Vintage RIDGID Pipe Wrenches

[cody1325]

Oops

Just like me and cheap American adjustable wrenches--I don't blame you at all. Besides, when I need leverage to twist something, I always bring out a pipe wrench.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Another 6-incher for the miscellaneous GMTK-correct stash. 1942.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is an early 8” example I found on Saturday at a moving sale.
No date to be seen on this jaw!
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is another fairly early 14” Ridgid pipe wrench found at an estate sale yesterday. Possibly made in 1932 based on all of the twos on the jaw.
-Don

 

[jeffmoss26]

Probably not vintage but for 3 bucks how could I say no?

 

[d42jeep]

I found this 1942 dated 8 inch Ridgid pipe wrench at a garage sale today. I will likely remove the multi color paint job.
Edit. That paint resisted removal. I finally got most (but not all) of it off.
-Don

 

[MRL83]

Holy ****, I can’t believe I just found this thread, and kinda by accident. But this has been awesome reading (almost) every word of this 13 page, ten year old thread. Not sarcasm even though that sounded like it.
I’ve acquired an extra interest in RIDGID tools in the past few years after using them for years and then realizing they’re kind of a big deal. Even started collecting the oldest ones I can find and restoring them. Some just so it can be used again for countless more generations, some just for fun.
And it’s even cooler that it’s real close to home for me. I work in North Ridgeville where the Ridge Tool Co. started and I drive past the Ridgid factory in Elyria a few times a week. It’s crazy to think that so many things made right there are all over the world now and after so many years still used daily even though they might be almost 100 years old. Something about a tool that’s almost impossible to break makes me want it.
I have 2 pails full of old RIDGID wrenches and cutters, some I’ve cleaned up and put to use already. The rest someday(probably never) I hope to restore and maybe sell……? Or even just having them is pretty cool too.
Recently I’ve picked up a few 6”ers on eBay. Some old, some not so old. Average about $10 each. I’ve yet to date any of them but if anyone is curious as I am I will post more when I look further in. Especially the two at the top in the first pic. The last is an 18” that I cleaned up, de-rusted, then re-rusted just for aesthetics and clear coated.

 

[Leviton]

Here’s another for the inventory. Nothing fancy. 10 inch. Dynamic jaw with an assumed 1947 date; marked B.5.7, and “E” on the other side.

There is an “S” stamped on the center of the housing on one side and a dot or small hole on the other side. (I find these symbols very interesting.)

If there was ever paint on this, it is not obvious. In the handle depression there might be some black paint remnants, but it could just be old grease.

 

[Leviton]

Found a 1945 14-inch with a B._.5 code on the dynamic jaw. (Couldn't read the middle number.) This one still had some original black paint in the more protected areas.

Posting this one for two reasons:

- I like the symbols on these wrenches. This one had a "5 Rx" in the center of the housing and what looks like a 4-pane window in the middle of the handle and an "E" near the hanging hole.

- The patent number is missing the first " 1 ". I suppose it could have broken off, but I don't see any indication of that.

 

[Beerhippie]

I picked up a pre-war, Pat'd, marked E5-2 10" yesterday.

As found:





After some cleaning:







It had definitely been rode hard and put up wet. It took a lot of cleaning to be able to read the markings on the dynamic jaw.

Since I now had it nice and clean, I painted it:





the wrong color--but it matches my newer Ridge Tools.

I'm guessing '32 for the year?

 

[d42jeep]

Looks like ‘32 to me. Nice cleanup.
-Don

 

[Car hobby]

Hello all! I have a couple of pipe wrenches that belonged to my Grandfather. The first one shows the marking E14.1 on the jaw and "PAT PEND'G" on the handle. I am wonder if this is like Private Lugnutz's 1/11/1928-9/9/1929 example? The other shows the marking B.4.10 on the jaw. Can the dates on these wrenches be verified? I'll clean them both up later this week. Thanks in advance!

 

[Car hobby]

I cleaned up the hooks today. One thing I learned from cleaning up a bunch of C clamps and these pipe wrenches is to soak the pieces in vinegar over night and clean them with the wire brush on the bench grinder the following day. There isn't any dust and they clean up faster.

I don't think I am going to paint the 24" wrench. I can't find anything saying they were painted between 1928 and 1929. I don't see any traces of any color. I'm probably going to repaint the 18" Chevy orange later this week or next week.

