News:

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop." - Robert Hughes

Main Menu

J C Browns multi fence tool?

Started by stanley62, December 17, 2014, 12:21:19 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

stanley62

Found this at the Rose Bowl antique swap meet Sunday.  It has been years since I had attended that swap meet.  I must have walked 5 miles to bring home one tool!
This is marked what looks like J C Browns.  May be a user mark as it is pretty rough.

  Jim
Always looking for Stanley planes and parts, Mossberg and Plomb wrenches.

turnnut

interesting looking tool, plus you gave yourself a good workout walking.

sounds like a good swop meet to try.

Yadda

That is one monster of a multi tool!  Maybe Bob will happen by soon to tell us more about it.  I believe I've seen one before, but I'll need to reflect upon it a while longer..
You might say I have a tool collecting problem....

mvwcnews

#3
Look at patent no. 245,398 ( http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?number=245398&typeCode=0 ) which many people connect to the J.C. Brown's combination "fence tool."
I don't know that anyone has ever found a "paper trail" to confirm the connection.
If you have "Antique & Unusual Wrenches," study pictures no. 825-828.

jimwrench

 Since I don't believe you have a copy of Schultz I will attach a copy of patent picture. Looks like a dead ringer to me.
oops you can pull up patent drawing aw shucks its already attached.
Jim
Mr. Dollarwrench

stanley62

Looks like that is the critter.  The one difference I do see is that the patent drawing looks like there are inserted wire cutters.  My copy has no wire cutters.

I do not have a copy of Schultz's, but I keep looking...
  Jim
Always looking for Stanley planes and parts, Mossberg and Plomb wrenches.

stanley62

Oops.  Looking more closely, what I thought were wire cutters was an axle gripping feature.  Either way, mine does not have this feature.

  Jim
Always looking for Stanley planes and parts, Mossberg and Plomb wrenches.

mvwcnews

Perhaps the thing is noted in a Brown Fence Co. catalog -- Four larger research type libraries in the U.S. report having a copy of the 1915 Brown Fence Co. catalog ( http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34004433 )  Anybody live close to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City,  The Henry Ford Museum & Research library,  Cleveland OH Public Library, or the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus?

Plyerman

I'm not much help. Here is mine. It looks exactly the same as Jim's:






And here is the page from Antique & Unusual Wrenches that Stan was referring to. #825 appears to be the same as Jim's and mine. #826/#827 (which are opposite sides of the same tool) is unusual in that it has V-shaped surfaces projecting from the handles to grip square nuts. It also does not have the screwdriver blade at the end of the handle.





Another variation is #347 below, sold in the MVWC King Herrington auction a few years back. It is slightly larger, and reportedly has the removable wire cutters:

My friends call me Bob. My wife calls me a lot worse.