c. 1921 Eastern Machine Screw Socket & Ratchet-Wrench Set

[Private Lugnutz]

I am supposed to be packing for a trip, but Ole Slewfoot and Otg gave me one more excuse to further procrastinate when they tacked on to the end (posts #17 and #18) of my Early Roaring 20’s thread, linked here.

According to the 1914 edition of the Special Acts & Resolutions of the State of Connecticut, linked here, Eastern Machine Screw Corporation was incorporated on April 28, 1910 in New London.

The Norwich (Connecticut) Bulletin announced the founding in its May 2, 1910 issue, and said that the company, organized with $100,000 capital, would be manufacturing automobile machine screws, other automobile parts, and other hardware in New Haven, using patents owned by William Gates of the Hopkins & Riley Arms Company. Gates was a vice president of the new company, along with Joseph E. Hubinger.

Their primary line of business was the manufacturing of screws and machinery to make screws, including threading machines and tooling. All of their products were branded as “H&G”. Although it hasn’t been explained on Alloy Artifacts or anywhere as far as I know, my hunch is that the initials signified the first letter in the last names of the vice presidents, Hubinger and Gates, who were the brains of the outfit, leaving the operations up to others.

In 1921, Eastern Machine Screw was running WANTED ads in large city newspapers looking for an agent to organize a sales force for selling, “by actual canvas to the user, a new and distinctive automobile socket and wrench set.” Here is a typical ad from the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Christmas Day, no less.

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Ole Slewfoot recently found an auction on eBay for an H&G set in exquisite condition, including the box and decals. One of the decals seems to be their agent in Los Angeles.

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By 1922 they were aggressively advertising the “H&G Socket- and Ratchet-Wrench Set”. An example from page 502 of Machinery, February 1922, is linked here.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here is my set. The box is in pretty rough shape, with a decal on the top of the lid that had just enough of it remaining for me to identify it.

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Thankfully, the decal on the inside was a little better preserved. Notice that it’s oval. I have never seen a decal on an actual H&G set that was square, as those shown in the early ads, and I suspect that may be either an artists rendering, or very early.

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I can attest to the distinctiveness of the tools.

I don’t know of a more appropriate word than unique to describe them. The sockets were milled from a solid bar, with a drive tang that was essentially a long hex nut. The connections system was also unique. Sockets are secured to the handles by a split pin made of spring steel that puts pressure on the inner walls of the hole bored in each male drive tang. It’s hard to conceive of a time when a socket set would be made so uniquely from other socket sets. It’s hard to believe this was designed and produced almost 100 years ago. It would be considered exotic and peculiar today, given the homogeneity of forged and broached sockets and tools, and yet the pieces in this set are still as functional as they are durable. They are also beautiful, flawlessly made and finished. The “ratchet head” (Gates’ patent term), a tool which would come to be referred to as a “ratchet adaptor” by industry in the years ahead, with its pop-up pin-head directional lever, is a work of mechanical science and art combined, like a Swiss watch, complex, elegant and rugged at the same time.

Here are some additional ads, the last (blown up text) which supplies a description in their own terms better than I ever could ever muster.

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[Private Lugnutz]

All of the tools are 5/8-inch hex drive. As mentioned, every male drive tang is shaped like a long unthreaded hex nut. This should come as no surprise for a company whose primary line of business was the manufacturing of screws, nuts, and bolts. They were experts in fasteners and it makes perfect sense that their approach to a ratchet and wrench set to turn them was based on the same principles and tooling.

There are ten (10) sockets in the set with a hyphenated fractional marking: 7-16, 1-2, 9-16, 5-8, 11-16, 3-4, 13-16, 7-8, 15-16, and 1.

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The set also progressively included two (2) screwdriver bits, unmarked, but measured at 7/16” and 9/16” in diameter.

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Handles include a 6” long extension (male and female ends)…

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…a 4” universal joint (male and female ends)…

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…a 7-1/2” offset wrench..

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…a 9” L/T handle...

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…and last but not least, the aforementioned reversible ratchet head.

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[Private Lugnutz]

All of the attachments can be used alone or in combination with each other to turn the sockets, with or without the ratchet head.

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Eastern’s tool-set, including the ratchet head, and the means for connecting the sockets and handles to each other and the ratchet head, was patented (1,428,840) on September 12, 1922 as a “Combination Socket Wrench.” As such, the reversible ratchet head beats Snap-On’s first “ratchet adaptor” (No. 6, with two open-geared, spring-loaded, clutch-switched halves) to the patent punch by a few months (Snap-on’s 1,443,413 was granted January 20, 1923), despite Alloy Artifacts claim that Snap-On’s No. 6 was the first of a kind. Moreover, Eastern’s inline design precedes Snap-On’s inline ratcheting adaptor (No. 67), introduced in 1939, by almost twenty years.

The patent can be explore further at DATAMP, linked here, or on the USPTO site, linked here.

The only socket set in my collection that rivals Eastern Machine screw for my affection would be the Spezial Werkzeugfabrik Feuerbach (SWF), linked here, and it’s no surprise that it also uses a male hex drive system, with more conventional detent balls for connectivity.

I know of one other complete set on GJ, owned by mike_paxton, shown in the 2016 Garage Sale thread, linked here, and here. His box looks to be in much better condition than mine.

Maybe if Mike is reading this he can be cajoled into sharing more pics. 