I am leaning towards the 24" wrench being from between 1928-1929. "PAT PEND'G" appearing on the handle is my reasoning. I did some more research on Google and I think the 18" wrench was manufactured in 1950.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Those have a date code on them, if I am not mistaken.

I can't find anything saying they were painted

I believe we had this conversation here before, and the only advertisements I was able to find for anything early were black-and-white.
I think you'll find those catalog images up-thread ^
BK

(They were black before they were red?)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I am leaning towards the 24" wrench being from between 1928-1929. "PAT PEND'G" appearing on the handle is my reasoning.

No leaning necessary. You nailed it. Not just the marking, but the other key features, as explained in this part of my dating guide in post #1...

The next definitive generation RIDGID pipe wrench has the stabilizer (4) and the trapezoidal swash plate (5), as shown in the second patent drawing, but reads "PAT PEND'G" on the handle (6). That suggests that the second patent (1,727,623) had been applied for (on January 11, 1928), but not yet granted.

RIDGID pipe wrenches with "PAT'D" in that spot (6) or the forged-in patent number "1,727,623" in that spot (7) could not have been made before the patent was granted, on 9/10/1929.

As for the other wrench...

I did some more research on Google and I think the 18" wrench was manufactured in 1950.

I don't know where you're getting the 1950 from, but the features all align with later than 1948, as described in the dating guide here...

Magazine and journal ads c. 1948 show RIDGID pipe wrenches with an adjusting nut that is not completely knurled (12). Some have one recess, some have two, some even have the name with an interlocking D and G as the knurling. We're not sure of the sequence to those features, which is irrelevant to the salient point - that up until 1948 the adjusting nut was fully knurled.

Magazine and journal ads c. 1952 show RIDGID pipe wrenches with a rounded end on the threaded dynamic jaw (13).

...and we have some evidence to suggest that the forged-in date codes in the hooks persisted into the 50's, which makes me want to read the "4" in the "B-4-10" marking as 1954.

I don't think I am going to paint the 24" wrench. I can't find anything saying they were painted between 1928 and 1929. I don't see any traces of any color.

There is plenty of documented and empirical evidence to suggest the finish on prewar wrenches was black, and we have plenty of black finish prewar wrenches in the collective collection. Some collectors take that a step further to suggest that all the survivors found with a natural steel finish have been denuded of paint. I'm not a big believer in this theory. I think they made some with a natural steel finish.

I'm probably going to repaint the 18" Chevy orange later this week or next week.

That or some shade of red fits that time period.

 

[KarpetKing]

Hi, I'm from the United Kingdom and have been going through my Grandfathers tools. Among a selection of English wrenches from around 1950-1960s I found a RIGID 24” Wrench, made in Elyria, Ohio with the patent no. of 1727623 which I believe was given in 1929. There is "5 R" marked on it, not sure if that's relevant.


There is a code of B-5-4, which from reading could be from May 1944/1954 - is this correct? The photos aren't great but I can take some more soon, this was after a quick clean to get rid of any crud/light rusting.

Thanks!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

from reading could be from May 1944/1954 - is this correct?

1944. By '54 the end of the dynamic jaw was rounded, the adjusting nut had a groove in it, and they were finished in red.

 

[Buckeye93]

Ridge tool moved to Elyria from North Ridgeville in 1943. I grew up in North Ridgeville. I have read they made pipe wrenches marked “Ridgeville” before moving to Elyria. Anyone got one marked like that from before 1943? If so I would like to see it. Never seen one

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Ridge tool moved to Elyria from North Ridgeville in 1943...[ ]...I have read they made pipe wrenches marked “Ridgeville” before moving to Elyria.

This has come up a few times on the thread. Ridge's own website contradicts itself, saying that it was founded in Elyria in 1923, but also that it moved to Elyria in 1943. Wiki says that Ridge was founded in N. Ridgeville in 1923 and moved to Elyria in 1943.

