13 Facts About Klein Tools

Klein Tools is an American company based in Lincolnshire, IL that manufactures hand tools.

Klein Tools is known for its popularity with workers in the electrical and telecommunications industries.

Klein Tools was founded in 1857 in Chicago, Illinois by German immigrant Mathias Klein.

The first tool Klein Tools made was a pair of side-cutting pliers for a telegraph lineman.

Klein Tools grew as the telegraph and eventually telephone and electrical industries grew after the Civil War by adding 100 types of pliers in the 1910s.

Related searches

Along the way, Klein acquired the R H Buhrke Company of Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1968 and the Vaco Products Company of Jonesville, Michigan in 1986.

Klein Tools built a drop forging plant in Moran, Kansas and distribution center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa before the 1990s.

Klein Tools added an affiliate, Klein Connection, to help ensure a wider distribution of Klein products.

Klein Tools is still owned and managed by members of the Klein family.

Klein Tools got involved in motorsports in 1994 to gain visibility with auto racing fans.

Drivers of Klein Tools-backed cars included Jacques Villeneuve, who won the Indianapolis 500 and the CART championship in 1995; and Dan Wheldon as well as being an associate sponsor for all of Andretti-Green Racing, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005.

In 2001, Klein Tools started sponsoring aerobatics pilot Michael Mancuso.

Klein Tools flew the Klein Tools Extra 300L during air shows and at IndyCar events as the official air show of the Indy Racing League.