Wrench ID - R.T.E.C.?

[Private Lugnutz]

Found these two electrical wrenches today at a flea market mixed in with the electrical wrenches of a Bonney Miniature Wrench Set No. 20. Finish is black oxide. Marked "R.T.E.C." with the sizes on the shanks, not the heads, as shown.

The vintage appears to be 1940's or 1950's to me. Typical sizes for magnetos, generators, etc.

Anybody ever see or hear of them before?

Anybody have any SWAGs on what "R.T.E.C." might be in that era?

 

[HeelSpur]

I don't know but that's the first OE I've seen with /64's on it.

 

[kleinkaliber]

Something something electric co.? I have an adjustable wrench that has no markings other than PG&E, which is our local electric co.

 

[shanny19]

If you're in east Texas, Rice Technology Education Center. If not, ?????

 

[Bryan Burns]

Kind of rings a bell with me. I think I have an R.T.E.C wrench somewhere. I'll look for it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don't know but that's the first OE I've seen with /64's on it.

I don't know but that's the first OE I've seen with /64's on it.

It was common in that era among miniatures (standard 15* offsets) and ignition wrenches (15* x 60*), HeelSpur. In 13/, 15/, 17/, and 19/.

Here are a few more...

Cornwell

Herbrand, Vlchek, Federal Stock Number (unknown Mfgr)

Duro-Chrome

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Something something electric co.? I have an adjustable wrench that has no markings other than PG&E, which is our local electric co.

I like this answer! 3rd party OEM, hence no branding. Thanks. Didn't think of that.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Kind of rings a bell with me. I think I have an R.T.E.C wrench somewhere. I'll look for it.

Thanks, Bryan. Looking forward to it.

http://www.wrenchingnews.com/wrench-logos/logos-page-1.html

Is there an "R.T.E.C." on that page? If so, I'm missing it.

 

[Bryan Burns]

Thanks, Bryan. Looking forward to it.

Here you go. I did a little polishing before taking the photo.




Is there an "R.T.E.C." on that page? If so, I'm missing it.

I couldn't find it either.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Bryan! The machine marks on the face are interesting. I noticed them on mine, but they're even more noticeable on yours with the finish coming off. Bad luck that yours is the same exact size as one of mine. If it had been different, we would've had a little set going.

EDIT: If you ever find out anything about the marking, let me know, and I'll do the same.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Bryan, All,

I have some news.

Thanks to a very thoughtful and lucky tip (unrelated to this thread!) from four_cycle, I think I cracked the R.T.E.C. code!

These three ignition wrenches and a pair of mini-pliers, all marked R.T.E.C…..

…were inside this nifty OD green midget socket set box…

…bearing a decal on the lid reading, Randolph Tool Equipment (I’m guessing Company).

Unfortunately, two of the wrenches are duplicates of the wrenches I already have. Here they are nestled in with the new finds.

Then again, who knows which wrenches and how many were in the set.

The set also had Walden-Worcester 31XX series 1/4-inch drive sockets. Five (5) 6-point sockets – 3/16 (3106), 7/32 (3107), 9/32 (3109), 5/16 (3110), and 11/32 (3111), plus a 12-point 3/8 (3112). Probably a few missing. Stevens-Walden was a major US Army supplier and provided midget socket sets with a ratchet and flex head breaker.

The sockets, the wrenches, and the pliers are all black oxide, all coated in cosmolene. I have never seen R.T.E.C. sockets, so I am guessing this is possibly how the set came, with R.T.E.C being both a supplier and an integrator. The guy I got it from said his grandfather was in the US Army Corps of Engineers in WWII and this was part of the stuff he brought home. I am doing more research, but it sure looks like R.T.E.C. sold tools to the Army during the war.

 

[Bryan Burns]

Good work Lug. I'll be on the hunt for more R.T.E.C. items now.
Bryan

 

[twertsy]

Bryan, All,

I have some news.

Thanks to a very thoughtful and lucky tip (unrelated to this thread!) from four_cycle, I think I cracked the R.T.E.C. code!

These three ignition wrenches and a pair of mini-pliers, all marked R.T.E.C…..

…were inside this nifty OD green midget socket set box…

…bearing a decal on the lid reading, Randolph Tool Equipment (I’m guessing Company).

Unfortunately, two of the wrenches are duplicates of the wrenches I already have. Here they are nestled in with the new finds.

Then again, who knows which wrenches and how many were in the set.

The set also had Walden-Worcester 31XX series 1/4-inch drive sockets. Five (5) 6-point sockets – 3/16 (3106), 7/32 (3107), 9/32 (3109), 5/16 (3110), and 11/32 (3111), plus a 12-point 3/8 (3112). Probably a few missing. Stevens-Walden was a major US Army supplier and provided midget socket sets with a ratchet and flex head breaker.

