The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

[Outlawmws]

Screw collar on mine is aluminum.

Mine too

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Our end cap may very well be aluminum, too, guys. Please excuse our Curator, who has a tendency to derisively call any metal material that is light and soft and obviously not good alloy steel or brass "pot metal" and some pot metal (e.g., ferrules on x-acto tools) is non-ferrous or barely ferrous. We have no intentions of going into a deep dive on the dating of these made over a nearly 100-year production life. He was just casually obviating that it was of more recent vintage before diving into the fascinating history, because the earlier products have some brass.

Jock (@Provincial) has one, for example, with a brass end cap (no markings that we can see), with a flat **** end, found in 2021, linked here, that is clearly older that semi-modern (90's) vintage.

But the earliest example we have seen in the most cursory of interwebz searching has a brass end cap with what appear to be very early probably first generation production markings and a brass thumbscrew! Purloined photos from WorthPoint below. It would be nice for the Acquisitions Dept to run into one of those (but preferably not as damaged) in the wild one day.

 

[Outlawmws]

Lugs, the crimping screw collar holding the crayon is what Timm and I were refreshing to - at least I was - my domed end cap is plastic.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...the crimping screw collar holding the crayon is what Timm and I were refreshing to - at least I was -

Breaking character...

Yep, I know that. I wasn't arguing with you. I called it pot metal, and you called it aluminum. Again, mine very well could be aluminum, too. I really have no intent of timelining the features from beginning to end as I have very assiduously as "the Curator" here on this thread with several other types of tools (e.g., ratcheting end wrenches, locking plier-wrenches, utility knives, etc), but, as I think amply illustrated in my last post, it looks like they started out with a knurled nut and an end cap both made of brass (WorthPoint photos, 1926-19??), at some other phase the end cap was still brass and still very flat on the end but the knurled nut was aluminum (Jock's linked example, earlier than 90's), and eventually, probably the last phase, they had a knurled nut of aluminum and a plastic end cap that tapered (the model I posted and which you guys say is identical to yours, 90's). There may be other variants in between, but that's a high-level view.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This valve grinder...



...found recently by @d42jeep..., and this exchange that followed on the Garage Sale thread...

...a Millers Falls valve lapper.

The overall design of the thing is so much different than any of the Albertson or Duro/Indestro models I've seen (and others) that I figured they'd probably at least have gone for a design patent...[ ]...I think they all pretty much worked the same way -

...prompted the Curator to post this...

That's Goodell-Pratt's grinder. MF acquired the rights to it when they acquired a majority interest in G-P in 1931. Patent is Hapgood, 1102581, July 7, 1914. G-P made it for years, MF just continued making it after they bought them. You are correct when you say that valve grinders "pretty much worked the same way," but it was how they worked inside the housings that mattered. They all used different mechanisms to affect the same progressive reciprocating action. Those patented differences avoided infringement and provided a basis for legal production. Duro, Albertson, G-P, Zim (who made them for Sears, Blackhawk, etc), etc, all used different patents. (Duro actually had two different patents for two different mechanisms for two different models of valve lappers!)

...and promise this:

I plan to do a Curator's Corner.

Fulfilling his promise, we present...



#12: Valve Grinders (also called Lappers) (or, "Going full circle, in more ways than one!")

Introduction

Not to be pedantic, but let's review first so we are all on the same functional page. After all, these tools are odd looking, resemble drills, or drills that are "broke" or "don't work right!" and are often the subject of 'Whatzit?' threads, maybe even second in occurrence to the sawset. Valves in engines occasionally need (arguably) to be lapped, by rotating the valve seat, inside the valve, in a "back and forth" motion, with a fine grist paste called a lapping compound. It’s a very simple, straightforward procedure and all lapping tools do kinda sorta work in the same manner. Lapping compound is applied to the valve seat, the lapping tool is attached to the valve face, and the tool is rapidly rotated, clockwise and counterclockwise. If you're our age (65), the tool you may have grown up using was just a stick with a vacuum cup on the end of it, and the motion is pretty much like getting one of your first merit badges as a Cub Scout, when you had to start a campfire without matches.



