Clamps Antique and Vintage

[59Sled]

Another free one for me. Just because it’s clean and painted don’t assume that it’s not old. I was offered this clamp last year when I closed down one of our companies offices. This was in the machine shop. They said I can have it if I want it. And I thought to myself “naw it’s new”. So a year later I looked at it again while I’m our current company machine shop and noticed it said Cincinnati Tool co and found that it is indeed older. Mid 1970’s or earlier. So I ask if I can have it.
So this big boy is now mine.

 

[59Sled]

Couple sliding bar clamps.

12 inch Brink & Cotton.




Few Jorgensen #3706 sliding bar clamps

 

[682bear]

I picked up a few clamps in a junk store...

A pair of 2½" Cincinnati No. 56 Super Jr...



A 3" Jorgensen No. 103...



A J.H. Williams 2"...



And a matched pair of shop made parallel clamps that are really nicely machined...



-Bear

 

[682bear]

I just found another clamp in a junk store... it's a Chicago Boiler Co. Redhead 4303...





I've never seen one like this... anybody know anything about it?

-Bear

 

[Leviton]

I just found another clamp in a junk store... it's a Chicago Boiler Co. Redhead 4303...

I've never seen one like this... anybody know anything about it?

-Bear

Here is info on your clamp...

 

[four.cycle]

Chicago / Chicago Boiler Co., 1300 Northwestern Ave., Gurnee, IL 60031 (originally Chicago, IL) CB Mills / https://cbmills.com/ / est. 1891 by August Krumholz / "Red Head" clamp / patent 2121085 Jun 21 1938 Alfred F. Krumholz /

 

[Lorydr]

This one and it's baby brother got semi-retired to light duty.

 

[ScepterToad]

Here's my only really odd clamp. From a little bit of research, this may have been an industrial clamp given the large clamping pads. I don't have a measurement of them, but I'd guess they're about 2" in diameter.








I don't use it for much, so it just hangs with the other c-clamps. I got this (and other, regular c=clamps) from a mentor of mine back in the early 2000's. He gave me what he had left of his dad's tools, which he used to make a living in probably the 30/40/50's timeframe. I even have two saw sets living out in the shed from him. Some really neat tools that I'll keep forever.

 

[four.cycle]

Brink & Cottom 4 inch C clamp

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found my fourth Alva M. Colt patent (237,431) Quick Acting eccentric clamp at the flea market yesterday and finished cleaning it up this morning.



As some of you may recall, I have a No. 1 (4"), No. 2 (6"), and No. 4 (12"), posted upthread, and I've been hoping to run into a No. 0 (2-1/4") or a No. 3 (8"). Just figures it would be an Extra Heavy type, 40" long - and not part of the regular shorter bar series.



As you can see, the wheel on the lever is not solid, it's perforated with various elongated teardrop-shaped holes, which I have never seen before.



While the patent marking ("PAT FEB 8 81") is the same, it's in a different location.



There is no branding or model number.

I found a 1929 Batavia Clamp Company brochure illustrating it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

New group shot.

 

[Leviton]

When I saw these in a $2 bin of various clamps at a garage sale I thought: “What the heck kind of clamps are these?”
I tried turning the slotted screw at the top and that did not change the jaw opening. (At this point, I know some of you are laughing at me.)
Turns out, these are made to clamp on a very limited range of opening (less than a 1/2 inch for this pair). You use special pliers to open them up (Cleco makes a pair) and then you just let go of the pliers to clamp your pieces together. If you need smaller or larger openings, you buy different size clamps. These are commonly used in the aircraft industry and Aircraft Tools Inc still makes these today. They are called Spring Tension Clamps. They are made to speed up the clamping process.




Markings: Aircraft Tools Inc. Los Angeles Calif. U.S.A. AT544 Pat. 2466909

The patent was granted in 1949 and assigned to Aircraft Tools Inc.

On pages 338 and 339 of this document, there is good background on the company: 4th New Plant In 3 Years Doubles Output Of Aircraft Tools

 

[four.cycle]

^ Thanks!
Aircraft / Aircraft Tools Inc., 750 E. Gage St., Los Angeles, CA (also Aircraft Tool Inc.) / "Aeroloy" pliers, spring tension clamp / specialty tools for aircraft / patent 2466909 Apr 12 1949 Glenn W. Periman / * company name appears as "Aircraft Tool Inc." as well as "Aircraft Tools Inc." on some items. * /

 

[RTM]

Here's my contribution after so many years of accumulating clamps, I finally remembered to get a picture of two recent scores on back-to-back weekends.

Both of these are Cincinnati clamps the one is a Standard duty 4-in the other is a number 44 6-in. A little bit of lube, a little bit of work with a heavy duty wire brush and they both more or less open and close with one finger across the range.

Just knocked the worst rust off the frames, will clean up the pads a bit more soon. If used on almost anything, they get wood blocks, so not too worried.


The number 44 shows up in 1940-60 catalogs, as does the Standard 540, too hard to dig deeper right now.

 

[RTM]

Here's another one that's been kicking around for a while, a Williams 4" No. 404, looks like 1937 still had the wing handle instead of the sliding handle which showed up 1940-60s. This one came without a swivel pad, so I splurged for a McMaster one to keep it functional. This one worked with one finger since day one.

 

[Beerhippie]

^I'd take some vinegar or phos acid to those new pads to make them more closely match the patina of the old clamps.

 

[RTM]

Williams 12" 412 Light Service Clamp. This one had a bit of slop in the screw. Obviously does not close to zero. A bit newer, not sure if the handle is supposed to slide, but very light duty if not.




Adjustable 8", obviously spent a lot of time in a fixed position, so lots of rust on one side. This one is gonna move up front so it can get cleaned up a little better during my free time . Suspect this one is not that old, as this style was marked as Jorgensen til 1976 or so.

 

[RTM]

^I'd take some vinegar or phos acid to those new pads to make them more closely match the patina of the old clamps.

Same clamp twice, but I'm not sure it will work, these are SS clamp pads.

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

Besides, I've got bigger problems trying to keep rust and patina away. No need to introduce any extra.