Homer A. Mead and his Adjustable pliers Pat. # 2,600,512

[woody 73]

Homer was a very busy man seems he had more then one company make his Adjustable pliers. Now this is the fun part, just how many other brands are still out there waiting to be found?

-Basford
-Penen
-proto
-P&C
-Crado

From the AA web-site the Proto catalog lists them in their 1954 catalog up to the end of their 1962 catalog.

(Special Notes) Any GJ member ever heard of Crado ? I was not able to dig up any information on that brand.

Does any other GJ member have any other examples in their collections with different brand names to add to the growing list?

http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=28073

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2600512.pdf

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/other-makers.html#basford

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/Photos/tools/proto_234_pliers_compound_f_cropped_inset2.jpg

 

[Cope]

Penens, Proto and P&C yes, but never heard of Basford or Crado.

 

[woody 73]

Ok GJ members post up your pliers of this same model maybe just maybe we can find all the different companies that made this same plier model.

Good luck and happy Hunting!

 

[bonneyman]

Great post, Woody! Sorry I missed it.

Here's my pair of Proto 234's

 

[rlitman]

I have one of the same Proto pairs. They're great!

 

[rlitman]

My Proto, and new to me Penens which has some plastidip in the handles.





Both have the same grip pattern that looks like boxed arrow fletching, and both look like they came off the same forging dies. The Proto's nut has a round flange, while the Penens is just cut off at the two flats, but otherwise, they seem pretty much the same.

 

[woody 73]

Way cool thank you again for posting those pictures...

 

[rlitman]

Sure thing. A little googling turned up another brand for you too: "Gripso", which seems to be a Basford trademark.

That would be #307 here:
http://s222.photobucket.com/user/buswrench/media/evrin-matz-2009/ervin-matz-303-318.jpg.html
described by the auction catalog here:
http://wrenchingnews.com/ervin-matz-auction-2009/catalog.html

and another pair here:
http://www.toolsandgarages.com/index.php?topic=471.0

 

[Cope]

Just used my P&C pair the other day.

 

[four.cycle]

Basford / H.R. Basford Co., San Francisco, CA / "Gripso" & "Gripso-Matic" / patent 2600512 Jun 17 1952 H.A. Mead & trademark 429536 May 6 1947 H.R. Basford / http://alloy-artifacts.org/other-makers.html#basford / pliers wrench / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265722 /

Woody, I'm hitting a wall on "Crado".
Perhaps it might have been a private-label "house brand"?

 

[RTM]

Crado International Ltd was a UK maker of safes. Maybe you are looking on the wrong side of the Atlantic. I’ve had little luck with searches in the UK.

 

[woody 73]

Who would have thunk it...

Overseas made.

Still looking for more different manufacturers of that same pliers...

 

[RTM]

Maybe you are looking on the wrong side of the Atlantic. .

But then again, maybe not

https://www.ebay.com/itm/383027758296

Apologies, can't grab the image for posterity

@Lugz, bears a striking resemblance to a tool you found earlier.

Creed sold quality plumbing supplies, per other eBay listings.
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-daniel-creed-co-plumbing-3778668242


This guy decides to mock my idea, noting CRADO USA.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/crado-parallel-fairmount-usa-slip-1801738309


But something useful now, from the same plumbing supply house

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-box-96-saw-blades-crado-line-1862338867

Collingdale and Darby are right next door in the Philly area, no idea if towns or neighborhoods.

And a historical reference

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nch-danco

And some 1960-70s history

https://archive.org/details/boroughofcolling00coll/page/25/mode/1up?q=“Daniel+p+Creed”+plumbing


Patent issues, but not over Crado

https://archive.org/details/sim_tra...page/743/mode/1up?q=“Daniel+p+Creed”+plumbing

 

[four.cycle]

Basford / H.R. Basford Co., San Francisco, CA / "Gripso" & "Gripso-Matic" / patent 2600512 Jun 17 1952 H.A. Mead & trademark 429536 May 6 1947 H.R. Basford / http://alloy-artifacts.org/other-makers.html#basford / pliers wrench / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265722 /

 

[four.cycle]

Basford / H.R. Basford Co., San Francisco, CA / "Gripso" & "Gripso-Matic" / patent 2600512 Jun 17 1952 H.A. Mead & trademark 429536 May 6 1947 H.R. Basford / http://alloy-artifacts.org/other-makers.html#basford / pliers wrench / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265722 /



(* this thread belongs in the Vintage Tool Discussion forum *)

 

[four.cycle]

Crado / (see Daniel P. Creed Co.) /

Creed / Daniel P. Creed Co., Darby, PA / "Crado" / patent 2600512 Jun 17 1952 Homer A. Mead / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265722 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=478802 /

 

[CHRIII]

But then again, maybe not

https://www.ebay.com/itm/383027758296

Apologies, can't grab the image for posterity

RTM, got one of the images.

 

[RTM]

Thanks, it was too early to go upstairs to get on the main computer with better software for stuff like that.

 

[Lesserstore]

Here's my pair of Basford branded ones. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the J.P. Danielson style of date codes on them. I've got F-10-3 that's on the opposite side of the branding and E-9-3 on the jaw that's screwed in. So either 1953 or 63 for this pair. Also, would this mean that they were all made in the J.P. Danielson factory by Pendleton?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Homer was a very busy man...

Busier than you may suspect, Woody! It's neat that you're focusing on his adjustable parallel jaw pliers, but two decades earlier, he invented and patented the Masterench with his partner, Earnest E. Lynch, in Turlock. They sold them under the company name Lynchmead, a portmanteau of their last names, then Masterench Corporation, and finally sold out to Heller. Link to our Masterench thread down on the Vintage Discussion board here.

Basford / H.R. Basford Co., San Francisco, CA / "Gripso" & "Gripso-Matic" / patent 2600512 Jun 17 1952 H.A. Mead & trademark 429536 May 6 1947 H.R. Basford / http://alloy-artifacts.org/other-makers.html#basford / pliers wrench / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265722 /

Not sure why you're showing ads for the "Gripso" branded locking plier wrench (i.e., "Vise-Grip"), 4.c., but Homer A. Mead didn't own that patent. Believe it or not, his little brother Lawrence E. Mead did!

When Homer, just home from WWI, and tinkering around in the shop in the family barn, probably on the Masterench he would first patent in 1925, Lawrence was still in high school. Not quite as famous in tool circles as Loring and Aury Gates Coes, but interesting nonetheless, and a link I haven’t seen GJ, Alloy Artifacts, or DATAMP make before.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the J.P. Danielson style of date codes on them. I've got F-10-3 that's on the opposite side of the branding and E-9-3 on the jaw that's screwed in. So either 1953 or 63 for this pair. Also, would this mean that they were all made in the J.P. Danielson factory by Pendleton?

Well-spotted and noted, Lesserstore. Hard to say for sure, but hard to argue with your logic. I guess Basford found it more economical to have them third partied.

Sorry for the delayed reply, guys. I don't read the General Discussion forum too often.