After finding the Bobet descriptions in Cyclo-Pedia 7 (1966), I browsed the rest of the catalogue, with wonder and discovering old friends - and a bit of embarrassment, too. That catalogue includes a splined remover "For French ATOM and Schwinn SPRINT freewheel." The catalogue does not include Regina FW (only French Cyclo), so I don't know when Regina moved to this design.
I should have remembered this. I spent a lot of time Back Then assuring that I built up hubs with the right side including a cone-lock washer-lock nut-spacer-final nut, so I could easily spin off the final nut, slide off the spacer, and use the splined tool w/o having to pull the axle. French Normandy/Atom hubs worked great for this approach (I think some came that way), but it was too hard with Campgranola.
When we lived in Providence (68 - 72), I'd think nothing of changing out FW and chainring to get optimum gears for a weekend ride on the Raleigh International, so it did matter to me.
As usual, your mileage may vary.
harvey sachs
mcLean va