Early Craftsman ratchets

[PowderKeg]

Anyone else seen/have either of these early Craftsman ratchets? I've only seen one other 3/8 drive one - on flea bay recently. They don't resemble the other pretty common early Craftsman ratchets that Alloy Artifacts has traced to New Britain. the 1/2" has a "BT" code, while the 3/8" has a "BE" code - yeah, same code as the New Britain 3/8" models, but definitely a different ratchet. Wondering if these might pre-date or post-date the more common ones.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/GPJ68/OldCraftrats1.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/GPJ68/OldCraftrats2.jpg

[Uncle Buck]

I have a few old Craftys, but as you said those in the picture are a bit uncommon. I have some of the ones that are more common though.

[wrenchr]

Powderkeg,
Could you post your bonney ratchets??

[chad s]

Im not a craftsman collector, but any 3/8 drive tool from the late 20's -early 30's is quite rare. During that time, 1/2 was the standard size for everyday use, and if you needed to go smaller, you went to your 9/32 drive set.

3/8 was introduced around 1927 by some companies, and took a long time to become the mainstay.

[PowderKeg]

wrenchr,

As requested, Bonney's (and Bon-e-con's):

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/GPJ68/Bonney.jpg

[wrenchr]

wrenchr,

As requested, Bonney's (and Bon-e-con's):

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a315/GPJ68/Bonney.jpg

The 3/8 in the middle is very neat!!!

[billymade]

Are there any patent #'s on them? I use this search engine to help identify some old stuff I have: http://www.google.com/patents
and the US patent office here: http://www.uspto.gov/patft/

[PowderKeg]

Nope, no other #'s on them besides the letter codes. Only other clue is the 1/2" ratchet is lettered in plain block letters, which Alloy Artifacts says is the earliest lettering version. The 3/8" ratchet has the partly underlined logo - base of "C" partly underlines Craftsman.

[billymade]

Here are a bunch of downloadable .pdf files of early craftsman tools catalogs that might help in your "research": http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id116.html

[philw]

I would say there is a 99.99% chance they are made by New Britian. The 3/8 looks just like my 3/8 None Better ratchet that I have. I would say they are early models, probably mid 30's. One of our posters has the Craftsman catalogs from each decade on disc for $25 plus a couple dollars shipping.....which is a very good deal if your an antique tool nut.....To collect that many on ebay would cost a mint.
I plan on getting the 30's and 40's sometime in the near future.

[eschoendorff]

Here are a bunch of downloadable .pdf files of early craftsman tools that might help in your "research": http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id116.html

Wait until lauver sees that... :bounce:

[wrenchr]

Wait until lauver sees that... :bounce:

Here comes the questions!!! :lol_hitti:lol_hitti:lol_hitti

[lauver]

Wait until lauver sees that... :bounce:

Eschoendorff,

Sorry to bust your bubble, but I've had those catalogs on my hard drive for two months. I love them, they are a great resource and they have a lot of cool stuff that Sears doesn't sell any more like the wall mounted tool cabinet and tool set.

[le6920]

I would say there is a 99.99% chance they are made by New Britian. The 3/8 looks just like my 3/8 None Better ratchet that I have. I would say they are early models, probably mid 30's. One of our posters has the Craftsman catalogs from each decade on disc for $25 plus a couple dollars shipping.....which is a very good deal if your an antique tool nut.....To collect that many on ebay would cost a mint.
I plan on getting the 30's and 40's sometime in the near future.


Yes, The BE code I can see on one of them usually referred to New Britian.