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 Danaher Corporation is an American globally diversified conglomerate with its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The company designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services. The company' ...

. 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, th ...

in 1900 or 1901. In 1938 Moore became a vendor for

Sears Roebuck 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 a ...

. 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-resistan ...

. Easco continued the Craftsman contract with

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 a ...

. 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 Steven M. Rales (born March 31, 1951) is an American businessman, film producer and chairman of Danaher Corporation. In 2022 Forbes listed him as the 75th richest person in America, with a net worth of $7.8 billion. Steven Rales and his brothe ...

and Mitchell Rales 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'

. 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

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plant where Easco manufactured sockets since 1978.

Gallery

Image:Easco ratchet.jpg, An Easco ratchet. 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