Bethlehem "Quickway" Socket Sets - Bethlehem Spark Plug Co.

[Oldtuleguy]

Well I have come into a few of these lately maybe that one will turn up!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's why I mentioned it! You've got the golden, er, copper touch right now.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here is the wood box set, also has bonney ratchet

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice pick up, Otg. Even has the wooden box "A" set with it. I noticed you didn't include a photo of the lid. What condition is the burned-in label? Can you see/read it?

We've had a couple posted here earlier. One guy (torquemaster) had a complete set with a very legible label on the lid whose photos are all MIA now. And Todd has one, missing the Set "A" box, linked here.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Don't see anything on cover. Pretty dirty, I will try cleaning it

 

[Private Lugnutz]

On the inside, under the lid, just like the metal sets.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Did a little cleaning, and there is list of socket sizes under the grime

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It's an earlier version of the green decal on the later red steel boxes. But lightly embossed or burned into the wood instead. You can see an example at the link I provided in my post above (to Todd's wood box Set A), and there is an even cleaner example posted in post #46, linked here.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That is a bit more visible. One interesting detail, no size markings on the sockets in this set

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here is a more legible one on ebay now. He is rather optimistically asking 2700$

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Some people.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Picked this up last night. Thanks to the amazing researchers/tool historians here at GJ it took me about 5 minutes to approximate date it, learn it's an "A" set and that it was once copper plated. The catalog excerpt was a bonus, thanks four.cycle! These things had to have been beautiful when new.

 

[LesserSon]

Just found this (again) while vacuuming my car. I actually picked it up at Jake’s flea a couple weeks ago, but it must have rolled into a nook, and out of sight - out of mind.
Copper plated steel (magnet check). Hex drive, cold broached. No markings.
What’s the verdict - BSPCo?
And, uh, which end is drive, and which end is service? Is the drive end the one with the knurl?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Those can be confusing. I think I have seen the knurled on both ends.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Is the drive end the one with the knurl?

No. If you page through you'll see that the knurling was typically on the wall nearest the service end, not the drive base. My "A", "C", "C Special" and "D" sets are all like that. (EDIT: My "F" set doesn't have any step downs in machining, so the knurling is dead center.) That looks like an "A" set socket, so it should be 3/8-inch hex drive.

 

[LesserSon]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I lined a few up and thats how mine look. D set knurled around middle c and a on service end. The one that throws me off sometimes is the 7/16! You can use that one either way.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The one that throws me off sometimes is the 7/16! You can use that one either way.

Yes, in the "C" and "C Special" sets, which are 7/16-inch hex drive. Same thing for the socket with a 3/8" service opening in the "A" (3/8-inch hex drive) sets.

The "D" sets take this to the extreme. They actually included TWO (2) identical sockets with 1/2" service openings. One, identified on the metal box labels as part no. 45, is described as 1/2 A.. The second, identified on the metal box labels as part no. 46, is described as 1/2 Sp.. On the old wood box labels the sockets are described as 1/2 Adapter and 1/2 Special, which offers a lot more insight. I have surmised that BSPCo intended one of them to be used as a service socket (perhaps called "Special" because it is redundant to the 1/2" socket in the inclusive 3/8-inch drive "A" set), and the other an "Adapter" to be used as a connector between any two pieces of the set with male drive studs. Those are only the extensions and the Sliding Tee handle. But it's funny because the sockets, again, are identical. I demonstrated either one being used as a socket with a 1/2" service opening or either one being used as a male-to-male connector. Quite literally, the only reason they needed to include a second one was in those cases when a user needed to use the extensions with the Sliding Tee on a bolt or nut that was 1/2" across-the-flats. For that, a user would need one of the 1/2" sockets as the service socket and the other as the connector. But there is no way to distinguish the two, so in use, they could get put back into the box as the socket or the connector interchangeably over and over again and it wouldn't make any practical difference.

See Posts #50 and #51 on page 3 for more on this, including photos.

 

[HeelSpur]

Found a set C but its incomplete. 3 wrenches were with it the smallest one is 1" long and has a 1/8" opening.

