Akron Brass Mfg. No. 10 Hydrant Spanner Wrench
SSC MUSEUM COLLECTION
Catalog No. SSC-AKRONBRASS-WRN-1925-001
No. 10 Multi-Tool | Hydrant Spanner Wrench | Wooster, Ohio
Patent Feb. 24, 1925 • Akron Brass Mfg. Inc.
Company side marking: “AKRON BRASS MFG. INC. WOOSTER OHIO” cast in raised letters along the handle. The tool features multiple working ends: a hydrant nut wrench at top, hose coupling spanner lugs, pry bar tip at bottom, and a hanging loop. This single tool replaced an entire kit of individual wrenches on the fire truck.
Every fire truck in America carries a spanner wrench. It is the tool that connects the truck to the water—the cast iron multi-tool that opens the hydrant, tightens the hose couplings, pries open stuck caps, and does a dozen other jobs in the critical seconds between arriving at a fire and getting water on it. For most of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the standard-bearer for this tool was the No. 10 from Akron Brass Manufacturing of Wooster, Ohio—patented February 24, 1925, and still in production in evolved form today.
Akron Brass is not a defunct company. It is one of the great success stories of Ohio manufacturing—a firm that started in 1918 when a group of B.F. Goodrich Rubber Company employees in Akron saw a need for reliable brass couplings for fire hoses and decided to fill it themselves. Three years later, they outgrew their leased space in Akron and moved to Wooster, in Wayne County, where the company has remained for over a century. Today, Akron Brass is the world’s largest manufacturer of firefighting equipment, with products in more than 75 countries and a workforce that in 2001 rushed 200 nozzles, monitors, and other equipment to the FDNY within hours of the September 11 attacks. The company changed its street address to 343 Venture Boulevard—343 for the 343 FDNY firefighters who died that day.
The SSC collection documents this piece not as a relic of a lost foundry but as a living connection between Ohio manufacturing and the American fire service. This No. 10 spanner wrench is the tool that began a century-long relationship between a Wayne County workshop and every fire department in the nation. It is Ohio iron at its most functional and its most consequential.
Piece Details
Patent side marking: “PATENT FEB. 24, 1925 ★ NO. 10” cast in raised letters. The star between the patent date and model number is a distinctive Akron Brass marking detail. Multiple working ends visible: hydrant nut socket at left, coupling spanner notches at center, and pry bar tip at right.
Manufacturer
Akron Brass Mfg. Inc.
Piece Type
No. 10 Hydrant Spanner Wrench (multi-tool)
Material
Cast Iron
Length
Approximately 11¾”
Marking (Side 1)
AKRON BRASS MFG. INC. WOOSTER OHIO
Marking (Side 2)
PATENT FEB. 24, 1925 ★ NO. 10
Functions
Hydrant nut wrench; hose coupling spanner; pry bar; gas shut-off; hanging loop
Patent Date
February 24, 1925
Date of Manufacture
Circa 1925–1950s (estimated from casting style)
Place of Manufacture
Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio
Condition
Very Good — legible markings on both sides; all working ends intact; no cracks; original surface
Acquisition Date
November 28, 2025
Acquisition Source
eBay — Seller: wiltro5660
eBay Item Number
167187851553
Order Number
07-13899-73808
Purchase Price
$10.00 item + $9.51 shipping + $1.65 tax = $21.16 total
SSC Catalog Number
SSC-AKRONBRASS-WRN-1925-001
The Firefighter’s Swiss Army Knife: What a No. 10 Does
The genius of the No. 10 is that it replaces an entire toolkit with a single casting. In the hands of a firefighter arriving at a scene, this one tool performs every mechanical operation between the truck and the water. The hydrant nut wrench at one end opens the hydrant valve. The spanner notches engage the rocker lugs on fire hose couplings to tighten and loosen connections. The pry bar tip at the opposite end forces open stuck hydrant caps or breaks through obstacles. The hanging loop allows the tool to be clipped to a belt or hung on the truck for instant access. A firefighter with a No. 10 in hand has everything needed to establish a water supply—and in firefighting, establishing water supply is the first and most critical operation on any scene.
The February 24, 1925 patent date on this piece marks the moment this multi-function design was formally registered. Akron Brass did not invent the spanner wrench—firefighters had been using hydrant tools for decades—but the No. 10 refined the concept into a compact, standardized form that became the industry benchmark. The fact that Akron Brass still manufactures hydrant spanner wrenches today, a full century later, speaks to how well the original design solved the problem.
From B.F. Goodrich to Ground Zero: The Akron Brass Story
The story begins in 1918 in Akron, Ohio—the rubber capital of the world. A group of B.F. Goodrich employees recognized that the booming market for rubber-lined fire hoses needed reliable brass couplings to connect them, and they formed the Akron Brass Manufacturing Company to fill that need. They leased space in an American cereal company building and started production. Within three years, demand had outgrown the Akron facility, and in 1921 the company relocated 45 miles southwest to Wooster, the seat of Wayne County, where it has remained ever since.
