WTK: Richmont Torq-Stop

I found this torque-related tool over the weekend, and I am wondering if anyone knows anything about it.







Here's my thought process on it so far...

Frank Livermont and P.A. Sturtevant each had a number of torque measuring related patents to their name before they joined their respective companies in 1974. This thing looks like it must be one of Livermont’s very early (40's or 50's) patents for a torque wrench calibrated to 135 inch pounds.

I’m guessing from the name that it’s supposed to tell you when to stop turning, but I don’t see an indicator. Maybe it’s a click-type.

I’ve seen modern versions, but the wrench and the device were integral to each other. This thing looks like it was meant to take different size single end box wrenches, which are removable. That set screw holds the shank in at a little notch in the shank.

I guess you’d need a bunch of them for different size fasteners, but I’ve never seen anything like that, and I don't think this WRIGHT wrench (which is most likely Wright Aeronautical, not the tool and forge company in Barberton, Ohio), found inserted into the Torq-Stop, is original to the tool. It looks to have been modified (cut off, grinded down, and notched) to fit inside the opening of the Torq-Stop.

If anybody knows anything definitive about this Torq-Stop, or nas any further thoughts, please chime in.

Definitive? No. But I do know this:

Sturtevant Richmont is still in business.

http://www.srtorque.com

We use some of their torque wrenches at work and they are pretty nice.

It looks like it is preset to only one value and clicks or "breaks away" at the pivot point where the handle and wrench head come together.

Lugz Any guesses on who made the wrench end? Plomb? Other? Hard to tell. I have seen a couple strange sockets stamped both Plomb & Wright .

WTK?
that's new to me
I assume it is "want to know"?

3baygarage said:

Lugz Any guesses on who made the wrench end? Plomb? Other? Hard to tell. I have seen a couple strange sockets stamped both Plomb & Wright .

Click to expand...

Huh? Please share photos? I've seen Bonney tools marked Wright (not the tool co, but Wright aircraft), but not Plomb....

My friend showed up at my door with this socket years ago in a tub of sockets and I studied it for a minute. They weren't for me unfortunately, as he went on to sell them to someone. It's oddball deep 7/8" that says Plomb and Wright and I also saw several more recently on Ebay.

Probably some type of aircraft spark plug is my guess. I think it has knurling and a cross bar hole. This attached photo at the bottom is off the bay.

Here is an old link to a Wright 83820 Plomb Made USA on Papawswrench:

http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=3196.0


And a link to a Wright 83947 Bonney #7353 long T handle wrench (picture below also off the bay for posterity):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-T-H...944789?hash=item4b0bb4ca15:g:beUAAOSwiwVWSq2V

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-T-H...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Better photo off the bay.

3baygarage said:

Lugz Any guesses on who made the wrench end? Plomb? Other? Hard to tell.

Click to expand...

Probably impossible to tell from what remains of the original wrench, though I'd be open to help/guesses.

It's a small wrench to begin with, obviously, so may not have ever been enough real estate for two markings - the Mfgr's name in addition to the WRIGHT name and part number (3T-33124). But if it was marked, that marking is likely obliterated by the whittling that was done on it. That has also changed the profile of the shank, obviously, so hard to determine. Flat shank, for sure, and no convex or concave panels. We have the head, and I did notice that it's rather thick, but that is common to several Mfgr's.

Having said all that, Bonney definitely supplied DBE wrenches to Wright Aeronautical, which they used in their fabrication shops, as well as for the maintenance tool-sets issued with their aircraft. So there's one good lead. I am going to double-check my USN, USAAF, and Wright wartime references as soon as I can make some time, but I'm pretty sure all the part numbers were 8XXXX series. It could be from a different era.

My main point of interest, though, is what type of attachment may have originally come with this tool.

If the modified WRIGHT 3T-33124 wrench is a good indication - and I think it is, since it appears to have been modified to function mechanically just like the pieces that were meant to fit into the tool - the original attachments would've had to have a similar notch for the set screw. The end could've been almost anything that would grab a fastener that required a precise 135 inch lbs of torque, but most likely a box end, maybe a crow foot flare, etc. But I don't remember ever seeing anything like that. Has anyone else?

3baygarage said:

Lugz I have seen a couple strange sockets stamped both Plomb & Wright

Click to expand...

Plomb, Bonney, Williams, Billings & Spencer, and Reed & Price were major USAAF suppliers for aircraft workshop tools, and some (maybe all) of them also supplied the aircraft companies (Wright, PWA), which makes sense.

laser3kw said:

WTK?
that's new to me
I assume it is "want to know"?

Click to expand...

Yes. Several other web boards I belong to use WTK, Want to Buy (WTB), Want to Trade (WTT), etc in the thread headers.

I've seen WTB, but not WTT or WTK. learn something new everyday.

As I mentioned in my Kent's Tools thread, linked here, I found a second model HJR "Livermont Torq-Stop".

This one is 12431082, pre-set to 50 inch lbs, and it has a flare nut wrench attachment. Unlike the first one, which was made and sold by Richmont, this one was made by Richmont but sold by Tubing Seal-Cap, Inc., also in Los Angeles.

If you go up to the top and read from the beginning, you'll get the whole story. Summary is that these are from the 1940's, well before the merger between midwest torque industry leader Sturtevant and west coast torque industry leader Richmont in 1975. The "Livermont" refers to Frank Livermont, who started Richmont, and who owns the patent.

Picked up another pre-Sturtevant-Richmont (pre-1974) torque wrench yesterday. The Frank Livermont patent (2,732,746) on this one is from 1956, so not quite as old as the earlier torquers on this thread. This is a click-stop type 1/4" nut spinner that Richmont called a PM-5 Roto-Torq.

Found another Tubing Seal-Cap Inc. (Richmont-made) "Torq-Stop" wrench today at the flea market, this one 200 inch-lbs, with a flare nut wrench attached, also marked "DPC" (which could very well be Defense Plant Corporation) on the flip side. This is now my third, the others being 50 and 135 inch-lbs. These are from the 1940's, decades before the merger between midwest torque industry leader Sturtevant and west coast torque industry leader Richmont in 1975. The "Livermont" refers to Frank Livermont, who started Richmont, and who owned the click-stop patent.

See Pic 4 for group shot.

Here's a Richmont torque wrench that I found quite a while ago and have just got around to cleaning. This one is set to 53 inch pounds which seems very specific. It seems like a PO may have "liberated" it from the work place due to the ground off serial #. But why would anyone need a 53 inch pound torque wrench in one size for home use??? I'll probably never know...