Thread: S Johnston 1894 Combination Tool by Lowentraut.

Hi All,
I'm doing some research on Samual Johnstons 1894 (5304190) combination tool manufactured by P Lowentraut of Newark New Jersey USA.
This tool can be used as a bit brace, a wheel brace, screwdriver or a wrench, it breaks down into three parts, wrench, handle and crank. In addition a small screwdriver blade is located at the end of the crank. The wrench part has two threaded studs to permit the handle to be attached at either right angle or in line.
In its brace configuration the handle is at right angles and the crank is inserted in a square socket at the end of the handle so that it can be used as a normal bit brace. When used as a wrench the handle is screwed onto the in line stud and the crank is not used.
A locking pin is located in the face of the wrench on the side with the right angle stud, there is a corresponding hole in the face of the handle. When these two are screwed together the pin is engaged to lock them securely when being rotated as a brace. Because the socket in the handle that receives the crank is square it will be seen that the crank can be inserted in four orientations, of which only one would be correct.
When I purchased my example of this tool the crank, when inserted, sat at 45 degrees and had me scratching my head as to why, until I came across an old post on a tool site pointing out that the crank was available in various orientations. A few months ago a crank came up on ebay which looked compatible with my tool so I purchased it. I was happy to see, on arrival, that it was a perfect match so now my Lowentraut looks and works el perfecto.
There is a number (78) stamped on the wrench and the handle and I wondered about the reason for these. Did they indicate the degrees between 0 and 90 of the orientation of the crank or were they simply match marks to keep the handle and wrench together once the thread had been cut in these two components. As far as I can see there is no corresponding number on the crank.
After corresponding with other collectors with one of these tools (lucky dogs) the consensus is that only two orientations of crank were made. The two numbers are match marks to keep the two halves together through the various processes and interestingly a wide range of match marks came to light . As well as my 78 there is 77, also 2222 where the first two is on its side. Other examples are a series of strike marks lll and llll.
This, perhaps, raises more questions than it answers, how many production lines would Lowentrauts have running? Would the daily production start at 1 and increase numerically to reflect the quantity done at the end of the shift? Was 2222 the two hundred and twenty second off line two?
In the patent drawings Sam Johnston showed a series of holes in the face of the handle to allow various positions to seat the locking pin. None of my contacts have seen this configuration and doubt that any made it into production.
Have you seen any with multiple locking pin holes or crank orientations other than 0 and 90 degrees? And finally what match numbers can you see on your Lowentraut combination tool? Your opinions on this tool will be gratefully received.
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