Stanley Hand Tools is a brand of

hand tools A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, an ...

. It is a division of

Stanley Black & Decker Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a ''Fortune'' 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware, and a provider of security products. Headquartered in the Greater Hartford city of Ne ...

, following the merger of The Stanley Works with

Black & Decker Black+Decker is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances, and fastening systems, headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, where the company was originally establis ...

in March 2010.

History

The Stanley Works was founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, originally a bolt and door hardware manufacturing company located in

New Britain, Connecticut New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol ...

. The Stanley Rule and Level Company was founded in 1857 by Frederick Trent Stanley's cousin, Henry Stanley, also in New Britain. In 1920, this company merged with the Stanley Works, and continued operating as its hand tools division. Around 1937, Stanley acquired the British J. A. Chapman company, a British manufacturer of carpentry tools and other items (including bayonets during World War I) formerly located in Sheffield, from Norman Neill. This helped Stanley to enter the British market.

Products

Stanley is a well known brand of tools and has produced millions of hand planes,

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

s, try squares,

chisel A chisel is a hand tool with a characteristic Wedge, wedge-shaped cutting edge on the end of its blade. A chisel is useful for carving or cutting a hard material such as woodworking, wood, lapidary, stone, or metalworking, metal. Using a chi ...

screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. Description A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver ...

s, and many other types of tools for consumer and for industrial use. Their innovations include the Bailey plane, the

Surform A surform tool (also surface-forming tool) features Perforation, perforated sheet metal and resembles a food grater. A surform tool consists of a steel strip with holes punched out and the rim of each hole sharpened to form a blade, cutting edge. ...

shaper In machining, a shaper is a type of machine tool that uses linear relative motion between the workpiece and a single-point cutting tool to machine a linear toolpath. Its cut is analogous to that of a lathe, except that it is (archetypally) line ...

, the PowerLock

tape measure A tape measure or measuring tape is a long, flexible ruler used to measure length or distance. It usually consists of a ribbon of cloth, plastic, fibreglass, or metal (usually - hard steel alloy) strip with linear measurement markings. Types Ta ...

, the

utility knife A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., , p. 1 Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with dur ...

, and an unusual multitool known as the Stanley #1 Odd Jobs.

Gallery

File:Stanley-Hot-Glue-Gun-GR35K.jpg, A hot glue gun File:Stanley high-visibility green screwdrivers.jpg, High-visibility green screwdrivers File:Stanley adjustable wrench.jpg, An

adjustable wrench ''Adjustable Wrench'', sometimes also ''The Adjustable Wrench'', is a composition for mixed chamber ensemble by American composer Michael Torke. It was composed in 1987. Composition The composition was composed in 1987 and had its first perfo ...

File:Stanley quick-change utility knife.jpg, A "quick-change"

File:Stanley PowerLock tape measure on tool box.jpg, A Stanley

and tool box File:Stanley graphite claw hammer.jpg, A

claw hammer A claw hammer is a hammer primarily used in carpentry for driving nail (fastener), nails into or pulling them from wood. Historically, a claw hammer has been associated with woodworking, but is also used in general applications. It is not sui ...

File:StanleytoolsinChina.jpg, Stanley tools for sale in China

References

External links

Stanley Hand Tools website (US)

Stanley Hand Tools website (UK)

Stanley Hand Tools website (CA)

Handy Tools Home (CA)
{{Tool manufacturers Tool manufacturing companies of the United States American brands Stanley Black & Decker brands American companies established in 1857 Manufacturing companies established in 1857 1857 establishments in Connecticut