I have one in my collection.
Better than no hammer at all.
I've got one, but I don't understand it. Sure it would be easy to carry on a saddle horn, but being so "short", and with no handle, it couldn't be used to strike a very strong blow. I don't think I could pound a decent size nail in with it, for instance.
I have a hard enough time driving staples with the pliers type fence tools , although I have several and use them for lots of different jobs. If I KNOW I'm fixing fence I have an estwing framing hammer handy.
one thing that we have to remember when we look at a vintage tool, is they used what was available. they learned the
best possible way to get the job done.
they did not have computers and fancy machines to push out a new product every month.
they were the pioneers of tool manufacture's.
Well now, this is interesting. I've just spent the last hour scrounging the web for information about the Atomic Wire Fence Stretcher. Turns out it was patented in 1949 by a fellow named John Birch Glaskin of Colorado Springs, Co.
The Atomic is remarkably similar to a much older tool, patented by James Halstead Birch of Plattsburgh, Missouri on Oct 2, 1888 and sold by the Birch Mfg. Co. of Granite City, Illinois.
Below is a photo I found on he web of a Birch tool (left) alongside an Atomic tool (right)
So is it a coincidence that both inventors have the same surname, for their patents 61 years apart?
I also found it interesting that the "saddle horn" carry method, which seems to be widely assumed today, is not mentioned as a feature in either of the patent texts. Instead, the hole in the center is intended to slip over a pole, which gives the user more force when hammering, and more leverage when stretching wire:
Hello, Bob. Great research, thanks for sharing. Regards, Lou