The Ratchet Collection Thread

[Odes]

Picked nine ratchet’s today
3/8 drive
2 different style powerkraft’s
Proamerican
Penncraft
Fleet
Bonney
Steven Walden
And a craft with the same part number as an sk but doesn’t say made in the USA
And a hex drive marked unique will b lane it’s just like my hexall ratchet

 

[AntiqueBen]

Having trouble identifying this one guys. It looks like a pre 1900 design. Interesting with the square fastener option in the handle. Unfortunately no markings. Any ideas? Looks early to me.

 

[AntiqueBen]

Any thoughts on which is an older ratchet design, square or hex?? I have always thought square fasteners were older, but I read an interesting article that hex bolts were being produced in the early 1800's?
Article HERE

 

[teagueo]

Picked nine ratchet’s today
3/8 drive
2 different style powerkraft’s
Proamerican
Penncraft
Fleet
Bonney
Steven Walden
And a craft with the same part number as an sk but doesn’t say made in the USA
And a hex drive marked unique will b lane it’s just like my hexall ratchet

@Odes Any idea what model numbers the top and bottom ratchets are?

 

[Ricky Joe]

I have a silly question. Are the Packer drill ratchets reversible? I'm not seeing where or how to reverse the direction of the gear. I don't want to mess anything up. I've read the patent on its operation. Surely its reversible somehow. What am I missing here??

I know some of them are, with a selector switch. I have four or five of them.

 

[Ricky Joe]

He has been focusing on some other things in his life. I imagine that he’ll be back.
These are my earliest S-K hex drive ratchets.
-Don

I have one that spells out Sherman-Klove. I believe S-K made this style of ratchet for other brands.

 

[oak_park]

Saw this 3/8ths Litton today at Flea....didn't want to pay 5 for it. Thought it might be SK from the front, but back looks New Britain made.

 

[Joe Huld]

Picked up this Western Auto Chromex socket set that is in nice working condition and pretty complete. According to AA this version was probably made by Indestro. Quality seems pretty good, Anyone have further info on this brand?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice just check the stickies there is a whole western auto wizard thread. Here is a link to some I posted there

Post in thread 'My small but growing collection of Wizard tools (all Western Auto welcome)' https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-all-western-auto-welcome.395269/post-8314988

 

[mritchie77]

Picked up this Western Auto Chromex socket set that is in nice working condition and pretty complete. According to AA this version was probably made by Indestro. Quality seems pretty good, Anyone have further info on this brand?

That's a good one. Almost complete (if not complete, the cats are sparse). High end Indestro made for Western Auto. Dates to 1936-39(40 maybe).

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This very cool ratchet was posted by @vf1000g24 in a different thread.



I identified it as postwar French Army with the wartime US Federal Stock Number for a 1/2 dr ratchet forged into it.



I further surmised that STEF was an acronym for an OEM or a government organization like QMC or REME. If anyone else was curious, @vf1000g24 sent me a PM...

you were right,
STEF (Société Française des Entrepôts et Transports Frigorifiques) manufactured this ratchet. They had the facilities and knowledge to do this, as they built and repaired wagons for the French railways and for the Transport Corps.

Moving this here so as not to further detract from that thread, focused on antique ratchets.

I have a feeling we'll see more!

 

[AntiqueBen]

Nice ratchet! Cool forging. I always like to see the odd & out of the ordinary stuff.

 

[vf1000g24]

Some more ratchets.
This Lauravia and the Eternum were made after 1946 and before 1952 for civilian use. Let me explain: until the end of 1946, all French production of tools was carried out either for the French army, for the American forces, or for large public companies such as EDF (Electrcité de France), the SNCF ( Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, the French railways) and a few private companies considered necessary for the reconstruction of the country.

As most prewar toolmakers had worked, by any means, for the enemy during the war, they were not allowed to produce freely until their records were cleared. This was done in 1946, but the metal allocation was scarce and its quality was inconsistent, ranging from acceptable to very poor.





