Easco Hand Tools was an American manufacturer of hand tools. It is best known for being the main supplier of mechanic's tools for the Craftsman brand. Its tools were also sold under the

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univer ...

and KD Tools brands after its acquisition by Danaher Corporation. The brand name was gradually phased out by Danaher.

History

The company began as Moore Drop Forging Company in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

in 1900 or 1901. In 1938 Moore became a vendor for Sears Roebuck. In 1967, Moore Drop Forging was acquired by Eastern Stainless Steel Corporation, a manufacturer of stainless and specialty

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

. Easco continued the Craftsman contract with Sears. By 1969, the parent company was known as Easco Corporation. Tools made by MDF for Sears have a "V" maker's mark on them, those from Easco typically had an "E" and those by Danaher had a "V^" (V and upside down V, sometimes a right-side up V). Variations of the "VV" exist including three digit codes on tools such as ratchets. It is believed that these denote the time frame of manufacture. In 1985, Easco Corporation was acquired via a hostile takeover by Equity Group Holdings, controlled by the investment brothers Steven Rales and

Mitchell Rales Mitchell Rales (born 1956) is an American billionaire businessman, and a collector of modern and contemporary art. He co-founded Danaher Corporation in 1983 and is the chairman of its executive committee. Rales is one of the Washington, D.C. reg ...

and taken private. The hand tools division of the company was taken public, and the other divisions were sold to an investment group including Citicorp Venture Capital. In 1990, the hand tool company was acquired by the brothers' Danaher Corporation. This acquisition made the tools division the largest part of Danaher. In 1991, Sears selected Danaher to be the exclusive supplier of Craftsman mechanic's tools. In 2010, Danaher merged its tools division with Cooper Tools to form

Apex Tool Group Apex Tool Group is an American supplier of hand tools and power tools. It was formed as a joint venture of Cooper Industries and Danaher by the merger of Cooper Tools and Danaher's Tools and Components segment. In October 2012, Danaher and Coo ...

. The same year, Apex closed the Gastonia, North Carolina plant where Easco manufactured sockets since 1978.

Gallery

Image:Easco ratchet.jpg, An Easco

ratchet Ratchet may refer to: Devices * Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction * Ratchet, metonomic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device * Ratchet (instrument), a music instrument and a ...

. Image:Easco spinner handle.jpg, An Easco spinner handle.

References

{{Tool manufacturers Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Manufacturing companies established in 1900 Goods manufactured in the United States 1900 establishments in Massachusetts Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1990 1990 disestablishments in Maryland