Trimo pipe wrench history
About a year ago someone posted a pic of a giant sculpture made of hundreds of pipe wrenches in Springfield, MA. I live near Boston, and one nice thing about living in this area is the plentiful availability of old tools. There are a number of large "antiques" places around me where you can find hundreds of vintage tools, many of which were made in the NY/CT/MA area.
For people who haven't read it, this thread about the giant pipe wrench sculpture is worth looking at:
And today I found another piece of local manufacturing history: a 24" "Trimo" pipe wrench made by the Trimont Mfg Co in Roxbury, MA, just up the road from me.
After I knocked the rust off it, freed the carrier to pivot, and cleaned the teeth up, it works like new. The patent date stamped on the other side of the handle is 1918. Not sure when this one was made, but apparently they started stamping "alloy" on their wrenches around 1935, and this one does not have an alloy stamp. So I'm guessing pre-1935.
Trimont started operation in 1889. More info here:
http://alloy-artifacts.org/trimont-manufacturing.html
Comments
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Oops
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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This blog shows the location of the Trimont factory, with a photo of the building as it looks today. Next time I'm in Roxbury I'll try to find it.
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Hi, That wrench seems to have a touch of the original black paint on it. Looks like it's ready to go to work 🤠 Nice!
Yours, Larry
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I had a bunch of those Trimo and Walworth Wrenches over the years. I liked them but when the jaws get dull you have to scrap them as they are not like a Rigid with replaceable jaws.
As I got older, I liked the Aluminum wrenches better. I wonder why??
But they did the job that's for sure. And the skinny handles they had would take a smaller cheater pipe
I think I still have (1) 14" wrench of that style but can't remember the MFG.
hard to tell from the pic but it looks like the bottom jaws are a little warn
Nice find though and it is fine for occasional use.
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I've seen Walworth...never heard of Trimo?? New England thing? Mad Dog
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With Trimont Mfg in Roxbury and Walworth in Boston, at some point it seems the Boston area was the center of American pipe wrench manufacturing in the late 1800's/early 1900's. And as that other thread about the Springfield MA wrench art showed, there was a lot of wrench manufacturing in Springfield too.
One of the blogs about Trimont/Trimo said that Japanese industry began copying the Trimo in the 1930's and that their modern-day pipe wrenches are still similar to Trimo.
One interesting difference between the Trimo and the Walworth Stillson is that the Trimo patented the use of a stamped steel carrier shell instead of the weaker casting used by Walworth on their Stillsons. You can see the difference between the Trimo on the left, and the Walworth on the right. Someone used the back of my Trimo carrier shell as a hammer, deforming it but not cracking it as you would expect a casting. So they proved the strength of the stamped steel carrier shell, just not in the way Trimont intended…
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Hi, You can get more life from these wrenches if you use the right small grinding stone in a Dremel tool, and sharpen the teeth. I've done this with dozens of pipe wrenches and it always gives them their "grab" back. 😉
Yours, Larry
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Thanks, Larry. I've touched them up with a triangular file, but the Dremel stone sounds better. I'll try that today.
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Thanks! I found some tools had such good, high carbon steel that the file just slipped on them. 🙀
Yours, Larry
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Some of the steel in the old days was better. I had this old wood chisel that my dad had. It was duller than hell and had a wooden handle that was split and I just used it for chopping and doing anything you wouldn't use a good chisel for basically abused the hell out of it.
The wooden handle finally gave way, and I still had my Shopsmith (wood lathe) at that time, so I made a new handle out of a piece of maple.
Then I walked up to my bench grinder and sharpened it.
Never have I ever seen a chisel cut better and hold an edge longer. Probably from the 20s-30s or older.
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That is true. The file polished them up a bit, but the teeth were almost as hard as the file!
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MA & CT was all about machining metal.
Springfield Armory (firearms)
Moore Drop Forge (Craftsmen Tools) I used to deliver oil there
Gilbert & Barker (Petroleum Equipment)
Smith & Wesson, Harrington & Richardson & Colt MFG (firearms)
Starrett Tools
Duryea (First automobile) made in Springfield
Indian Motorcycle (made in Springfield)
Columbia Bicycle (Westfield, Ma)
HB Smith Boilers (Westfield)
Harvey Whipple oil burners (Springfield)
Waltham Dyna Jet oil burners (Waltham)
Thats just a few off the top of my head. Many more I missed.
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My @Intplm. picture shows two wrenches that are sentimental to me.
The large one on the left is a four foot Ridgid that was my former bosses who passed away and was given to me by his family (As well as other things) after he passed away.
The smaller one is a six inch wrench that was my father's that became mine with some others, that have a comfortable wooden handle(s).
I haven't seen any other wrenches like the wooden handle ones.
Does anyone know what brand the wooden handle one is? I haven't been able to tell and Im not near the one in the pic till April. It's winter up in Ct. and Ri. and Im not a big fan of winter.
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Hi @Intplm. , Here's a picture of a six inch wrench, given to me by an airplane mechanic friend of my grandmother's when I was not quite a teen. It's great for difficult bolts.
Yours, Larry
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Yes I have used a small 6" or 8" pipe wrench to get broken tankless heater bolts out with some success.
Reed pipe wrenches are just as good as Rigid. In fact the jaws are interchangeable.
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Here are two wood handle Walworths I found recently, a 10 and a 14. One odd thing is the hooks are both bent back slightly in a reverse curve. But I don't see how you could bend them backwards under normal use. Is it possible they came from the factory that way?
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I'm still trying to figure out how you get enough leverage on a 10-inch handle to bend a hook like that. Maybe he used a 4-foot pipe as a cheater bar. Fortunately it doesn't change the jaw angles enough to matter.
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Maybe they put the top jaw down on the floor with the wrench vertical and put the jaw under a radiator to lift it
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The thing is they are bent uniformly.
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That is true. When I lay the hooks side by side, they follow the same curve. And when I look at Larry's wrench pic, I think I see a simular reverse curve in the hook, though it could be lens distortion.
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Hi, Here's a picture using the un-distorted lens 😁 Looks like a slight curve.
Yours, Larry
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@Larry Weingarten Thanks, I'm glad I'm not hallucinating.
Well, that is odd. So these wood-handle wrenches all come from the factory with a bent hook. First pic below is the two bent hooks from my 10 and 14 wood handle Walworths.
In the bottom pic are two Walworth 14's. The wood handle is on the right, the metal handle is on the left. The difference in the hook is obvious. Same mfr, same size wrench.
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Maybe the slight curve helps the teeth disengage when you are done tightening?
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream1 -
Maybe. But weird that mfr's would do it only on the wood handle wrenches and not on the metal…maybe because the wood handles are fatter than the metal handles, the designers put the reverse curves in the hooks to keep them from hitting the user's hand when the jaws are closed.
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I wonder if the manufacturers expected one to put a cheater on the metal handled wrenches but not on the wooden ones? If so, how might that added force affect the hook? Questions. 🤔
Yours, Larry
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The left hook shown has the teeth angled back towards the hook.
The right hook has straight teeth.
Some difference I guess.
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no I’ve gotta look at mine!
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I have seen a lot of those wrenches but most without the wooden handle.
I don't recall any with the bent hook.
Guess I am not that old after all LOL
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The light is hitting the right hook differently, so it's harder to see the tooth angle, but they're both angled identically, back towards the hook. Same number of teeth, too.
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