The Eternum and Lauravia are definitely clones of the STEF ratchet that I submitted to Lugnutz although with a chrome finish and a slightly different handle but their internals are made of very poor quality material while the Stef ratchet is, uh, a little rough on the outside but has good quality metal on the inside. The no name, no brand one is pretty rough on the outside too but still works and the metal inside is much better than the other two!

 

[vf1000g24]

Another Lauravia ratchet, in 3/8 this time while those in the photos above were all in 1/2. This one is more recent, the steel is much better and it bears the following inscriptions: Armée 41 H 1504 560.
I think it dates from the time of the takeover of Lauravia by SAM in the mid 60'S which wanted to take advantage of the contracts with the French army and the American troops that Lauravia held. Beside the ratchet it's a Lauravia French army metric DR spaner bearing 41 CLE 6416 of the period.

 

[GreyOwl]

I don’t remember whether or not I’ve posted this or not but in case I didn’t here goes. I don’t even remember where I actually picked it up from and I am missing the insert so it’s just been laying in the drawer.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

I don't know what it is, but I think this Style of ratchet is so cool. I just recently saw these and me and my buddy's are so intrigued with this style we are on the hunt no matter what the cost. But we want to find them in the wild. It's a big competition with about three of us.

 

[Macduf]

Anyone have any info on this ratchet? Nothing showing on it.

 

[four.cycle]

most of those were made by Kipton

Kipton / Kipton Industries, Kipton, OH / US Patent 2620001 Dec 2 1952 & 2672066 Mar 16 1954 George C. Fratz and Paul W. Sandrock / Canadian Patent CA522892 CA524280 / "Kip-Tuf" Palm-Grip ratchet / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/palm-grip-ratchet-replacement-screwdrivers.484483/ /

But Kipton stuff isn't usually marked "Handy Ratchet" so I am at a bit of a loss.

there's also this one:

Handy Knob / "Handy Knob" palm ratchet (similar to Kipton "Palm Grip") known specimen marked "Pat Pend" /

but it's a "Handy KNOB", not just a "Handy Ratchet"

on the other hand, that font style on that "Handy Knob" certainly appears to be similar, doesn't it? Shape of casting? Finish?

Second opinion guys??

 

[mritchie77]

most of those were made by Kipton

Kipton / Kipton Industries, Kipton, OH / US Patent 2620001 Dec 2 1952 & 2672066 Mar 16 1954 George C. Fratz and Paul W. Sandrock / Canadian Patent CA522892 CA524280 / "Kip-Tuf" Palm-Grip ratchet / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/palm-grip-ratchet-replacement-screwdrivers.484483/ /

But Kipton stuff isn't usually marked "Handy Ratchet" so I am at a bit of a loss.

there's also this one:

Handy Knob / "Handy Knob" palm ratchet (similar to Kipton "Palm Grip") known specimen marked "Pat Pend" /

but it's a "Handy KNOB", not just a "Handy Ratchet"

on the other hand, that font style on that "Handy Knob" certainly appears to be similar, doesn't it? Shape of casting? Finish?

Second opinion guys??

Very similar text. The selector switch pin seems different, however.

Here is another that's on eBay currently.
Palm Grip 3/8" Handy Ratchet

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I suspect they are all variations of the same animal

 

[four.cycle]

I suspect they are all variations of the same animal

^ true.

<edit> I got disconnected and couldn't find my way back here.

There were several different manufacturers of "Palm Ratchets". KIpton appears to be the "biggie", at least from what I have been able to glean from my observations.
There are still at least a couple whose makers have not yet been identified, like this "Vector" model on which the drive anvil pushes through the body of the ratchet (as opposed to there being a reverse mechanism on the unit.)

 

[four.cycle]

^ above post has been edited 10/01/23

running another search for "Palm Ratchet", I found these, which I'd overlooked earlier. Check out the shape, style, and font on the ratchet.

the last image below shows the Kipton palm ratchet looking quite a bit different - sharp corners removed, re-sculpted, chromed.

now I'm wondering if Macduf's unit (post #1817) is an early iteration of the Kipton.

