 | |
| Owner | Apex Tool Group |
|---|---|
| Country | Hartford, Connecticut, USA |
| Introduced | 1910 |
| Previous owners | Allen Manufacturing Company Danaher Corporation |
| Tagline | "We are the Original!" |
| Website | www.allenhex.com |
Allen is a brand of hand tools, most widely recognized for its wrenches, known generically as "Allen wrenches". As a brand, it is owned by Apex Tool Group. [1] [2]
Originally named Allen Manufacturing Company, the business produced hexagonal set screws and wrenches to fasten them. The terms "Allen wrench" (American English) and "Allen key" (British English) [3] are derived from the Allen brand name and refer to the generic product category "hex keys".
W.G. Allen [4] filed the first related patent in 1909 for its recessed hex-driven safety screws, [5] a safety improvement over fasteners which protruded from machinery. While other hex keys were patented before and after this date, the name would persist. Allen left the company shortly after.
An advertisement for Allen safety screws would appear in the 1910 Annual Convention of International Association of Factory Inspectors. [6]
In 1922, Allen Manufacturing Company produced sets of tools under the company name "Bay State", suggesting that they may have privately acquired another hardware manufacturer, namely the Bay State Pump Company. [7]
Apex Tool Group owns the current trademark and has since renewed it. [8]
In January 2017, Apex Tool Group announced they would end the manufacturing of Allen and Armstrong hand tools in their Sumter, South Carolina manufacturing plant. With this, Apex Communications Director Kelly Rhoads confirmed the line would cease production on March 31. This ended production of the Allen brand in hex keys, L-key, and T-handle styles. [9]
In 2018, Apex began manufacturing official hex keys under their company brand Crescent, referred to as Crescent Apex. The previous Allen website routes to them. They are sold in thirteen piece sets as well as three piece holding tools and no longer use the term "allen wrench" in official branding or marketing. [10]
As of 2021, the Apex Tool Group website's Allen page has been purged of all content except for the rebranded Allen logo, the Armstrong logo erroneously referred to as the brand image, and the brand site URL, now a redirect to Crescent. [11] No public announcement has been made for the end of productions under the Allen name.[ citation needed ]
An adjustable spanner, shifting spanner or adjustable wrench is any of various styles of spanner (wrench) with a movable jaw, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head rather than just one fastener size, as with a conventional fixed spanner.
Torx is a trademark for a type of screw drive characterized by a 6-point star-shaped pattern, developed in 1967 by Camcar Textron. A popular generic name for the drive is star, as in star screwdriver or star bits. The official generic name, standardized by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 10664, is hexalobular internal. This is sometimes abbreviated in databases and catalogs as 6lobe. Torx Plus,Torx Paralobe and Torx ttap are improved head profiles.
A monkey wrench is a type of smooth-jawed adjustable wrench, a 19th century American refinement of 18th-century English coach wrenches. It was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century. It is of interest as an antique among tool collectors and is still occasionally used in practice.
Craftsman is a line of tools, lawn and garden equipment, and work wear. Originally a house brand established by Sears, the brand is now owned by Stanley Black & Decker.
A socket wrench is a type of spanner that uses a closed socket format, rather than a typical open wrench/spanner to turn a fastener, typically in the form of a nut or bolt.
SK Hand Tools was an American tool company located in Sycamore, Illinois but sold out to Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial, a Chinese tool company. Major products of the once fully-USA-manufacturing company include sockets and drive tools, wrenches, air tools, and other mechanics' tools. The company has a tool line of over 3,500 items including wrenches, ratchets, screwdrivers, tool boxes and air tools. It has manufacturing facilities in China, Taiwan, Colorado Springs, Colorado and Sycamore, Illinois. Outlets for their products include independent tool-truck dealers, auto parts stores, and major internet vendors such as Sears and Amazon.com.
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Apex Tool Group is an American supplier of hand tools and power tools. It was formed as a joint venture of Cooper Industries and Danaher by the merger of Cooper Tools and Danaher's Tools and Components segment. In October 2012, Danaher and Cooper sold Apex to Bain Capital for about $1.6 billion. Apex is headquartered in Sparks, Maryland, and has over 20 factories globally including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, China, and South America.
Channellock is an American company that produces hand tools. It is best known for its pliers—the company manufactures more than 75 types and sizes of pliers—particularly its eponymous style of tongue-and-groove, slip-joint pliers. Its pliers have distinctive sky-blue handle grips; the company has been using the same trademarked shade of blue since 1956.
Proto Tools is an American industrial hand tool company. Founded as Plomb, it is presently a division of Stanley Black & Decker. The company is credited with creating the first combination wrench in 1933.
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Xcelite is a brand of hand tools geared towards the electronics service industry. It is currently owned by Apex Tool Group and markets screwdrivers, nut drivers, pliers, and various specialized electronics tools.
Armstrong Tools was an American industrial hand tool manufacturer. In its final years, it existed as a brand of Apex Tool Group, LLC and manufactured the majority of its tools in the United States, focusing mostly on aerospace, government, and military users.
Blackhawk is an American brand of hand tools. It is currently a sub-brand of the Proto division of the Stanley Black & Decker.
New Britain Machine Company was a tool company that was headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut. The company started to sell sockets and drive tools. New Britain was the main supplier for NAPA tools until its closure in 1990. New Britain Machine owned Husky and Blackhawk tools as well as making its own economy-grade tools under the None Better and Mustang names. New Britain Machine was then acquired by the Litton Tool Company on December 22, 1972.
Plumb is a brand of hand tools owned by Apex Tool Group. The brand is known for its hammers and hatchets.
A hex key is a simple driver for bolts or screws that have heads with internal hexagonal recesses (sockets).
A centerlock wheel is a type of automobile wheel in which the wheel is fastened to the axle using a single, central nut, instead of the more common ring of 4 or 5 lug nuts or bolts.
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