Another one

charlie n

Well-known Member
Someone mention this awhile back. Forgot I had this.I have no idea how old it is.It was here before me.Two of them are for pipe plugs
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Yes, eight-point sockets. I have a few cuz I'm sick of scraped knuckles from using a crescent on drain/level plugs. I need a couple more sizes but they're not common in stores.
 
The more notable part about this set of sockets is that they are hex drive. The fact that a couple of the sockets are square is sort of interesting though.
This type of socket set was common back in the 40s and 50s for everyday use by other than professional mechanics.
I had a set back in that era for maintaining my bicycle.
 
My daddy had one of those sets. I am pretty sure it was a 'cheapie'. I think I managed to loose most of the sockets for him by the time I was 10 years old. That would have been 1975. Every now and then the hex wrench comes up from somewhere.

Square sockets would not have been that unusual. Look at how much old stuff had square nuts and bolts with square heads. You can get a 12 point to work on them most times, but if its really frozen you will round the corners off.
 

I have many "square" sockets and I will grant you most are 8 point.
However, even in the traditional "square drive" sockets you will occasionally run on to a 4 point. I have only two or three.
This is a Williams 11/16" #S422 (1/2" drive.
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I have a set of those. I bought a cockshutte disk from a guy and he gave me the sockets. He said they came with the disk but I always wondered about that. They are just like the one pictured with the allen wrench
 
There was a time when you couldn't swing a dead cat and not hit something that didn't have square hardware on it. When my dad died,I put a 55 gallon drum in the shop and did a cleanup. Anybody with depression era parents knows were this is going. Between straightened nails and square heads we filled it halfway up. Old mechanic told me years ago square were used cause they were easy and fast in the assembly process and with the tools supplied with the machine. There's still a bin full in one of my sheds.
 

I think most all square head bolts are GR 2........heck, I hardly ever use a Gr 2 hex head bolt anymore!

I used to use square sockets
for lag bolts....now, even the lag bolts
are hex head.

They still come in handy for pipe plugs but even some of them are hex nowadays.
 
I think the main purpose for that set would have been to carry for emergency repairs.

Compact, would fit in a small tool box, saddle bag, or spare tire well.
 
I think square head blots were a hold over from the very early days when bolts were hand made.

It was easier to make a square head than hex. It didn't have to be exact, close enough would work with
whatever wrench would go on it.
 
I have a new set of square sockets at work. I think they are Armstrong brand. We use them on pipe plugs, big taps, and various pieces of equipment in the power plant. They come in very handy from time to time.
 

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