It's not an exaggeration to say that the entire history of valve grinders and valve lapping tools is basically an exercise in making this operation easier, more effective, and more accurate. Valves came with different faces, lateral notches or indents or just one slot in the middle. The spacing between the indents or notches was different on different size valves/cars. Later, valve faces were smooth and the suction cup was born. Either way, mfgrs patented, developed, and manufactured various legally-protected tools to decrease the drudgery and the tediousness of the manual Cub Scout fire-starting method.

Some of our examples



Detachable and the like

At the bottom are a couple examples of valve lapping attachments for using with early 1/2-inch square drive tools. From left to right is a Hinsdale and a New Britain. The NB is adjustable. They were often used with speeders, by rotating the swing arm back and forth. When fixed (welded, press-fit, etc) socket wrench handles went detachable (separate handles and socket wrenches), so did valve lappers. The Hinsdale has two different valve lapping blades cotter pinned on it, with five different valve face configurations. Many mfgrs made these or similar and included them in socket sets. Just representative of the type (detachable).

To the right of those is a similar adjustable valve lapper attachment cotter pinned to a brace bit, to be use with a brace or an egg beater drill.

Above the brace bit is a handsome Braunsdorf-Mueller lapper with a wooden handle and an adjustable valve lapping attachment. Quite prosaic in the sense that it most exemplifies the aforementioned Cub Scout kindling method.

Obligatory close-up...



We do NOT plan to focus on any of those types here.

Above those are the crank handle types of valve "grinders" (hence, the name) that we are going to focus on in this CC.

Much more to follow...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Friendly Reminder



With that in mind, and as we continue to organize our findings and our photos, you might want to review and familiarize yourselves with this...

Overview

While this infographic is not nearly as busy with patent citation traceability as the timelines we developed for the Ratchet Action End Wrenches (CC#9) or the Locking Plier-Wrenches (CC#6), that in and of itself is instructive (these guys were not very fond of citing prior art!), and it provides a tidier perspective.



The chart is fairly intuitive, but for your orientation...

/ Look over the Key first

/ Then look over the "swim lanes" (as we call them in my business). There are four of them, one for each of the major (and we tend to think most common) valve grinders we examined, presented in the order in which they appeared, chronologically, in patents and/or the marketplace:
- the Albertson & Co. "Sioux" brand line
- the Millers Falls (nee Goodell-Pratt) valve grinders that inspired this CC
- the ubiquitous Duro models
- and the even more ubiquitous Zim Mfg (& all their private label customers) models

/ As a reference of scale and scope, the DATAMP database has sixty-nine (69) patents in its 'valve-grinding tools' category. Most of them are not hand-crankers and involve no moving parts. The earliest valve grinder is from 1883 (for machinery, not automotive) and the latest is from 1944 (for an automotive valve grinder not known to have been produced), which neatly frames the grinders in our discussion like bookends.

/ Some notes on chronology...

1909-1912: Hazeltine patent and reissue awarded, produced by Specialty Machine Co.

1912: Meredith patent awarded, assigned to, and used by Ideal Valve Grinder Co. and Beckley-Ralston valve grinders

1914: Hapgood patent awarded, assigned to, and used by Goodell-Pratt valve grinders. (Between patent and production, G-P put the mechanism inside a housing.)

1918: Even though they had their own patent, Albertson & Co. must have determined they had to buy out Hazeltine's 1909 and 1912 reissue rights. Probably preemptively, wethinks, because the principle of their own mechanism, as you will see, was very similar. As soon as they owned Hazeltine (and/or Specialty Machine Co.), they put his patents, along with their own, on their product and in their advertising. They also immediately sued Beckley-Ralston and their mfgr, Ideal, for infringement, and won. Just like that, the Ideal/Beckley-Ralston grinder, which had been on the market for almost five years, based on the Meredith patent, went ****. While we can find no evidence of the acquisition, we can see no other basis for why Albertson & Co. would sue Ideal/B-R for infringing on a patent that was not theirs to protect, and why the suit would cite an earlier suit, Specialty Machine vs. Ashcroft. In 1911, Ashcroft Mfg was also making, selling and advertising what was ultimately ruled a Hazeltine patent infringing valve grinder. Both suits are cited in Harvard, Yale, etc law school books because of the intervening timing of the Hazeltine patent, the Meredith patent, and the Hazeltine reissue - almost certainly submitted to block and outmaneuver Ashcroft Mfg in the same way that Albertson later blocked and outmaneuvered Ideal/Beckley-Ralston. Note that Albertson did not challenge the 1914 Hapgood (G-P) patent in court, wethinks because they must've determined that it used a sufficiently different design than Hazeltine/Albertson.