The sockets, the wrenches, and the pliers are all black oxide, all coated in cosmolene. I have never seen R.T.E.C. sockets, so I am guessing this is possibly how the set came, with R.T.E.C being both a supplier and an integrator. The guy I got it from said his grandfather was in the US Army Corps of Engineers in WWII and this was part of the stuff he brought home. I am doing more research, but it sure looks like R.T.E.C. sold tools to the Army during the war.

Cool. I know I have 1 or 2 RTEC wrenches set aside for "later research." This will be helpful!

EDIT: so I just did some quick research. Looks like they were out of PA somewhere, which explains why the resemble Bonney wrenches. I found an advertisement by someone trying to sell $100k + of RTEC tools for repairing radios, originally produced under contract to the Signal Corps. That explains the small sizes and the x/64ths.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Good work Lug. I'll be on the hunt for more R.T.E.C. items now.
Bryan

You and me both!

Cool. I know I have 1 or 2 RTEC wrenches set aside for "later research." This will be helpful!

Well, Todd, when the "later research" is concluded (or you think it can be done with photographs of your former wrenches... ), I am calling first dibs on the wrenches if they're different size openings than the ones I've got!

EDIT: so I just did some quick research. Looks like they were out of PA somewhere, which explains why the resemble Bonney wrenches. I found an advertisement by someone trying to sell $100k + of RTEC tools for repairing radios, originally produced under contract to the Signal Corps. That explains the small sizes and the x/64ths.

The PA reference is strange, since the label says Camden, NJ, and Randolph is a small 'burb just outside of Camden, but this is a great point, since the area makes perfect sense for Signal Corps. Camden (historical home of RCA and all kinds of lesser radio accessory industry leaders) is on the other side of the river from Philly, where the Signal Corps was centered during the war. EJ McAleer, which made their toolboxes, was in Philly, as was Fleck Brothers, who put all their big tool-sets together. And, Philly was the home of Sears and Roebuck, who was a huge supplier to the Signal Corps.

Confirming Signal Corps, as well as my suspicions that R.T.E.C. was an integrator, here is a friend's Craftsman (BE) midget set inside a box with the same label...

It came with this steel rule, sporting the Signal Corps logo...

Note that this box - filled with New Britain tools - is the same exact box, no Randolph label...

...which might mean it was also put together by R.T.E.C., or New Britain used the same box supplier.

Either way, I am starting to think R.T.E.C. may not have been an OEM at all.

Note that the 64ths had automotive functions as well (e.g., inside distributors, generators, magdynos, etc). Every motor vehicle mechanics' tool-set had an ignition set with 13/64 (15*) x 15/64 (60*) and vice versa in them. Duro ("E" and "G" series) made a ton of them. Others, too. See upthread.

 

[twertsy]

You and me both!


Well, Todd, when the "later research" is concluded (or you think it can be done with photographs of your former wrenches... ), I am calling first dibs on the wrenches if they're different size openings than the ones I've got!



The PA reference is strange, since the label says Camden, NJ, and Randolph is a small 'burb just outside of Camden, but this is a great point, since the area makes perfect sense for Signal Corps. Camden (historical home of RCA and all kinds of lesser radio accessory industry leaders) is on the other side of the river from Philly, where the Signal Corps was centered during the war. EJ McAleer, which made their toolboxes, was in Philly, as was Fleck Brothers, who put all their big tool-sets together. And, Philly was the home of Sears and Roebuck, who was a huge supplier to the Signal Corps.

Confirming Signal Corps, as well as my suspicions that R.T.E.C. was an integrator, here is a friend's Craftsman (BE) midget set inside a box with the same label...

It came with this steel rule, sporting the Signal Corps logo...

Note that this box - filled with New Britain tools - is the same exact box, no Randolph label...

...which might mean it was also put together by R.T.E.C., or New Britain used the same box supplier.

Either way, I am starting to think R.T.E.C. may not have been an OEM at all.

Note that the 64ths had automotive functions as well (e.g., inside distributors, generators, magdynos, etc). Every motor vehicle mechanics' tool-set had an ignition set with 13/64 (15*) x 15/64 (60*) and vice versa in them. Duro ("E" and "G" series) made a ton of them. Others, too. See upthread.

I'll take my pics and then set them aside. I know for a fact mine look exactly like the little Bonney Zenel ignition wrenches......

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'll take my pics and then set them aside. I know for a fact mine look exactly like the little Bonney Zenel ignition wrenches......

Cool. The only Zenel wrenches I have seen have the concave panel in the shank. I'd love to see the pics and especially to know the opening sizes.

 

[four.cycle]

Lugnutz:
the box looks exactly like some early Craftsman 1/4" socket set boxes except for the color.
maybe one outfit was making boxes for several "manufacturers"?

--

completely unrelated to this discussion, but let me toss this out here - already forwarded it to Twertsy a while ago:

In an email exchange with Wilde a month or so back, I learned that Otto P. Froeschl (founder of Wilde Tool and the inventor and patent holder on the Wilde "angle-jaw" pliers) got the US government contract for the bayonets because it was the only way he could get steel during the war.
He'd stamp out enough bayonets to fill the contract order, and then use the remaining material to make pliers, which is where he was actually making some money.
Making the bayonets was simply a means to an end.
If you would like the photo of the various bayonets they produced during WWII send me an email addy and I'll send it to you.

