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Proto Tools Picture Thread - Post Yours!

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Smokeshow69

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Private Lugnutz said:
I don't see any markings. Do you have a photo of one? or are you inventing the tools layout?

You're living a charmed life.
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This tool board is a self conceived fantasy unicorn piece. I basically sat down and laid out the tools on a board arranged by drive size and type and then created the board. I use it to display my craftman circle u pieces but you could really use it to display any brand/era if you wanted too...I'll post pictures of it this weekend but I put a "transitional Heritage" logo on top so I was shooting for mid/late 40's when sears was selling these tools.
 
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Smokeshow69

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So there I was, doing my usual nightly eBay perusal of my usual search terms and I can upon these Proto mfd era NOS mallet handles for a pretty good deal. Looks like I’m set now for a while. Might still be some available?
 

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INSP380

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Got this one today at work. I had my Team clean up the shop since we just prepared for inventory. One of my guy’s had this in his weld booth after picking it from the trash. He said it was time to move it my way. From the 5400FH set, tray 5493. I have a matching 20” box and the correct set of 1/2” 12 points to go in it . IMG_3726.jpegIMG_3727.jpegIMG_3728.jpeg

Steve
 
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GaryM909

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I picked these up from the Re store yesterday for $10cad. They have never been used. Not a scratch and they look factory clean. The 5/8" was missing and probably fell out of the roll because the clear plastic was ripped open for both the 3/8" and the 5/8". I did have a matching one in my junk box. I bought the same set back in 1977 except they go up to 1 ¼". I have had the matching Proto wrenches and the only difference is the finish.
 

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Etchase

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d42jeep said:
I found this 6” Mfd. Proto Clik-stop adjustable wrench at today’s estate sale. Perhaps made in 1958 according to the date code. IMG_4984.jpegIMG_4985.jpeg
-Don
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I think that’s ‘68. I believe the ones from ‘58 said patent pending. If I’m right, this is one of the latest dated tools without the circle r registered trade mark symbol next to Proto that I’ve seen.
 
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Etchase

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Proto Challenger 1/4 inch drive set. Don’t know the time frame. Plastic box with the inclined socket rack that lets you read the size if you orient them carefully which I don’t. Small stepped down sockets are six point, while the larger are 12 point. Ratchet and extension have no Proto makers mark.

IMG_0410.jpegIMG_0409.jpeg
 
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four.cycle

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No... they would be marked "Challenger", which originally was a completely separate operation.
I think mid-60s on that plastic box.
 

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Etchase

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^ I should have said unlike the sockets, the ratchet and extension have only the Challenger mark. I don’t Know when they started adding the Proto in a box mark.

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four.cycle

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^ It was later, after Challenger became part of SBD family. I am honestly somewhat confused, because the company changed hands so many times.

AA said:
In 1984 Proto Tools was purchased from Ingersoll-Rand by The Stanley Works, a maker of hardware and carpenter's tools with operations going back to the 19th century. Our documentation for this was found as a snippet in the 1984 Wall Street Journal index stating "Stanley Works agreed to purchase the Proto industrial tools unit of Ingersoll - Rand Co. for $ 40 million". (The Stanley web site also cites 1984 as the date for the Proto acquisition.)
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AA said:
In addition to the Fleet brand, Penens also produced tools for the "Challenger" brand, at least up until the early 1960s. A 1951 Challenger catalog lists the Penens Corporation in Schiller Park, Illinois as the company address, and shows the Challenger logo as a gladiator's helmet.

However, a later Challenger catalog from the early 1960s lists the company as the Challenger Division of Pendleton Tool Industries, with an address in Cleveland, Ohio. Pendleton Tool was the parent company of Plomb Tool, Penens, P&C, and other subsidiaries, but it's currently a bit of a mystery that Challenger ended up in Cleveland. One possibility is that Pendleton had shifted the production of Challenger tools to the Vlchek factory in Cleveland, after having acquired Vlchek Tool in 1959.
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I had a fabulous Proto Challenger set but it no longer lives here. Really nice stuff.
 

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Etchase

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^ very confusing. I think it was Ingersoll Rand that started to add proto to Challenger, but I’m not sure. Penens is even a can of worms. I think Plomb may have created that company as a sub brand although it could have been a mysterious company that escaped mention anywhere that Plomb bought. Interesting stuff.
 
