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Swallow Airplane & Tuffy Screwdrivers (Read 2023 times)
Jan 13th, 2007 at 6:54pm

SMOKEHILL   Offline
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I Fly Sim!

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Some months ago there was a brief discussion of Swallow Airplanes and the Tuffy screwdrivers they manufactured.  Unfortunately I can't locate that thread now, but did want to clear up something.

I inherited my first Tuffy screwdriver from my dad, who owned a Piper Cub and a Cessna (140, I think) in the early and mid-50s.  I never knew the source of the tool until eBay came on line and I began to pick up a number of Tuffys and talked to some sellers from the Wichita area who gave me some info on Swallow.  Very little data is on the Web, and much of it is either wrong or contradictory because Swallow itself had a confusing history.  I've been rewriting the "facts" in a little Word document for many years, and finally think I have about half a grasp of the thing.

The problem is that Laird built a plane called the Swallow 1920-23 and then sold the company, which incorporated as Swallow Airplane Company -- different plane, different company, really.  By '24 Jake Moellendick ran the company, and shortly after that Stearman and Walter Beech left because Moellendick wouldn't swap over from wood frames to tubular metal, joining Clyde Cessna to form Travelair.

Swallow (sometimes also known as Swallow Airplane Mfg Co.) built planes, including some nifty racing models,  up until about 1935,  having been in receivership and/or reorganization once or twice.  Many Swallows were used in airmail service; Lindbergh flew one as an airmail pilot.  Apparently the Depression killed Swallow's aircraft  business, but like other small companies they stayed alive by providing parts, training and (probably) tools to other groups, including the government, up through WW2.  I presume they died out in the early 50s, but never could nail that down. There is still one Swallow still flying.

Despite what I had always heard, the Tuffy screwdrivers with the folding handles were obviously NOT contemporaneous with Swallow planes and, alas, were not part of their tool kits.  I now have the patent papers on the Tuffy; it was applied for (ten yrs after the last Swallow rolled out) in June '45 and approved Nov 27, '45, and within months they were produing 100,000 a month -- which is why there's always one or two on eBay, though some are modern clones of varying quality.  Not as old as we all thought, but still the toughest screwdriver on earth.

Leaving out a lot of details, them are the bare bones, though there are a lot of conflicting dates on the Web.  If anyone has any further interest, I'll be glad to provide my little history document and a number of photos.   I'd have stuck a couple in here but I couldn't figure out how it worked.

My email address is smokehill (at) adelphia dot net -- but it may be changing over to comcast dot net any time now.

G. White
MSgt US Army (Ret)

 
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Reply #1 - Jan 13th, 2007 at 7:01pm

Hagar   Offline
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My Spitfire Girl
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SMOKEHILL wrote on Jan 13th, 2007 at 6:54pm:
Some months ago there was a brief discussion of Swallow Airplanes and the Tuffy screwdrivers they manufactured.  Unfortunately I can't locate that thread now, but did want to clear up something.

Very interesting. I think this is the topic you're looking for. Smiley http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1161860523
 

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Reply #2 - Jan 13th, 2007 at 8:39pm

beaky   Offline
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Thanks, Sarge... I've since found out more about these interesting tools on my own, but would like to see any more material you have.

Adding images is easy here: click "Upload images" at the top of the page; it explains all.
 

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Reply #3 - Jan 14th, 2007 at 3:02am

SMOKEHILL   Offline
1st Lieutenant
I Fly Sim!

Posts: 2
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I managed to get most of my current material -- the updated history, patent papers, photos of a Swallow and the Tuffy screwdrivers & nut driver -- onto a blog site so anyone can view them:

http://sabertoothowl.blogspot.com/

I have a lot of other photos of various Swallows and Wichita factory photos, plus a very strange "pre-Tuffy" or "proto-Tuffy" with a very different, no-lever handle (still marked Swallow Airplane Co), but haven't gotten around to extracting them from my old laptop yet.

I suspect that the aluminum handles were chosen for light weight and strength rather than non-magnetic properties, since the shafts themselves are steel.  The handle and lever are a quite ferocious alloy, reminiscent of the tough aluminum alloy used in highway signs, and the steel shank is made from some pretty mean stock, also.  I have used my 40-odd Tuffys for crowbar and chisel jobs that made me cringe at the time, but they seem to be nearly indestructible.





























 
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