DSCF2367 by wvwheaties, on Flickr
DSCF2368 by wvwheaties, on Flickr

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice find.

 

[LesserSon]

I returned to an antiques shop where I had spotted a mostly-intact set a couple years ago. Still there, marked “$46 firm.” What do you guys think of that price? For me, it was “No sale.”
It’s in what appears to be the original, finger-jointed oak box, but missing a broken-off hinged lid. It included two extensions and an ell. I didn’t take a picture of the entire set, just the Bonney-marked ratchet and a few sockets, as a personal guide to identifying them when I see them elsewhere. Only the larger sockets were stamped “Bethlehem”.

 

[LesserSon]

Close ups of a 15/16” socket.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Still there, marked “$46 firm.” What do you guys think of that price?

Objectively speaking, if it had the extensions and the Ell, and since you're already showing the uni-joint and the ratchet, it's fairly complete. You didn't mention the little A Set, so I am going to assume it was not present. (D Sets, wooden and later steel case, included an A Set in a separate little wooden or steel case. You may have noticed a little rectangular slot for it inside the D Set box.) I hear you on the state of the box, but these aren't that common. Or not as common as the steel case sets, anyway. Few and far between, in fact. There are only a couple on this thread, and only one of those is more-or-less complete, the other one is missing the A Set and a few extensions. So the missing hinge becomes a minor point in that context.

On the plus side, note that I have never seen any BSP Co sockets - in any drive size, marked BETHLEHEM. In fact, other than the D set (1/2-inch drive) ratchets, I am the only person on this thread with BSP Co tools that are marked BETHLEHEM. The F Set (11/16-inch drive) handles are all marked BETHLEHEM. So, your antique shop set is unique in that respect, so far.

$46 firm is a weird price, like they tried to get it under $50 and the dart landed on a weird number.

Of course, these decisions are not purely objective and there is always a personal element that is hard to value. For example, I own an A Set, a C Set, a C Set Special, a D Set in a metal case, and an F Set. Except for ads, nobody has even seen a B or E Set yet (these were smaller 1/2-inch drive sets in leather cases...), so realistically speaking, the wooden D Set is the only set I don't have. And I would be further motivated by the fact that the BETHLEHEM marked sockets are a unique (again, so far) variant. So I would likely ask them, "How firm is firm?", point out the broken hinge and the missing pieces, and offer $35, and then spring for it with the $46 if they didn't take it.

 

[LesserSon]

Thanks for the evaluation. The rat is frozen but looks undamaged. All but a half-inch strip of the wooden lid is what’s missing on the box, so I’ll check the inventory against what’s been posted on this thread, and gauge an offer by that. It’s not close to me, but it’s not far off my accustomed peregrinations, so if I scrape together some cash to the purpose, I may nab it yet.
Edit - I’ve struggled to phrase the missing portion of the lid. Only the two hinges and a thin strip of wood attached to them remain of it. The vast majority of the lid is missing. On the front of the box, there is one remaining hook.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

As if you couldn't already tell, I'd be super jealous of the sockets. I've been thinking about it off and on all day. Because they're in the early wood box, perhaps that particular set is very early - earlier than any other wood box Set D we have seen, and BSP Co dropped the marking of the sockets after a few runs. Or, they are contemporaneous to the other sets we have seen with sockets with no markings, but it's another artefact of multiple suppliers. We know the ratchets in the D set came from at least three sources: Bonney Forge, Herbrand Forge, and a unidentified forge. Perhaps the sockets did, too, and one source was marking them and others weren't.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

These sets pop up now and then on Ebay. I have not seen them go for more than 100$ or so when they are complete. You may print up some past sales and use that as a negotiating tool.

 

[LesserSon]

What have I done...well, after two years sitting exposed to the abuse of bargain-hunters, it’s secure in my trunk.
My price memory was wrong. Marked $45 with 10% off. Three of the sockets are stamped “BETHLEHEM.” Plus nine either clearly not stamped, or too rusty/cruddy to be sure. Ratchet does turn - just a stiffer action than I expected. One extension, one ell, and the universal.
The other “extension” is stamped “Flexco Bolt Breaker Made in United States of America.” Wow! But I think it’s been cut down from some other tool. Two extruded sockets and two other sockets. The curvy one...I know I’ve seen these...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

What have I done...

