Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
As a collector who admires the odd and obscure, I was elated to pick up this “SPEEDEE-RATCH” at the flea market this morning.
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It’s probably obvious that the spring-steel knob at the end of the handle is meant to be grabbed and pulled, but it might not be so obvious to what purpose.
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This female ratchet, 11 inches long, made of heavy gauge pressed steel, with a push-through drive plug marked “ON” and “OFF” on the ends, is, quite literally, chain drive. There is a sprocket in the head. One full tug on the chain turns the drive plug one complete revolution. Releasing it disengages the pawl, allowing the chain to be pulled again, and again, and again, turning the drive plug in rapid motion. Hence, the name. For the picture above, I have a drive pin punch inserted through one of the links, preventing the chain from quickly retracting.
The ratchet can also be swung back and forth like a standard ratchet. The chain action was marketed not only for speed, but for operation in close quarters where swinging the ratchet back and forth was not possible. In this way it’s similar to the “Onli-1” ratchet wrench, GJ thread linked here, which operated with a crank on the end turning a series of beveled gears inside the frame.
Unfortunately, it also suffers from the same issues. The chain drive action does spin the drive stud quickly, and it would be very useful in close quarters, but it's a little awkward to hold firmly, it can’t be used to break a fastener free, and it’s difficult to apply enough torque to tighten a fastener down. As intriguing as it is, I can see why it didn’t catch on.
To give credit to those collectors who came before me, I found three other examples in a search on GJ.
As far as I can tell, chrislehr was the first, posting one in a GJ thread titled “Officially my new ‘neatest tool in the room’” back in June 2009, linked here. Diesel-Mech posted one a year later, in June 2010, in the “Unserviceble Ratchets” GJ thread, linked here. And Rusty65 posted one in June 2013 on the 2013 Garage Sale thread, linked here. (I guess I found mine a month early!
)
In reply to a teaser photo on the 2018 Garage Sale thread, 3baygarage said he also owns a few, so perhaps he’ll see this and post some photos.
If I'm missing anyone who owns one that didn't turn up in my search, my apologies, and please fee free to post here.
As for outside sources, Tools Archive has a "SPEEDEE-RATCH" in its library, compliments of krusty the klown.
But I figured it was about time this unique ratchet had its own GJ thread, especially since not much historical or technical information has been provided in the others.
The “PAT. APPLIED FOR” forged-in marking is probably in reference to the first of three related patents (1,903,514), granted on April 11, 1933, to Henry Merriman of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The second (2,290,197, July 21, 1942) and third (2,292,391, Aug 11, 1942) patents were improvements. I haven’t seen any examples that bear any of the actual patent numbers. The best one-stop place to explore the patents is the Merriman page on DATAMP, linked here, which includes links to all three patents on the USPTO site.
According to a Google Books snippet-only view of a page in Motor Age, Vol 59, 1939, “a new type of ratchet wrench, known as a "Speedee-Ratch" has been developed by the Beall Tool Co., Division of Hubbard & Co., East Alton, Illinois.” Link here.
A year later in Iron Age, Vol 146, a Google Books snippet-only view says that, "Plans for manufacture and sale of a newly-developed "Speedee Ratch" wrench has been announced by Thomas Barry, Jr. and C.K. Burbank, of the Mechanics Engineering Company, Jackson, Michigan. The wrench will be manufactured by the Beall Tool Division of Hubbard & Company of Pittsburgh at its East Alton,Ill. plant.“ Link here.
It looks to me as if Merriman’s design languished for almost ten years before he sufficiently improved the chain action and apparently found some investors and manufacturing partners. If you're wondering, the Beall brothers established the Beall Tool Company in East Alton, Illinois, in 1904, making tools for the mining, railroad, and nascent automotive industry. They were bought out by Hubbard & Company, located in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1917.
A few more pics below.
[Credit to catfishdan for the 'pulling my chain' joke.)
View media item 83171
View media item 83173
View media item 83174
It’s probably obvious that the spring-steel knob at the end of the handle is meant to be grabbed and pulled, but it might not be so obvious to what purpose.
View media item 83172
This female ratchet, 11 inches long, made of heavy gauge pressed steel, with a push-through drive plug marked “ON” and “OFF” on the ends, is, quite literally, chain drive. There is a sprocket in the head. One full tug on the chain turns the drive plug one complete revolution. Releasing it disengages the pawl, allowing the chain to be pulled again, and again, and again, turning the drive plug in rapid motion. Hence, the name. For the picture above, I have a drive pin punch inserted through one of the links, preventing the chain from quickly retracting.
The ratchet can also be swung back and forth like a standard ratchet. The chain action was marketed not only for speed, but for operation in close quarters where swinging the ratchet back and forth was not possible. In this way it’s similar to the “Onli-1” ratchet wrench, GJ thread linked here, which operated with a crank on the end turning a series of beveled gears inside the frame.
Unfortunately, it also suffers from the same issues. The chain drive action does spin the drive stud quickly, and it would be very useful in close quarters, but it's a little awkward to hold firmly, it can’t be used to break a fastener free, and it’s difficult to apply enough torque to tighten a fastener down. As intriguing as it is, I can see why it didn’t catch on.
To give credit to those collectors who came before me, I found three other examples in a search on GJ.
As far as I can tell, chrislehr was the first, posting one in a GJ thread titled “Officially my new ‘neatest tool in the room’” back in June 2009, linked here. Diesel-Mech posted one a year later, in June 2010, in the “Unserviceble Ratchets” GJ thread, linked here. And Rusty65 posted one in June 2013 on the 2013 Garage Sale thread, linked here. (I guess I found mine a month early!
)In reply to a teaser photo on the 2018 Garage Sale thread, 3baygarage said he also owns a few, so perhaps he’ll see this and post some photos.
If I'm missing anyone who owns one that didn't turn up in my search, my apologies, and please fee free to post here.
As for outside sources, Tools Archive has a "SPEEDEE-RATCH" in its library, compliments of krusty the klown.
But I figured it was about time this unique ratchet had its own GJ thread, especially since not much historical or technical information has been provided in the others.
The “PAT. APPLIED FOR” forged-in marking is probably in reference to the first of three related patents (1,903,514), granted on April 11, 1933, to Henry Merriman of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The second (2,290,197, July 21, 1942) and third (2,292,391, Aug 11, 1942) patents were improvements. I haven’t seen any examples that bear any of the actual patent numbers. The best one-stop place to explore the patents is the Merriman page on DATAMP, linked here, which includes links to all three patents on the USPTO site.
According to a Google Books snippet-only view of a page in Motor Age, Vol 59, 1939, “a new type of ratchet wrench, known as a "Speedee-Ratch" has been developed by the Beall Tool Co., Division of Hubbard & Co., East Alton, Illinois.” Link here.
A year later in Iron Age, Vol 146, a Google Books snippet-only view says that, "Plans for manufacture and sale of a newly-developed "Speedee Ratch" wrench has been announced by Thomas Barry, Jr. and C.K. Burbank, of the Mechanics Engineering Company, Jackson, Michigan. The wrench will be manufactured by the Beall Tool Division of Hubbard & Company of Pittsburgh at its East Alton,Ill. plant.“ Link here.
It looks to me as if Merriman’s design languished for almost ten years before he sufficiently improved the chain action and apparently found some investors and manufacturing partners. If you're wondering, the Beall brothers established the Beall Tool Company in East Alton, Illinois, in 1904, making tools for the mining, railroad, and nascent automotive industry. They were bought out by Hubbard & Company, located in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1917.
A few more pics below.
[Credit to catfishdan for the 'pulling my chain' joke.)
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