SK Hand Tools (styled earlier as S-K, now usually SK) was an American tool company located in Sycamore Illinois. Major products 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 Colorado Springs, Colorado and

Sycamore, Illinois Sycamore is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. It has a commercial district based and centered on Illinois Route 64. The population was 18577 at the 2020 census, up from 17,519 at the 2010 census. Sycamore is the county seat of ...

. Outlets for their products include independent tool-truck dealers, auto parts stores, and major internet vendors such as

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econom ...

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2 ...

described SK as "an iconic American brand for decades," and the company is known for inventing the round-head

ratchet wrench A socket wrench (or socket spanner) is a type of spanner (or wrench in North American English) 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. The mos ...

History

SK was founded as the Sherman-Klove Company, specializing in screw machine products, by Mason H. Sherman and Noah Grover Klove. The company was founded in the early 20th century to supply munitions in World War I, and made mortar housings in a screw machine plant on Harrison Street in Chicago. During the 1920s SK operated primarily as a contract company, making tools for other brands (including

Craftsman Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative *Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take o ...

). Business thrived, they made specialty screw machine products that did well until the Depression. William S. Sherman (W.S.), Mason's son, came to SK after graduating college in 1927 and was eventually a major owner of the company. One of the products the company made was socket wrenches for Hinsdale Socket and Wrench Company. The Hinsdale Company went out of business during the great depression leaving Sherman-Klove with a large inventory of this product. They then redesigned the product and changed the company name to S-K Tools. Theodore Rueb, an engineer for the Sherman-Klove Company, went on to develop a new mechanism for a very successful line of ratchets, scaled from 1/4-drive up to 3/4-drive. The "round-head" ratchet has remained one of the most popular ratchet styles in the nearly nine decades since S-K's first development, and many modern ratchets are little changed from the earliest design. SK invented the round-head ratchet wrench in 1933 and received a patent for it the following year, which remains a mainstay of their, and every major competitor's product line today. In 1962, SK, along with manufacturing partner Lectrolite Corp., of

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, was bought out by Symington-Wayne and became SK Wayne. In 1968 S-K Wayne was purchased by

Dresser Industries Dresser Industries was a multinational corporation headquartered in Dallas, Texas, United States, which provided a wide range of technology, products, and services used for developing energy and natural resources. In 1998, Dresser merged with its ...

as part of the merger between Wayne Oil and Tank Company and Dresser Industries. Dresser Industries made many changes to S-K's tools including dropping the cross-hatch pattern from their sockets in order to "modernize" them. In 1985, SK became part of the French company Facom Tools. In 2005 it was purchased by its management and again operated independently as the S-K Hand Tools Corporation. On June 29, 2010, the company declared bankruptcy. On August 23, 2010, it was announced that two days later, on August 25, 2010,

Ideal Industries Ideal Industries is an American company that produces connectors, hand tools, testers, and meters for the electrical and telecommunications industries. The company manufactures many of its products in the United States. It also owns Western F ...

would acquire SK. In July 2021 SK was acquired by Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial, owner of Shop-Vac, Arrow Fastener, and Pony Jorgensen clamps.

Gallery

Image:SK roundhead ratchet.jpg, An SK roundhead ratchet Image:SK roto-ratchet.jpg, An SK roto-ratchet Image:SK stubby wrench.jpg, A short pattern combination wrench

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sk Hand Tools Manufacturing companies based in Illinois Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Automotive tool manufacturers Companies established in the 1900s Companies based in Chicago 1900s establishments in Illinois