Joined the exclusive BSP Co "D" Set club! And the even more exclusive Wood Box Wing of the club, to which even I have not yet gained entry!

See that rectangular space on the left - that's for the "A" Set box that the "D" Set, in both wood and steel case iterations, included.

Three of the sockets are stamped “BETHLEHEM.”

Please post close-ups of that marking when you're ready. I want to see if it's the same die as the "BETHLEHEM" markings on the sockets in the "Big Boy" (literally marketed that way!) 3/4-inch drive "F" Set.

The curvy one...I know I’ve seen these...

King Pressed Steel, Newton Pressed Steel, and Service Engineering - all made by the same or related outfits at the same address outside of Boston (Newton) under different brand names. Is it 1/2-inch hex drive? Or 7/16-inch hex drive? The King/Newton/Service Eng Grecian urns are 7/16-inch hex drive. Link here.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

They are hard to resist

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I forgot to ask if the burnt-in label is visible under the lid, LS? If not, I think a yellowed, aged, slightly deckled paper facsimile would look good there.

 

[LesserSon]

There’s really no lid, Lugz. Just the hinges and a thin strip. I’ll do a real photoshoot and write-up when I get home.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Ah, that's right, you mentioned that in the GS thread earlier. Well, in that case, you can make or adapt a lid from something else - and then put a facsimile decal on it!

 

[LesserSon]

My in-the-dark-cellar-of-the-antiques-shop identification of the wood was wrong: not oak, but chestnut, with the internal organizers cut from linden/lime/basswood. Since there is no label left to fret over, dismantling, cleaning, and refinishing it will be guiltless, though not effortless. I have enough chestnut to make a new lid, but it will be pieced together. And of the catches on the front, only one hook remains. Box internal dimensions: 1-1/4x5x11-5/16”.
Box external dimensions: 1-17/32x5-19/32x12”.
The extension and the ell are pretty buggered. I may have a hex plug that will fit the ratchet. The internals are a bit worn; overall, it was used hard. God Bless Bonney for forged-in date codes: JO (Oct1923).

 

[LesserSon]

Socket close-ups: Cold-broaching. “BETHLEHEM” font. Fractions. Rust.

 

[LesserSon]

More rust. More fractions. Some cannot be read, but I think I have
BETHLEHEM15/16”
29/32 (measured, not stamped)
BETHLEHEM7/8”
27/32 (measured, not stamped)
13/16”
23/32”
11/16 (measured, not stamped)
21/32 (measured, not stamped)
BETHLEHEM5/8”
19/32”
9/16 (measured, not stamped)
17/32”

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I have a few spares if you need some

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Socket close-ups: Cold-broaching. “BETHLEHEM” font. Fractions. Rust.

That is the same "BETHLEHEM" stamp that is on my "F" set handles (See Pic 1).

It's so strange how unique your sockets are, LS. They aren't anything like the "D" set sockets that anyone else has. Scroll through the thread and you'll see what I mean. Not only are they the only sockets I have ever seen marked "BETHLEHEM", the "D" set sockets usually have hyphenated fractions (e.g., 9-16). My "F" set sockets have slash fractions (See Pic 2). I used to think that the marking and the slash fractions was something peculiar to the "Big Boy" sets. Now that I see your "D" set, I am starting to think that the "BETHLEHEM" marking and the slash fractions are either peculiar to a certain time of production (and all sets at that time) or a certain producer (and all sets that producer was making), as I said earlier.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The sockets in my metal box d set are marked that way, but my wood box set sockets are completely unmarked.

 

[LesserSon]

That is the same "BETHLEHEM" stamp that is on my "F" set handles.

I’ve got to disagree, Lugz. The B on yours is larger than the other letters - mine is uniform height. The Es on yours seem to have the center horizontal stroke at midheight - mine are just a little higher. Your M has a central point that reaches the baseline - mine doesn’t. It’s not the same stamps.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was just seeing all caps, but yes, I see what you mean.