 

[esben57]

1/4" drive vgc. Came in a King **** 9/32" set

 

[vf1000g24]

I must confess, I've never been a 3/8 ratchet man so far. I had lot of them in the past, mostly Snap-On and some Belzer and Hazet plus the local Lauravia and SAM as I was able to buy the remaining tools after the aero company Minerve collapsed. I sold quite a lot of them but the rest was stollen while I was back in the US. And now, as I broke my right wrist, I have to switch from my beloved 1/2 ratchets to the lighter 3/8 so here are my eight 3/8 ratchets. I hope I'll add an Elora and a Hazet both in "American Line" guise soon as well as a 70's Snap-on.






From left to right:
Belzer 7750 ca 1970 (30t)
Gedore 3093 U ca 1970 (30t very smooth)
Gedore 3093 U 3 ca 1980 (72t, hard plastic handle)
Stahlwille 435 ca 1980 (30t, hard plastic handle)
Lauravia A151 ca 1965 (36t with army markings and double retaining ball see the pics below)
SAM J150 ca 1965 (30t, very smooth)
SAM J150 B bought new in 1988 (Zero degree NKC Japan patent)
Facom J151 B bought NOS (72t Made in Italy came with the Facom 1" 1/8 crowfoot for free )

 

[four.cycle]

@esben57 -
^
Tipping / C.R. Tipping & Co. Ltd., Lowfields Road, Leeds / "Tipco" /

 

[esben57]

@esben57 -
^
Tipping / C.R. Tipping & Co. Ltd., Lowfields Road, Leeds / "Tipco" /

Yep.

 

[MR.X]

Greene Tweed, Lowell and Plomb all on one 90mm gun carriage.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Greene Tweed, Lowell and Plomb all on one 90mm gun carriage.

That is cool. Where is it? I would like to see it in person.

 

[MR.X]

That is cool. Where is it? I would like to see it in person.

Artillery museum at Cape Henlopen Delaware.

 

[3baygarage]

Sweet. Did you notice any special part numbers?

 

[MR.X]

Sweet. Did you notice any special part numbers?

Lot of green paint…… maybe a “-S” after the 5649 on the Plomb?

 

[3baygarage]

Cool, thanks.

I posted some military green rats here. Same three players involved.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-show-your-stuff.135342/page-215#post-8493530

 

[MR.X]

Cool, thanks.

I posted some military green rats here. Same three players involved.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-show-your-stuff.135342/page-215#post-8493530

Hi. Yeah, so there could have been some more #'s, but like I said, lotta paint....... and hard to get good views of backsides. BTW, carriage had 1 Plomb 1 Greene Tweed and 2 Lowell's.

 

[four.cycle]

I guess I should have posted these here as well.... one of these is on its way to Hawaii right now...


New Britain Machine Co., New Britain Connecticut
top to bottom: NM55, NM55 (yes, same part number - go figure), NM44, NM44, NM43

 

[four.cycle]

not mine... spotted this at my buddy's shop yesterday so I took a couple shots of it:

TRW 71000 1/4" drive RHFT ratchet

TRW 71000 1/4" drive RHFT ratchet

I know that TRW and Williams were joined at the hip in the 1970s, but I don't know Williams enough to be able to say who was OEM on this unit.

 

[3baygarage]

Williams it is

 

[3baygarage]

posted my TRW collection in another thread:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...quad-quint-or-more-thread.419655/post-7837728

 

[four.cycle]

thanks... so much for that "mystery".

 

[Macduf]

Proto ratchet marked with just model number and made in USA. First time I've seen it marked on handle.

 

[Mintgrun]

Proto ratchet marked with just model number and made in USA. First time I've seen it marked on handle.

That is the second one I've seen with the markings on the handle. The one I found says 5249 PROTO MFD USA. I am surprised to see variation, since I am guessing that very few were marked in this location. Here is the one I posted in the PROTO thread in post #834.