The move to Wooster was the making of the company. With room to expand, Akron Brass grew from hose couplings into a full line of firefighting equipment: nozzles, hydrant wrenches, valves, monitors, and eventually the electronic controls and vehicle lighting systems that modern fire apparatus requires. The company incorporated in 1935 and continued to grow through the mid-century. In 1962, it merged into Premier Industrial Corporation of Cleveland. In 1967, it changed firefighting forever with the introduction of the Turbojet Nozzle—the first combination fog nozzle that let a firefighter control water flow directly from the nozzle tip.
But the moment that defines Akron Brass in the national memory came on September 11, 2001. The company had held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new facility expansion on September 10. The next morning, the world changed. On September 13, the FDNY called Wooster, Ohio with an emergency request for 200 nozzles, monitors, and other equipment—their apparatus was buried under the World Trade Center. By 5:30 that afternoon, the equipment was packed and on a private jet—the only civilian aircraft in American airspace, escorted by fighter jets—headed to New York. Akron Brass subsequently changed its street address to 343 Venture Boulevard, honoring the 343 FDNY firefighters lost that day. The address remains 343 today.
Corporate Timeline: Akron Brass Mfg.
1918
B.F. Goodrich employees form Akron Brass Manufacturing Company in Akron, Ohio, to produce brass couplings for rubber-lined fire hoses.
1921
The company outgrows its Akron facility and relocates to Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, where it remains headquartered today.
1925
Patent issued February 24, 1925 for the No. 10 hydrant spanner wrench—the multi-function firefighting tool that becomes an industry standard.
1935
Akron Brass formally incorporates on July 6, driven by demand for expansion capital. Product line now includes nozzles, wrenches, valves, and hose fittings.
1962
Akron Brass merges into Premier Industrial Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio. Continued growth leads to major facility expansions in Wooster.
1967
The Turbojet Nozzle is introduced, allowing firefighters to control water flow directly from the nozzle. It changes the firefighting industry permanently.
1972
The patented Swing-Out Valve revolutionizes the fire apparatus valve market, becoming a North American fire service standard.
2001
September 10: ribbon-cutting for new Wooster expansion. September 11: terrorist attacks. September 13: Akron Brass rushes 200 pieces of equipment to FDNY on a private jet escorted by fighter aircraft. The company changes its address to 343 Venture Blvd.
2016
IDEX Corporation acquires Akron Brass for $224.2 million. The company continues to operate from Wooster with manufacturing in Ohio and Illinois.
Today
Akron Brass remains the world’s largest manufacturer of firefighting equipment, with products in over 75 countries. Still headquartered at 343 Venture Blvd., Wooster, Ohio 44691.
Why This Piece Matters
The Akron Brass No. 10 is a departure for the SSC collection. It is not from a defunct foundry. It is from a company that is alive, thriving, and still making firefighting equipment in Wooster, Ohio, a century after it started. But the SSC mission has always been about Ohio’s cast iron heritage, and this piece represents that heritage in its most elemental form: a patented Ohio tool, cast in Ohio iron, carried on every fire truck in America, designed to save lives and protect property. The No. 10 is Ohio manufacturing at its most consequential.
This specific piece—with its 1925 patent date, its Wooster, Ohio marking, and its century of service context—connects the earliest days of Akron Brass to the company that rushed equipment to Ground Zero. It is the tool that started a legacy. A group of rubber company employees in Akron saw a need, moved to a small Wayne County town, patented a wrench, and built it into the world’s largest firefighting equipment company. The No. 10 is where that story begins.
The iron endures. The markings tell the truth. The story deserves to be told.
Sources & Further Reading
AkronBrass.com — “About: History”: complete corporate timeline from 1918 founding through present day, including 1921 Wooster relocation, 1935 incorporation, 1967 Turbojet Nozzle, and 9/11 response.
Wayne County Ohio Online Resource Center (wcpl.mywikis.org) — Akron Brass Company history page: detailed local history including 1930 Wooster directory listing, officers, and facility expansions.
IDEX Corporation press release (February 2016) — Acquisition of Akron Brass Holding Corp. for $224.2 million; revenue of approximately $120 million in 2015.
The Bargain Hunter (September 2018) — “Local company marks 100 years of firefighting support”: centennial feature on Akron Brass history and community impact in Wooster.
IDEX Corporation (September 2019) — “18 years later, Akron Brass Remembers Outfitting FDNY After 9/11 Attacks”: detailed account of the September 13, 2001 emergency equipment shipment.
About Steve’s Seasoned Classics
Steve’s Seasoned Classics is an online museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the heritage of American cast iron, with a focus on Ohio foundry pieces from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The SSC collection features over 130 pieces with detailed provenance, historical research, and photography for each item.
