An interesting screwdriver

[Tom Wiarda]

A friend of mine had a brain tumor and finally died last week. He was a woodworker and used mostly power tools to make a variety of craft items. Several weeks ago his wife asked me to sort through his cluttered shop and decide the best way to sell his tools. Among his things I found this interesting "perfect handle" screwdriver. It was marked "H D Smith & Company Triple Lever Patented". It has a split handle and a joint so that the handles and bit end can be used in a variety of positions. I have never seen one like it and thought it might be worth something. I cleaned it up and listed it for sale on Ebay. I thought it might sell for $10 and was surprised when it generated 9 bids and sold this evening for $46. I had fun cleaning it up and his wife can use the money. Thanks, Tom

[Bill Houghton]

That is truly a cool design. Good on ya for helping out that way and having the moral strength not to buy it yourself.

[Don McConnell]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.

Thought you might like to know that this screwdriver was patented by William S. Thomson, of Plantsville, CT, on August 8, 1911. Not surprisingly, it was assigned to H. D. Smith and Company. Here is a link to the DATAMP entry for this patent:

http://www.datamp.org/displayPatent.php?number=1000051&typeCode=0

There are direct links to the USPTO and google images of the original patent on that page if you wish to look into it any further.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR

[Jim Koepke]

Sorry about your friend. Good for you on helping his wife in a time of need.

Thanks for sharing an interesting tool.

jim

[Ken Werner]

What Jim said.