--

from that little anecdote above, it might be a reasonable assumption that there was more than one player who was stamping out some widget to supply a military contract in order to get the raw materials necessary to keep their "regular" business up and running, as Otto Froeschl did with the bayonets.
is it possible that some obscure radio manufacturer in New Jersey stamped out a few wrenches for the US Army in order to get the steel necessary to make some radios?
I tend to believe the Wilde bayonet was not the only deal like that.

--

can NOT recall where I read this - one of the "tool" sites most likely - somebody posted a comment that some US manufacturers did NOT stamp their names on the products because they were afraid the enemy would find out where they were and bomb their plants.
this is a "friend of a friend of a friend" anecdote, and may or may not have any basis in fact, but may be worthy of consideration.

 

[twertsy]

You and me both![emoji481]

Well, Todd, when the "later research" is concluded (or you think it can be done with photographs of your former wrenches... ), I am calling first dibs on the wrenches if they're different size openings than the ones I've got!



The PA reference is strange, since the label says Camden, NJ, and Randolph is a small 'burb just outside of Camden, but this is a great point, since the area makes perfect sense for Signal Corps. Camden (historical home of RCA and all kinds of lesser radio accessory industry leaders) is on the other side of the river from Philly, where the Signal Corps was centered during the war. EJ McAleer, which made their toolboxes, was in Philly, as was Fleck Brothers, who put all their big tool-sets together. And, Philly was the home of Sears and Roebuck, who was a huge supplier to the Signal Corps.

Confirming Signal Corps, as well as my suspicions that R.T.E.C. was an integrator, here is a friend's Craftsman (BE) midget set inside a box with the same label...

It came with this steel rule, sporting the Signal Corps logo...

Note that this box - filled with New Britain tools - is the same exact box, no Randolph label...

...which might mean it was also put together by R.T.E.C., or New Britain used the same box supplier.

Either way, I am starting to think R.T.E.C. may not have been an OEM at all.

Note that the 64ths had automotive functions as well (e.g., inside distributors, generators, magdynos, etc). Every motor vehicle mechanics' tool-set had an ignition set with 13/64 (15*) x 15/64 (60*) and vice versa in them. Duro ("E" and "G" series) made a ton of them. Others, too. See upthread.

Hmmmm.......I read this thread at work and couldn't see pics. Now that I see them, I don't recall mine looking like that at all. Mine (if I recall correctly) look like Benny Zenel wrenches.........I briefly looked today but only found a Zenel - looking "STW" ignition wrench.

Sent from my SM-P905V using Tapatalk

 

[bill300d]

I had almost forgot I had this. Here's what goes in that box. Sliding t-bar, driver w/female handle end, 6pt sockets 3/16, 7/32, 1/4, 9/32 12pt sockets 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, 7/16 and more than likely a 1/2 which I don't have. These look very much like None Better But I could be wrong.

 

[woody 73]

Great information good job I have yet to find any with that marking but now I will know more about them!

 

[d42jeep]

That spinner looked familiar to me so I took a few pictures of an unmarked spinner I picked up recently. It certainly has a pretty similar look.
-Don

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Some really coo tools.. my Uncle Pat would have loved that signal corps ruler..

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Someone tipped me off to an R.T.E.C. set that CRTDI just showed over at GG, which made me come back here to double-check my sizes and I realized the original photos I posted were in a fat finger Photobucket fiasco last year.

Restoring photos here...

The wrenches under the pliers, all with cosmoline still tarred on them, were original to the box, along with the WW sockets also still mucked up with hardended cosmo goo. The cleaner wrench under those I found. The cleaner wrenches to the side I also found as singles, but they are duplicates.

In the process of taking these pictures, I took more notice than I had before to the 7th socket in the set, also with hard cosmo goo on it, also original to the box, that was not a WW. It's an underline geometric Craftsman BE. I sort of ignored it before, but that lends even more credence to the mixed set put together by RTEC for Signal Corps theory.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I had almost forgot I had this. Here's what goes in that box. Sliding t-bar, driver w/female handle end, 6pt sockets 3/16, 7/32, 1/4, 9/32 12pt sockets 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, 7/16 and more than likely a 1/2 which I don't have. These look very much like None Better But I could be wrong.

Thanks, bill. I never saw this until now!

That spinner looked familiar to me so I took a few pictures of an unmarked spinner I picked up recently. It certainly has a pretty similar look.

Please put that aside for me, Don!

 

[d42jeep]

Okey Dokie, it's all yours.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks.

 

[Username already in use]

I recently acquired one of these Randolph Tool sets as well. 7 RTEC branded sockets, unbranded sliding T, and Bonney RF-22 ratchet.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Same as bill300d's set, but a Bonney ratchet instead of an unbranded driver.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

hmm close...
Haven't found any letters on mine though.