1923: Millers Falls introduced three "new" tools in numerous trade mags - one of them was a valve grinder. We can't find a patent for a valve grinder assigned to MF on DATAMP, which includes 157 MF patents, on the vintagemachinery.org site, which includes 171 MF patents, or in our own search of Google Books and the USPTO database. This was during a time of immense growth for MF. They were expanding into other markets very quickly, mainly through acquisitions. They did not acquire G-P until 1931, but the MF No. 238 valve grinder looks exactly like the No. 288 valve grinder that G-P had patented and was making and selling for several years, and we think G-P was almost certainly their private label provider, well before the 1931 acquisition.

Peterson (1930): Legally, Duro/Indestro would have to wait until 1932 to enter the valve grinder market with a Hapgood design or until 1935 to enter it with a Hazeltine/Albertson design. Instead, they enter it a few weeks apart in 1930 with their own designs.

Zim (1936): I can't find any patent for a hand-cranked valve grinder assigned to Zim. Berkman's 1936 patent was for a shank and valve face attachment only. Yet they were advertising valve grinders by 1936 - and not before. What is significant about that year? Right. All the early patents (Hazeltine/Albertson, Hapgood/G-P) were expired by 1935, and the guts of a Zim valve grinder do operate on very much the same principle. We think that the most common valve grinder on the planet was simply an expired patent knock-off. A very good knock-off that Zim provided for many years to... nearly everyone!

// Patent diagrams for context attached below. //

We'll be literally diving inside these grinders, one at a time... , with period ads, disassembled photos, etc, very soon. Hopefully before Christmas. If not, maybe between Christmas and New Year's.

In the meantime, it feels like we rushed this one a bit, so if anyone sees anything that looks amiss or awry, don't hesitate to ping us.

 

[Farmer J.]

OK, these last few posts is going to be an interesting read.
Perfect timing, as a spell of bad weather is just arriving I have got all the firewood stacked by the stove so as we can hibernate until it passes..

 

[Outlawmws]

Friendly Reminder

With that in mind,

 

[Private Lugnutz]

OK, these last few posts is going to be an interesting read.
Perfect timing, as a spell of bad weather is just arriving I have got all the firewood stacked by the stove so as we can hibernate until it passes.

We are choosing to read 'fireside reading during inclement weather' as a compliment, and not a comment on our verboseness!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Albertson & Co. “Sioux” line

Borrowing from the Hazeltine design, and, as we discussed above, apparently buying them out as a hedge against a lawsuit, Albertson & Co. made and sold a crapload of these iconic valve grinders. As we alluded to in our overview, early models included the Hazeltine patent date and reissue date stamped into the handle. Later models added the “Sioux” trademark and sufficed with just “PATENTED.” Advertising included the Hazeltine patent dates and the date of Albertson’s own patent.

Attached below are the pertinent patents, again, and accompanied by pertinent period trade mag ads. For comparison (and context for the Albertson vs. Beckley-Ralston lawsuits), we have also included the Meredith/Ideal/Beckley-Ralston patent and an ad. (We have seen no example of the grinder on GJ.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Albertson & Co. “Sioux” line cont'd

Attached below are some external and internal photos of Albertson’s famous valve grinders. We have no examples in the Lugzsonian, so credit to GJ members @Ayrhead (early model) and @LesserSon (later model), whose photos we have liberally borrowed. The design (two vertical parallel gears each with a set of teeth of asynchronous number on opposite halves, one transverse gear below) and the operation of this mechanism actuated by a crank "rotating" ("oscillating", "reciprocating") the shank back and forth but in an incrementally progressive motion (so that the back-and-forth does not always start or end in the exact same spot on the valve seat) are obvious and will need no further explanation for the mechanically-inclined members of GJ. But make mental note when comparing and contrasting to alternative designs for achieving the same motion by other mfgrs.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Goodell-Pratt / Millers Falls