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Etchase

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four.cycle said:
^ I'm lost. I thought "Penens" was an independent, stand-alone manufacturer at one point.
Click to expand...

That is one interpretation, but there doesn’t seem to be any mention of Penens before the acquisition, and the incorporation papers have it at an address listed as some Plomb facility before the acquisition., or something like that. The story I find most compelling is Plomb created a brand for more sales like GM, new Britain… etc. and utilized it to fill up the pipe line when they open the Bog factory that they had purchased a couple years after Bog shut down. I’m not sure any of this is true, and I shouldn’t even write it down probably. Someone, correct me. I’m dying to know. I should let AI tell me what to think:). lol.
 
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Snaparxon

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Have any "early" Penens tools popped up? I personally have only ever seen the Penens name on tools that look very Plomb/Protoish and I think I even recall a ratchet that looked like it was made by BOG. If Alloy Artifacts is correct, Penens was the renaming of Cragin/BOG after they were aquired by Plomb in 1940.

I'll confirm with ChatDKS and Wikipudia(y)
 
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Etchase

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1/4 inch Big Dawg 4749p. 45 teeth. Early or mid naughts I think. Google ai says Proto never had a tool called Big Dawg. Using more traditional methods I can’t figure out when these came out, but they seemed to have been discontinued by 2007 at the latest.

IMG_0521.jpegIMG_0522.jpegIMG_0523.jpeg
 
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Snaparxon

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Etchase said:
1/4 inch Big Dawg 4749p. 45 teeth. Early or mid naughts I think. Google ai says Proto never had a tool called Big Dawg. Using more traditional methods I can’t figure out when these came out, but they seemed to have been discontinued by 2007 at the latest.

IMG_0521.jpegIMG_0522.jpegIMG_0523.jpeg
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I recall they were short lived. Stanley was branding MAC ratchets with the Proto name, the Big Dawgs were around and then Proto introduced the J4747 ratchets in the later 2000's, perhaps 2007.

@sk farmer was a fan of these back when they were around. Perhaps he can chime in with more details.
 
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RTM

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Snaparxon said:
Penens was the renaming of Cragin/BOG
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AA says, in my interpretation, the BOG ==> Cragin ==> Penens @ Plomb acquisition time. I first thought I read somewhere that Penens change occurred prior the Plomb acquisition. I tried to search for Penens and Cragin in Google books, and found no overlap.

Postscript​

We can add a final footnote to Bog's later history with the October 2015 discovery that Cragin Tool was reorganized and renamed to form the Penens Corporation, a well known part of the Plomb family. (Penens had long been incorrectly reported as a separate acquisition by Plomb.)
 
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sk farmer

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Snaparxon said:
I recall they were short lived. Stanley was branding MAC ratchets with the Proto name, the Big Dawgs were around and then Proto introduced the J4747 ratchets in the later 2000's, perhaps 2007.

@sk farmer was a fan of these back when they were around. Perhaps he can chime in with more details.
Click to expand...
i really like them. a bit heavy and chunky but they have nice chrome, grippy sharp knurling and a nice handle shape.

i actually prefer the hard handle versions. they have the same shape and texture as the mac screwdrivers and hard handle ratchets of the time.

a bit finicky to keep together though. all three drive sizes used screws to hold them together. imop, the screws were undersized and could come loose under heavy use. a dab of loc-tite or gently mashing the threads to turn them into "locking" screws seemed to help.

sadly, if your screws came loose there was a small pin and spring that while robust enough when in the correct location where easily damaged and or lost if it came loose or apart.

while parts are no longer available. i have enough rebuild kits to get me by. i generally use them on lighter bench duty now and have not had any issues in a long time.
 
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Snaparxon

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RTM said:
AA says, in my interpretation, the BOG ==> Cragin ==> Penens @ Plomb acquisition time. I first thought I read somewhere that Penens change occurred prior the Plomb acquisition. I tried to search for Penens and Cragin in Google books, and found no overlap.

Postscript​

We can add a final footnote to Bog's later history with the October 2015 discovery that Cragin Tool was reorganized and renamed to form the Penens Corporation, a well known part of the Plomb family. (Penens had long been incorrectly reported as a separate acquisition by Plomb.)
Click to expand...
I re-read AA and am still confused as hell as who did what.:headscrat Cragin/Bog re-named themselves Penens before Plomb aquired them or Plomb renamed Cragin/Bog to Penens after aquisition?
 
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four.cycle

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