A Tool I Would Like to Find

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Pat,

I bought one of these little hummers at a garage sale about a hundred years
ago. (I'm a sucker for a cheap gadget.) Keen toy, limited tool. Mine's a
"SOCK-O-MATIC" from Silverbrook Mfg. Co. in Springfield Mass. Check the
Springfield Phone book at your Library, or the Thomas Register, and phone
them if you need one really bad.  

I've got another one that's even less likely, but much neater looking. it's
an "automatic nut driver" from Sears... a CRAFTSMAN tool! It has a
screwdriver handle (so much for automatic <G>) at one end and a silver
cylinder the size of a roll of quarters at the other. Protruding from the
end of this cylinder are six little fingers which, courtesy of an internal
cam arrangement, theoretically grip the nut on the flats when the handle is
turned. It "fits" from 7/16 down to 3/16 nuts, universally poorly. Looks
like something a twelve year old boy could chase girls around with, but I
never found it very handy. Perhaps it's because I was considerably past
twelve when I acquired it, and my wife becomes harder to spook with each
passing year. Ah well.


Ron Nossaman



At 08:29 AM 8/17/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I'd like to put this in my tool kit, but it's not mine. A friend has a nut
>driver that has four nested spring-loaded pieces inside the fixed, largest
>nut driver, and thus five sizes total (any of the spring-loaded pieces that
>are too small simply recess out of the way and the correct one grasps the
>nut).
>
>The label identifies it as a P.E.C. Size-Wize. P.E.C. stands for Process
>Engineering Corp. of Crystal Lake, IL (this is stamped into the metal barrel)
>and there is also a patent number, 3274865.
>
>This is a wonderful gizmo and I'd like one for my very own, but the owner
>doesn't remember where he got it, and no hardware or auto stores here have
>ever heard of it.
>
>I'm sure I'm not the only one who could use one if any kindly soul on the
>list knows how to get one!
>
>Thanks,
>
>Pat Wilbur
>Fort Worth, TX
>


 Ron Nossaman