What I have been able to determine from public records on Googe Books - and you won't see this anywhere else on the interwebz except right here on GJ - is that Ridge had an office of sorts or maybe just a business address in N. Ridgeville, and that jibes with all the USPTO patents granted to them between 1926 and 1940, which cite N. Ridgeville as their location, not Elyria. Note that all the wrenches, however, even those made well before 1943, bear the "ELYRIA" marking, and all the ads they ran in trade magazines from the 20s and 30's all cite Elyria as the address. Note further that all the patents after 1940 cite Elyria as the address. All of this lends credence to my conclusions that Ridge always had two locations, one in N. Ridgeville, a sort of front office or HQ, if you will, for administrative matters, and the factory in Elyria, where they eventually consolidated.

EDIT: I'm not aware of any wrenches marked "Ridgeville".

 

[Buckeye93]

That’s good info. Thank you.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I haven't looked at the Ridge Tool Company section of Internet Archive International Tool Catalog Library in a few years. In looking through the early 1920's trade mag ads to double-check the Elyria address, I noticed a video - dated 1945!! - that was just uploaded by someone in October 2025. The whole thing is terrific, from the joking about the on premises nurse distributing aspirin on Monday mornings, to the manufacturing sections in the middle. But if you want to jump ahead to the best part, go to 26:45 and play to the end. You'll see pipe wrenches being assembled, including a guy putting the water transfer decals on the housing!

Ridge Tool Co. : Little Known Facts About a Well Known Product : Ridge Tool Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

32:07, promotional film

archive.org

 

[Buckeye93]

That was cool video. Real men making quality American made tools

 

[Tchicken]

Is the Ridge Tool factory still there? Once in my youth I worked in that area, I remember the big Ridge Plant down the street from my job in another of the old Elyria factories. I had no idea they also called North Ridgeville home

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I had no idea they also called North Ridgeville home

It shows up in all the early official USPTO documents, patents and trademarks.



And other records...





And even some trade mags, including some that allude to more than just an office.



But there are multitudes of other records, also dated in the 1920's, in which the address is listed as Elyria. So it's confusing.

 

[Tchicken]

I'll say. North Ridgeville in the 60's was all farms, the "heavy" industry was either in Cleve-town or Elyria. The heaviest I recall was a machine shop on Root Road

 

[four.cycle]

It is confusing. Every document I have - whether hardware catalog or magazine advertisement - shows the Elyria location - the earliest being this one, supposedly from 1931:

 

[KarpetKing]

1944. By '54 the end of the dynamic jaw was rounded, the adjusting nut had a groove in it, and they were finished in red.

Thank you, it’s great to confirm that it is in-fact 1944.

What a wealth of knowledge this forum is.

 

[four.cycle]

I only got to about page 5 or 6 in this thread - I haven't read all the way through it - so I have no idea if the H23 forged into the dynamic jaw on this unit has any significance. Also forged into the handle on one side is an "A Rx" (the "Rx" being sylized in a drug-store fashion), a "B" (or is that an "8"?) following the patent number and a faint "E" forged into the other side near the hanging hole.
The patent was issued in 1929, so seventeen years would be 1946.
Is it possible this unit dates to 1943?
Something odd about this one - or maybe I just haven't seen enough specimens - is the small protuberance on the "back" side of the handle. I'm not seeing this on other specimens.
Ridge Tool Co. 8-inch pipe wrench (patent 1727623)

 

[d42jeep]

That one is 1943 alright. The rest of the markings have never been deciphered as far as I know.
I don’t know about the protruding bit, probably part of the casting process. You can see it even in the ad.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

O RLY? Very cool. Maybe I didn't do too bad on that deal. It was part of a "package deal" I grabbed a couple weeks ago.
I grabbed it for the Penncraft socket set, not realizing it was shy an 11/16" socket. Funny that this old pipe wrench found its way into that box.

On the bright side: the little "Great Neck" box cutter got added to my buddy's tool kit, and that gigantic "Gold Medal" file cleaned up nice and put a new edge on that Craftsman cold chisel in a hurry, so it's still got good teeth on it. Something very "cave man" about using an 18-inch long file - what a beast!

 

[RTM]

I don’t know about the protruding bit, probably part of the casting process. You can see it even in the ad.

Isn't that the part for hammering on things? Like a Crescent hammer?

 

[AntiqueBen]

I found this little beauty today for $8. When I saw the Pat Pend'G & the little swash plate, I had to bring it home. Below are some before & after pics. Would this be late 20's?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Would this be late 20's?

