History of Precision Instruments:

Precision Instruments was

incorporated in 1938 to pursue the
manufacture of the first torsion bar
dial type wrenches. Central to the
very first patent, awarded five
years later, were the tenants of
accuracy, reliability, and durability
that have become synonymous
with the Precision Instruments
name. Over the next 24 years, the
company would refine and
elaborate on the torsion bar dial
type wrench with advances that
include increased accuracy and
signaling options.
The same principles of torsion bar
wrenches were extended to torque
drivers in 1962, and the design was
awarded a patent. Seven years
later, Precision Instruments
unveiled torsion bar standards for
us in torque testers. These devices
paved the way for adequate testing
of torque wrenches in industries
where a large number of torque
wrenches are used. Virtually all
modern torque testers trace their
roots to this device.

In 1974 Precision Instruments

successfully launched the splitbeam click wrench market with the
introduction of the C line. The
wrenches solved many of the
problems with traditional
micrometer adjustable click
wrenches and was awarded several
patents. By the early 1990s,
Precision Instruments released the
MD series of fully releasing
drivers and received a patent for
the design, detailing the
mechanism for accurately applying
torque with a fully-releasing driver
type wrench. Precision Instruments
also received a patent detailing the
first mechanism for externally
calibrating a micrometer-type
torque wrench in both the
clockwise and counterclockwise
directions and with regard to
spring rate. This patent was
combined with a patent that
allowed for the elimination of 95%
of the friction in these wrenches.
Precision Instruments spans two
buildings and occupies 50,000
square feet of floor space in Des
Plaines, IL. The plant oversees the
manufacturing of tools from start
to finish. The plant performs press

work, conventional and CNC

turning, conventional and CNC
milling, drilling, off-hand and
robotic polishing, mass-media
finishing, plating, welding,
assembly, calibration, packaging
and shipping. Statistical process
control dictated by written quality
control manual ensures that the
components remain within
specified tolerances at high
confidence levels.
Precision Instruments has a
dedicated tool and machine
development department. This
department designs and produces
nearly all the tooling and specialty
machines used in-house. From
press dies to specialty cutters and
robot programming, this
department allows Precision to
efficiently design and implement
sophisticated solutions to complex
machining. This flexibility allows
Precision to stay on top of cutting
edge manufacturing and
continually offer advancement in
quality and reliability to our
customers while maintaining
efficient manufacturing techniques.