The Adjustable Spanner Volume II gathers together revelatory information arising from Ron Geesin’s first book, and combines it with further detailed analysis of manufacturers and biographical details of inventors. Described with warmth, detailed knowledge and a dash of humour, and set against the backdrop of parallel developments of the Industrial Revolution, this book brings the enthusiast up to date with continued attempts at design improvements to this iconic absurdity. Celebrating the global influence of Richard Clyburn’s transverse rack and worm design which set the modern standard for adjustable spanners and concluding with an overview of how the adjustable spanner is now manufactured and used worldwide, this book will be an invaluable asset to bookshelves of both the collector and the industrial historian.

Here is a book which throws light on a tool which in the past could adapt to many situations and facilitated change on an extensive scale. Ron raises many interesting questions - what if there had been no adjustable spanner? How would the generation to generation urge to acquire new skills and keep in step with engineering change have progressed. Both these books are valuable purchases, well referenced and well written. To any engineer they may be page-turners. -- Dave Girdler, Velocette Owners Club * Velocette Owners Club *

Ron Geesin played piano in a jazz band for four years before forging a solo career in London. He has composed music for the feature films The Body and Sunday Bloody Sunday while co-composing Pink Floyd’s first gold album Atom Heart Mother and making music and sound for the media in general. In addition to his musical passions, Ron has been researching, collecting and photographing adjustable spanners for over thirty years and is now recognized as a world authority on what he himself describes as an 'obscure branch of mechanical absurdity'.