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Hand Tools

The Kirk Wrench, Designed For Getting Into Hard-to-Reach Places

This tool is the antidote for manufacturers who ignore "design for disassembly"

By Rain Noe - August 3, 2017

In my Auto Shop class in high school, we learned to perform basic automotive maintenance on a 1982 'Vette. (Sadly it was a Chevette, not a Corvette.) The benefit of the old clunker was that you could easily reach everything in the uncramped engine compartment and undercarriage. The crowded innards of today's cars, in contrast, seem designed to make it impossible to reach every last fastener.

Enter the revolutionary Kirk Wrench. Originally designed for plumbers to get at shut-off valves behind toilets, this wrench is actually less of a tool and more of a system of interconnecting parts, allowing plumbers and automotive mechanics to get into some tricky-to-reach areas. Check it out:

Enter a caption (optional)

The unknown inventor (Mr. or Ms. Kirk?) has patented the design, but as far as we can tell it isn't in production.

Hand Tools

Rain Noe

Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.

2 Comments

Matt Levine

a year ago

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Reply

I like this for the applications where having two arms trying to occupy a tight space means working blind / by feel.

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Mark Thomas

a year ago

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Z

Reply

Wait! There's more! Order the 168 piece Ginzu knife set now, and we'll throw in the revolutionary Kirk Wrench!

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