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Mechanics tools ? Wrenches , Sockets and Ratchets , whatever else .
- Thread starter mmcmdl
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2014
- Messages
- 3,548
I don't show my tools to anyone but the wife these days. I tried that in my younger years and had to make some unscheduled visits to the clinic. Besides that, I'm getting tired of being laughed at.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,341
My shop is almost exclusively Proto, Mac, Challenger and Stanley.
My father started as an engineer with Proto back in the 70's. In the late 70's he became the plant manage for the Milwaukee Oregon Proto socket plant (originally a P&C plant). Every Proto socket came out of the plant perfect or it was scrapped. When I was a kid I would go fishing with my father and we would use scrapped sockets as sinkers. I remember my father inviting a co-worker and family over for thanksgivings. They were always employees that did actual work (i.e. shop floor not front office). None of them were strangers to him because he preferred to spend time on the shop floor than in his corner office.
In the 80's Stanley tools bought Proto from Ingersoll Rand. In the late 80's Stanley closed the Milwaukee Proto plant and put my father in charge of the Stanley technology center... i.e. product engineering. His team and him designed new products, evaluated and tested products, designed and customized production equipment, designed, installed and put into production various production lines and manufacturing plants.
In the 2000's Stanley moved most all of their hand tool production off shore. Proto, Mac, Stanley and Challenger was known as the "National Hand Tool" division of Stanley works. He designed and setup several manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China. Many of his co-worker / friends described him to me as one of the best engineers they had ever worked with. He ALWAYS had troubles with the Chinese government... bribing officials wasn't his forte!
I was fortunate to spend a good part of my childhood in his facilities. I remember spending a weekend watching a 2000 ton MaxiPress being installed to forge large sockets. I was tasked with keeping the small tools organized but was kept a fair distance away from the work platform. It was quite an education. In the late 80's when I was in college and working with PC's and the emerging field of networking I installed the first LAN (local area network) in all of Stanley at the Stanley technology center. Back then Netware was the premier server OS and was my specialty.
My mother took it upon herself to donate a huge amount of tools when my father died. I have a couple of the hundred or so boxes of tools he collected over the years. These are in addition to the tools sets that he gave me throughout my life.
Anyone recognize these?
My mother donated several thousands of these to charity. I still have a few with his name on them.
I have a few left that I give to friends. Any Proto fans need a keychain screw driver?
My father started as an engineer with Proto back in the 70's. In the late 70's he became the plant manage for the Milwaukee Oregon Proto socket plant (originally a P&C plant). Every Proto socket came out of the plant perfect or it was scrapped. When I was a kid I would go fishing with my father and we would use scrapped sockets as sinkers. I remember my father inviting a co-worker and family over for thanksgivings. They were always employees that did actual work (i.e. shop floor not front office). None of them were strangers to him because he preferred to spend time on the shop floor than in his corner office.
In the 80's Stanley tools bought Proto from Ingersoll Rand. In the late 80's Stanley closed the Milwaukee Proto plant and put my father in charge of the Stanley technology center... i.e. product engineering. His team and him designed new products, evaluated and tested products, designed and customized production equipment, designed, installed and put into production various production lines and manufacturing plants.
In the 2000's Stanley moved most all of their hand tool production off shore. Proto, Mac, Stanley and Challenger was known as the "National Hand Tool" division of Stanley works. He designed and setup several manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and China. Many of his co-worker / friends described him to me as one of the best engineers they had ever worked with. He ALWAYS had troubles with the Chinese government... bribing officials wasn't his forte!
I was fortunate to spend a good part of my childhood in his facilities. I remember spending a weekend watching a 2000 ton MaxiPress being installed to forge large sockets. I was tasked with keeping the small tools organized but was kept a fair distance away from the work platform. It was quite an education. In the late 80's when I was in college and working with PC's and the emerging field of networking I installed the first LAN (local area network) in all of Stanley at the Stanley technology center. Back then Netware was the premier server OS and was my specialty.
My mother took it upon herself to donate a huge amount of tools when my father died. I have a couple of the hundred or so boxes of tools he collected over the years. These are in addition to the tools sets that he gave me throughout my life.
Anyone recognize these?
My mother donated several thousands of these to charity. I still have a few with his name on them.
I have a few left that I give to friends. Any Proto fans need a keychain screw driver?
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