Is this what Craftsman means by "Made in the USA"

I had a number of patentable designs when I worked for Matco Tools, but they didn't believe in patenting anything. It's usually not worth it. Most of our tools were made by outside vendors, so we'd agree on an exclusive on the tool for a period of time. If we made it ourselves, we just marketed the hell out of it to attempt to sell as much as we could in the shortest amount of time.

Mitchell wrote: Regarding the made in usa tools, what has changed? Have tolerances gone too loose, has the alloy composition changed, or has everyone else simply gotten better? The lifetime guarantee really seems like a bad idea, considering the hypothetical infinite replacements possible on a single purchase.

Apex happened.

Could you explain?

Mitchell wrote: Could you explain?

They are on the downhill slide to be worse then Harbor Freight. But with the current WalMart business climate, nothing will change at their current price point. They will continue to survive solely on reputation for a while longer.

I've gone to all Kobalt stuff. That said, the best ratchet I've ever owned came from Walmart 20 years ago. It's a 3/8 and I have a 2 foot piece of pipe that fits it perfectly. Mostly used as a breaker bar.

Crapsman can stick it for all I care.

Toyman01 wrote: I've gone to all Kobalt stuff. That said, the best ratchet I've ever owned came from Walmart 20 years ago. It's a 3/8 and I have a 2 foot piece of pipe that fits it perfectly. Mostly used as a breaker bar. Crapsman can stick it for all I care.

Not sure if it's still the case, but last time I checked Kobalt was made by the same people that make Craftsman.

Patents are great if you have the right lawyer backing you up and helping you write them otherwise they are kinda useless.

Are those Bionic wrenches any good? It seems like they would be great for taking to junkyards.

93EXCivic is correct. You need to spend the big dollars and have a proper patent attorney do the work. If not, it seems to be a waste of time. My father still has a number of patents, and every one of them were written by a certain law firm in DC. While they are very expensive, they seldom have any infringments. It may mean the difference on if you make money or not.

Keep in mind too that you can't patent an idea, only a particular process.

I only have two Craftsman tools in my collection, a 2' breaker bar (also used as a hammer) and a pair of 9" vise grips. Both have been fine, but they're both hard to really screw up.

That said, I've had really good luck with the Husky tools I've purchased and have no reason to change brands. My current Husky ratchet is going on 5 years of abuse without missing a beat.

In reply to JG Pasterjak:

Now you've got me interested in the rigs you use, although if you're worried about others making money off of your designs, I could understand why you don't display them.

This is being investigated on ABC news with Diane Sawyer sometime this week. Part of David Muirs "Made in America" series. Not monday night so I will keep looking!

Bruce

see what y'all did now

gonna hafta check out Kobalt tools now

mEH...I've had good luck with my craftsman stuff for years. THe last set I bough was about 7 or 8 years ago and every piece in it is still solid. THe big set the wife boughtme the year we got together was and is the basis for most of my stuff. It works well enough for me. I've only replaced 2 ratchets, one 3/8" that I tried to use as a 1/2" breaker bar, and a 1/2" that I put a 3' piece of aluminum tube on and, after bendin the tube, broke the ratchet. The last one was replaced 4 years ago?

This thread now only reminds me how much I miss the weekly stops from the Snap-On truck, and 0% interest on the payments. Maybe I cab get him to come by my bread shop...