Reed's Mystery Wrench is no longer a mystery!

 

Reed found a very unusual wrench.  The opening is 1-1/2 inches, the jaw pivots on the hinge and the teeth point backwards. 

 

It's marked "Sterling" and that's about all we know.  No catalog lists it, and it looks early enough to predate the catalogs. 

 

Troy found one, made by the Truth Tool Company.  Since Truth was also founded in the early 1900's, we can't narrow the timeline with his find.

 

Bob's guess is the wrench is used to remove the hubs on Brass Era autos.  With a short arm, you can't get much leverage.  You couldn't apply much pressure to a hub cap or you would damage it.

 

 

A guest named Dave sent us this info:

"I grew up on a farm in Indiana. The wrench in the picture looks like the wrench we used to take off the hubcaps on different horsedrawn machinery. They had a square end on them that took that size wrench. I wish I had a picture of my grandfathers wrench. It was marked IHC."

 

(IHC stands for International Harvestor Company, an early farm equipment and vehicle manufacturer.)

 

 

Alloy Artifacts to the rescue! 

 

Alloy Artifacts had the answer.  The wrench is listed in the 1929 Truth catalog as a "Pump Nut Wrench".  It was also the right size to remove hubcaps on horsedrawn machinery.