As we discussed in the overview, Don’s (@d42jeep) MF valve grinder is almost certainly an example of a grinder MF was getting from G-P, either before or after the acquisition in 1931. Honestly, we don’t have enough crucial aptitude or insight to determine why their Hapgood patent was deemed sufficiently novel from the Hazeltine/Albertson patent, and we don’t intend to scrutinize the claims or question the patent investigators, either, simply noting that it was granted, it survived unchallenged, and it served as the basis for production by G-P, by G-P for MF, and later for MF. It looks very similar in the sense of the teeth of two opposing half-gears engaging another beneath them in reciprocating action from the cranking of a handle in one direction.

Attached is the pertinent G-P patent and period ads from both G-P and MF. It appears in numerous G-P and MF catalogs. Also attached is a photo of a NOS G-P grinder next to its NOS box (c/o DATAMP). Also attached are some additional photos of Don’s MF grinder, with a view under the hood, so to speak. Speaking of which, note, as we alluded to in the overview, that between patent and production, G-P modified the external profile and the mechanism, and put it inside a housing.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Duro (/ Indestro) line

Attached below are pertinent Duro patents, catalog excerpts, and examples. The Model No. “411” is ours. It's from 1927-1930. The “711” belongs to GJ’er @Jc2043. It's from 1930 or later. As you can see, and as described in the overview, they were not the same design, or even related to each other. The Model No. “411” represents production of the patent submitted to the USPTO on August 29, 1927, and granted on March 4, 1930. The Model No. “711” represents production of the patent submitted on May 6, 1929, and granted to Peterson on March 25, 1930. Not sure what they were thinking, but the "411" is very different than any of the other major valve grinders, using a sort of pump action with that lever arm to move a single half-gear left and right, rotating the smaller gear actuating the shaft. The "711" is akin to the Hazeltine/Albertson and G-P, but note that instead of two separate half-gears, it’s one piece with two angled “ears”.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Zim line

When Bob Dylan sang, “You may call me Terry, or you may call me Timmy, you may call me Bobby, and you may call me Zimmy,” in the song “Gotta Serve Somebody” (Slow Train Coming, 1979), he was obviously referring to himself (real name, Robert Allen Zimmerman). But if there’s anyone who knows anything about serving, it’s E.J. & R.W. Zimmerman, no relation, who began selling auto accessories in Chicago in 1919, the earliest reference to them operating out of the Critchfield Brooks building address. The name became Zim Manufacturing in 1921 and the rest, as they say, is history. In their case, the history of a modest empire they built, like few others (K-D comes to mind), on the premise of “service tools”. It’s still going, by the way, their assets now owned by A&E, Inc., which is affiliated with Lang.

The Zim is the valve grinder pictured in the encyclopedia. The Zim is the valve grinder that grows on trees. The Zim is the valve grinder we all grew up with. This is the valve grinder that I would venture to bet a good many of us still have at least one example of. They made them for themselves and everyone else. As alluded to in my overview, without a patent but also without fear of infringement on any other patents, late to the game, but mastering the art and science of the basic mechanism and of making and selling them hand over fist for wholesalers, retailers, and private label customers, who all (Sears, Roebuck, & Co., Blackhawk, etc) also sold a crapton of them! Hence their ubiquitousness in the community.

We have a decent Zim thread, with all kinds of Zim tools, including valve tools, including grinders, linked here.

Attached below are pertinent ads of related tools they made leading up their dominance in the market, a trade mag notice of their entry into it in 1936, as shown on the overview chart, and a page from their 1965 catalog.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Zim line cont'd

Attached below are external and internal photos. You can see how they reduced and perfected the basic principle to a simple effective mechanism, with two high and two low sets of teeth. Shown are our orphan Zim, our NOS Zim in a NOS box, our Blackhawk, and Don’s Dunlap as examples.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That concludes the study of the valve grinders in the overview.