Yes. Specifically, between 1/11/1928 and 9/10/1929.

The next definitive generation RIDGID pipe wrench has the stabilizer (4) and the trapezoidal swash plate (5), as shown in the second patent drawing, but reads "PAT PEND'G" on the handle (6). That suggests that the second patent (1,727,623) had been applied for (on January 11, 1928), but not yet granted.

RIDGID pipe wrenches with "PAT'D" in that spot (6) or the forged-in patent number "1,727,623" in that spot (7) could not have been made before the patent was granted, on 9/10/1929.

The date code ("B.1.2") on your dynamic jaw doesn't agree with the markings on the handle, but the dynamic jaws are replaceable and interchangeable, and because both parts were made so well, it's not at all unusual to find mismatch pieces.

 

[fjaggy]

What a cool thread. I picked up a thrift store wrench today and ended up here. Looks to me like a 1934 14”. Pat 1727623 with A1-4 on the jaw. Haven’t seen many “A” alphanumerics on here so that’s kinda cool.

 

[four.cycle]

^ nice opening act.
welcome to the site.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

What a cool thread

Glad you're enjoying it. Welcome to GJ. Your entry point (Google Search result) is very common. The fastest way to get the lay of the land now that you found us is the A-Z Index of Threads in the Sticky at the very top of the forum. Whether by type or brand of tool, there are 100+ threads exploring a plethora of topics. Chances are your next thrift store find will have a thread for it. You won't see them unless they're active without the Sticky.

Haven’t seen many “A” alphanumerics on here so that’s kinda cool.

I haven't kept track, so thanks for mentioning it. We've never figured what that code signified, probably something esoteric to the factory or dies.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up a 6-inch offset at the flea this morning. I found a larger (10-incher) and newer (1943) example at the flea back in 2021, posted upthread HERE. This a perfect example of the wrenches made between 1/11/1928, when they submitted a patent for a handle with the stabilizer behind the adjusting nut, and 9/9/1929, when it (1,727,623) was granted and they started putting it on the handle.



Here is an interesting cat cut from 1932, reusing the same rendering of the tools that they had been using since 1928, with the "PAT. PEND'G" marking, but updating the ad with "Patented".



Cute little ******.

More pics below...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hey. I read the Rigid dating info. Super helpful! Thanks!

You're welcome. I moved your query here to reply rather than on a solo thread, because they disappear very quickly, never to be seen again...

I picked up a nice example that falls into the 1937 to 1948 range and the code on the jaw ends with a "7". Is there any way to tell if it would be a 1937 or a 1947 wrench? Just curious if I am missing something.

Not really. The features did not change until ca. 1948-ish. If you really wanted to nerd out, patent 2,192,702, granted in 1940, supposedly improved upon the mechanism inside the cavity in the housing to further stabilize the dynamic jaw, but it requires removing the tongue in the static jaw to inspect it. See my note to that effect at the very bottom of post #1.

 

[SwampFox2190]

Long time follower, first time contributor. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread in its entirety!

Been a gatherer/user of old tools my whole life and recently dove into old Ridgids. Picked up this E10 offset a few weeks back for my daily use bag, beautiful patina and in great shape overall. Put it back to use day of delivery after I assume was a lengthy sabatical from turning pipe.

After reading through the whole thread, am I correct in assuming the date code B93 and identifiers would put this one at 1953? Also, it is missing the internal spring assembly. Are the current factory parts compatible w/ the older models? Still grips just fine, but a decent amount of play in the dynamic jaw and handle body.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread in its entirety!

Thanks and welcome to GJ!

Been a gatherer/user of old tools my whole life...

That's the only prerequisite there is for enjoying this forum!

...and recently dove into old Ridgids.

Cool. When you start diving into other topics, note that there is an A-Z Index of Threads in the Sticky at the top of the forum that essentially negates the tyranny of the forum's descending chronology.

After reading through the whole thread, am I correct in assuming the date code B93 and identifiers would put this one at 1953?

Yes. Well done.

Also, it is missing the internal spring assembly. Are the current factory parts compatible w/ the older models?

Good question and one I don't know the answer to. They experimented with so many different mechanisms over the years, I'm tempted to guess not. If you live near a good flea market, cannibalizing one from a donor of the same time period is a good option.