Two Sheffield tools.

[Boringgeoff]

Hello,
I've recently acquired two tools that I would like to get a bit of information on if you are able. One is a double ended screwdriver that goes in a brace. It has branded what looks like NORR.........LTD below that SHEFF......NG. There is what is possibly a logo above the script but the whole lot is very faint and also scarred by the jaws of the brace closing on it. I am sure that the bottom line is SHEFFIELD ENG.
My question is could it be by Norris of plane fame?
The other is a brace branded H. YORK. SHEFFIELD, on the frame. The chuck shell is nonagonal (my spell checker hates that word) and STEEL 10 IN is branded elsewhere on the frame,very reminiscent of James Chapman but the retainers for the wrist handle and the heavy steel clad head are unlike any Chapman that I've seen. There is nothing written on the chuck shell.
My second question is, was H York of Sheffield a tool manufacturer or a hardware merchant?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers,
Geoff.

 

[thetyreman]

the brace looks very similar to my early stanley with rosewood handles,

 

[MusicMan]

The "gimlet" is a 2-size screwdriver bit. Quite effective in the brace for large steel slotted screws, as the leverage is so big.

 

[AndyT]

Well, you have sent me to the workshop to look again at the screwdriver bits that I have. One Marples, one Ridgeway and one nameless. No Norrises here.

I have read (as you will have done) that in their last years Norris did put their name on other tools. Jimi found a nice little engineering clamp with the magic name on

finally-got-a-norris-for-a-fiver-t64051.html

 

[Boringgeoff]

Thanks Andy, I've a number of these screwdriver bits, all unbranded, the one in question was sent to me by a friend in NSW and as well as having a brand on it is also bigger than the others. I know nothing about Norris planes, that's what the company is famous for, the engineers clamp you linked to shows there was more to Norris than planes but all I have read has them of London not Sheffield.

Sorry about the misleading photo title MM, my filing system is not the worlds most efficient.

A couple more photos, a comparison between the head of the H.York and Stanley 73 similar to yours Tyreman and the wrist handle with retainers which are very much like the style of the majority of Charles Amidon USA braces.
The Stanley 73 had it's origins in the James Chapman stable and I categorise the H.York as "Looks like Chapman".
There is a H.York Sheffield plane on ebay item No 162306010375.
Cheers,
Geoff.

 

[AndyT]

I've just thought of checking in BPM III. H York are listed, with a picture of the name on a plane, but with no more information at all. That suggests that the marked tools are the only evidence, with no references in trade directories. The Sheffield Indexers and Grace's Guide sites don't list the name.

So more information may be hard to find.

In the saw making world, there were plenty of made-up names for second quality tools. I wonder if H York was just a brand name in a similar way?

Chapman are on record as making both planes and braces for others to put their names on, so maybe they made planes and braces marked H York?

 

[Rhyolith]

That brace looks like a chapman pattern. Chapman seem to have made a lot of these for other brands to stamp there name on (or borrow the design).

I have a Edward Preston one thats basically the same!

Edward Preston Brace by Rhyolith, on Flickr

It seems this design was basically standard for most British braces, but I think they were all made by Chapman or at least they were the first to use it.

 

[Boringgeoff]

Thanks Andy and Rhyolith,
I hadn't considered a tool being made for a company for them to put their own mark on but rather being produced for them and branded as part of the manufacturing process. Most interesting.
Cheers,
Geoff.