As long as we're on the subject, though, here's that "Woster" electric valve grinder from the opening and our cute little brace type Indestro, which didn't make the group shot.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

And lastly, also from outside the bounds of the type we deep dove on, some of our favorite oddballs from elsewhere on GJ consolidated here...

Pic 1 & 2 is the Walden brace type lapper, posted by @outofbounds. Pic 3, owned by @imc188222, and Pic 4, owned by @leg17, are similar, but unidentified approaches. Pic 5 is another @outofbounds find, also unidentified. And finally, Pic 6, from an old 'Whatzit?' thread, also unidentified, that just might be an example of one of the Archimedean concept patents shown in Pic 7 & 8.

 

[The Bean]

When is the Netflix documentary coming out? I would love to see these things in action from the late 19c machines and early automobiles of the 20c. Imagine the first guys to decide they needed a valve grinder and how that influenced engine design. Lug the Lovzonian!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lug the Lovzonian!

Thanks, Bean!

Imagine the first guys to decide they needed a valve grinder and how that influenced engine design.

You mean when all those pesky valves were located inside the block of a flathead!?



It was a simple design, but obviously not the best configuration for breathing efficiency or horsepower. (Our fascination with early valves can also be seen in the the tappet wrenches thread.) Indeed, relocating the valves to the cylinder head was a major step forward in doing more with the same displacement. Then again, OHV's needed pushrods and rocker arms and a whole 'nother level of complexity, problems, and places for creative motorheads to try to improve performance.

Historically, the first valve grinders were boys. Seriously. Working parttime for pennies in early ramshackle service garages. While older mechanics concentrated on other problems, one or more boys would be lapping away on valves having 'valve jobs' done. It was tedious, repetitive work easily instructed and handed off to a boy. I'll see if I can find some good period articles.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Perfect example - and in a humorous format!



Full story, in which two men are trying to find the owner of a repair shop to trade a car, with several more appearances by the Grinder Boys, linked here.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Before we leave the subject permanently, we found this in the flotsam and jetsam of our working folder.



The "Triumph" valve grinders, top middle and top right, look like classic re-branded Albertson "Sioux" to us.

The pear-shaped "Dandy" jobbie on the lower right we have never seen in real life, but that's the spittin' image of the first Duro patent drawing. Putting our thinking caps on, and noting the date on the catalog - which falls in the period between Duro's first patent submission, and Duro's first patent award, wethinks it's probable they reused the patent image for marketing, or they actually made them in that shape before they made them round, and we have just not had the pleasure of seeing it in production form before.

We're not sure about the source of the "Lowest Priced" valve grinder in the upper left.

 

[The Bean]

We're not sure about the source of the "Lowest Priced" valve grinder in the upper left.

Chinesium.

 

[Outlawmws]

Chinesium.

Not in the 20's, 30's, 40's...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Chinesium.

Not in the 20's, 30's, 40's...

Really not until the late 60's. The first time Congress took any action at all to try to stem the tide of Asian imports was 1973 and the first major anti-Dumping Act was passed in 1977. We just don't recognize that grinder. The crank handle looks like a Zim, surprisingly, but the shape of the housing does not, and we couldn't find any evidence of Zim marketplace action before 1936.

 

[Smokeshow69]

It would have been much more common to find “nipponesium” back then than anything from China. China was still a relatively non westernized 3rd world country at that time

 

[The Bean]

I was joking because of the lowest price... haha.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was joking because of the lowest price... haha.

I figured.

It would have been much more common to find “nipponesium” back then than anything from China. China was still a relatively non westernized 3rd world country at that time

True, for the People's Republic of China, but not the other China, the Republic of China (i.e., Taiwan). It's economic and industrial growth was rapid. By the late 60's, the U.S. was its largest export market. That was the first wave of what is derisively called chinesium today, well before it started coming from the mainland.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Moving on…, to play some catch up, the Curator owes kudos to the Acquisitions Dept for spotting this Jr. O.U.A.M. button in the bottom of a toolbox at the flea market last week.



With family, friends, and other guests arriving and the holidays approaching, it may likely be his last find of the year.

