I remake a wrench from an 1883 patent by Fredrick H. Seymour. This video is a first in a series of videos I hope to continue making.
This wrench patent was applied for at a time when it seemed like everyone and their mother had an idea about how to make the best wrench. Mr. Seymour did not explain what advantages his wrench design has, but I can assume they were designed for ease of production as drop-forging methods left more finishing work on each piece. I am fairly sure drop-forging wrenches eventually won the great wrench wars of old.
This project was a lot of fun and was fairly simple and straightforward to remake. The most difficult part to make was the lower jaw, but luckily I have access to a mill for that. I case-hardened the entire wrench with some Cherry Red compound. It leaves a very thin layer (a few thousands of an inch) of hardened steel on the surface. I do not know if the original was case-hardened at all or how deep it would be if it was.
You can see the original patent here: patents.google.com/patent/US2...
A similar design was put into production by the Capitol Mfg. Co of Chicago, IL and had different variations and improvements which can be seen here: www.datamp.org/images/13766-3.jpg
Some variations did not even include a twist in the handle.
The design in this patent definitely makes it very easy to think of how to make a wrench with limited tools. You can see a version of this design made in a way that could be very easily made at home: imgur.com/a/tUqBt9S
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