Klein Tools
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| Privately owned | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1857 |
| Founder | Mathias Klein |
| Headquarters | Lincolnshire, Illinois |
| Products | Hand tools |
| Website | www.kleintools.com |
Klein Tools is an American company based in Lincolnshire, Illinois that manufactures hand tools. The company is known for its popularity with workers in the electrical and telecommunications industries. Lineman's pliers are often called "Kleins," an example of a genericized trademark.
Klein's line-up contains more than 3,800 different tools, including 165 different types of pliers, in addition to screwdrivers, nut drivers, wire pulling and stripping tools, crimping tools, scissors, snips and shears, cable and bolt cutters, conduit benders, personal protective equipment, and tool bags. Klein produces a high-end line of tools under its Journeyman label.
Klein Tools was founded in 1857 in Chicago, Illinois by German immigrant Mathias Klein. The first tool Klein made was a pair of side-cutting pliers for a telegraph lineman. The company grew as the telegraph and eventually telephone and electrical industries grew after the Civil War by adding 100 types of pliers in the 1910s. From the 1960s-1980s, the company expanded their product line to include leather and canvas products, occupational safety equipment, hex key wrenches, screwdrivers, nut drivers, as well as electrical terminals and connectors. 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. Also in the mid 1980s, the company started manufacturing adjustable wrenches in the US, which they had previously been purchasing from a Japanese supplier.
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