In a bit of magical full-circle coincidence, sharp-eyed and sharp-minded followers may remember the Jr. O.U.A.M. booklet that it now goes perfectly with that was actually his last find of the year last year!



This fraternal organization has a sketchy, controversial, dubious past. For more on that, see our first post on the topic, linked here.

 

[four.cycle]

Before we leave the subject permanently,

Was there anything in that big of 1931 Montgomery Ward catalog I sent to Mark?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Was there anything in that big of 1931 Montgomery Ward catalog I sent to Mark?

If you mean valve grinders, no idea. I didn't look through it.

In other news, our annual winter houseguest and official mascot is back! This is 4 years running now.

 

[The Bean]

Woodsy?

 

[misterbill]

As studious as @Private Lugnutz is, it would have to be X the Owl.

 

[Farmer J.]

In other news, our annual winter houseguest and official mascot is back! This is 4 years running now.

I was wondering about your owl when Mrs Farmer J snapped this picture a few days ago.
Barn Owl sits in the roof in the barn next to our kitchen and watches us. I put the window in the wall so we could admire the timber frame dating from 1310, but the owl uses it to look in on us. Maybe Owls like to watch us Vintage GJ folk!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Woodsy?

As studious as @Private Lugnutz is, it would have to be X the Owl.

Snerk. Well, back in 2021 we referred to him as Mr. Wise Old Laser Beams, but only because of what he looks like at night, and in 2022 a couple times as Boobeau, as a play on words on Bubo, which is inventive and fun to say, but the wrong genus. We identified him as a fine specimen of Megascops asio in rufous morph (or a red Eastern screech owl) when he first appeared in our linden tree, one of several roosts he keeps in a < 3 mile radius, according to the experts at the NJ Raptor Center, who use our last name to keep tabs on him, but the grandboys call him "Screech," and the grandboys always get their way.

 

[four.cycle]

If you mean valve grinders, no idea. I didn't look through it.

Just as well.. Nothing of great significance, methinks.
The 1927 catalog shows only the smaller unit shown on the right in the 1931 catalog snip. (No idea who they were outsourcing it from.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was wondering about your owl when Mrs Farmer J snapped this picture a few days ago.

Magnificent!

It'll be a sad day when Screech is no longer with us. We have no idea how old he is, mature, for sure, based on his behavior, and probably at least 7 or 8, with a lifespan in the 12 to 14 range. We won't bore everyone with ALL the owl totems that have popped up around the house since his arrival, but here are a couple new ones, the last - which is just about perfect, found by Mrs. Lugz at a local farmers' and craft market just temporarily perched and unframed there.

 

[LesserSon]

…so we could admire the timber frame dating from 1310…

Your barn predates my “older home” by six centuries! When I was twelve or thirteen I painted a barn owl (or maybe a snowy owl) in tempera in my father’s art class. Been four decades since I’ve laid eyes on it.

Megascops asio

I’m usually pretty comfortable sitting out at night on the porch of our family cabin, watching the moon and planets trudge along the ecliptic. But a few years ago, my hair stood on end at some of the (then) unfamiliar sounds this species can produce.
Some time ago MrsLS brought this painting home - a collaborative effort of eight kindergarteners. It currently resides in our guest bedroom, which is fine by me.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

my hair stood on end at some of the (then) unfamiliar sounds this species can produce.

Anything and everything but a hoot!

The way we know he's back in our linden tree roost - a perfect spot for napping in the sun from noon to 4PM, though, is not him, but the cacophony of sounds from blue jays and an assortment of much smaller eastern songbirds as they try to harass and divebomb him away. His stoicism is heroic and he needs no help from me, but it's usually very early in the morning, when the rest of the house is still asleep, and I rise from my reading chair and go out and clap them all away. What are friends for?

a collaborative effort of eight kindergarteners.

Wonderful.

 

[Provincial]

I once was able to pick up a live Great Horned Owl in my hands. It was sick and docile so I took it to an animal rescue place. It was too far gone, and died a few days later. I wore my thick leather welding gloves to pick it up.

 

[Outlawmws]

a collaborative effort of eight kindergarteners.

Five and six year olds? I know adults that can't do that good!