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Note: This is just one of several sets in my "Early Roaring 20's" collection.
An introductory and index thread for the entire collection can be found here.
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[woody 73]

Very nice great story, something more I need to keep my eyes open for.

This week I took, well more like dragged my wife to the 127 garage sale and I did find some very old 1920's bits & bobs but no sets per say, more like pieces from those sets shame they were not in any sets.

 

[Gerry Clarke]

Very interesting, thank you.

Gerry

 

[wrenchguy]

nice, real nice.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Neat socket set!

The box is in pretty rough shape

On the contrary...considering the age of the kit, I'd say that box is in pretty good condition.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Gerry and wrenchguy. Thanks, and I'd love to see your 1920's bit and bobs finds when you get around to ID'ing them and such, woody.

That's true, Stu, it probably is "pretty good" on a scale from poor to mint, but did you see the box holding mike_paxton's set (link at the end of post #4)? Or the box for the set on sale on eBay for $149?! The grain is like fine furniture. They are VG to near-mint.

 

[DWise]

Love the set and the brass rule. Have a fun vacation.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

According to the ad, the offset driver handle was special for ford. Mine has the straight handle, so there were maybe two versions, the ford set with offset driver and the general set with straight handle?

 

[Tytabs]

Hi guys - I bought one of the 1921 eastern machine screw socket and ratchet set. Full set from an auction. Looks just like private lugz. It is super cool I want to share of pictures of it.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice, always like to see pics! Added the ratchet attachment to mine.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hi guys - I bought one of the 1921 eastern machine screw socket and ratchet set. Full set from an auction. Looks just like private lugz. It is super cool I want to share of pictures of it.

Please do. I'd love to see it. Curious if it has a decal under the lid and what shape the decal is, oval or rectangular.

Added the ratchet attachment to mine.

That's a good find! And not an easy kind of piece to add to an incomplete set, especially because it is not marked. You'd have to just know what it was when you saw it. Nice job. All you need now is the Sliding L-T handle.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Not holding my breath on that one.

 

[RStewart]

Very cool. Thanks for showing. And another thing to look for, haha.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I am cross-linking a thread in which GJ member Elidas has posted an Eastern Machine Screw Corporation speed wrench, with a black composite handle, here.

To the best of my knowledge, it has never been seen before. It was not part of the "H&G" set in the wooden box that I have posted on this thread. The ads for this set make no mention of a speed wrench and it obviously wouldn't fit in the box. It is 5/8-inch hex drive. And most importantly of all, it is marked "Eastern Machine Screw Corp". None of the pieces in the smaller sets are branded, except the box wrench, which is marked "H&G" only.

I postulated to Elidas that it was probably part of a later, larger set, and I believe I have located it on pages 38 and 68 of the Operation & Maintenance trade journal, Vol 30, 1924, which is, indeed, a few years after the smaller set were being advertised.

I only have snippet-only views, which I have excerpted into one image below.

Note the text that says "Price With Speed Handle $11.50"

I have already contacted Google Books and requested an unlock. Hopefully they will approve so we can see the full ads, but these snippet-only views are enough to confirm that Eastern Machine Screw was making a much larger version of the earlier smaller set! As far as I know, nobody has seen one, and nobody even knew of its existence until now.

Very exciting.

 

[lardy1]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice research

 

[twertsy]

Lugz, FYI - Feb, 1967

 

[twertsy]

5/2/1910 newspaper article on the founding.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks. That article was the source for my summary in paragraph 3 in post #1. It's interesting how the patents that were going to be used as the basis for the new company were owned by Gates, who probably dreamed them up while running machines for his former employer, Hopkins & Riley Arms.

 

[Tytabs]

 

[Tytabs]

I apologize for the very delayed response but I uploaded a photo, I think.. struggled to figure that out

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...the very delayed response...

Better late - nearly 2 years (Haha!), than never.


And well worth the wait. Your decal (we still haven't seen a set with a rectangular shape decal, as shown in ads...) is even nicer than mine. And the whole box looks cleaner. Nice snag. It does appear to be missing a screwdriver bit, and have an extra socket. But maybe they changed the contents. Please inventory the sockets by size and compare to my set. See post #3. I'm curious.

 

[steaks&anvils]

Better late - nearly 2 years (Haha!), than never.


And well worth the wait. Your decal (we still haven't seen a set with a rectangular shape decal, as shown in ads...) is even nicer than mine. And the whole box looks cleaner. Nice snag. It does appear to be missing a screwdriver bit, and have an extra socket. But maybe they changed the contents. Please inventory the sockets by size and compare to my set. See post #3. I'm curious.

Look close at the picture, is that the screwdriver bit laying just below the sockets?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yes. Well spotted. I was looking for it in a slot, where the ad shows them, which I matched in my layout.

 

[Ricky Joe]

According to the ad, the offset driver handle was special for ford. Mine has the straight handle, so there were maybe two versions, the ford set with offset driver and the general set with straight handle?

Ford may not have needed the offset handle when Lugz’ set was made. The early ones did not.

Nice sets!

 

[RTM]

Uneducated guess, but Tytabs’ socket in the screwdriver slot looks different from the rest, guessing that’s the outlier.

Fun stuff, the original post predates my time here. Nice when new data brings them to the top for further perusal.

 

[Tytabs]

Better late - nearly 2 years (Haha!), than never.


And well worth the wait. Your decal (we still haven't seen a set with a rectangular shape decal, as shown in ads...) is even nicer than mine. And the whole box looks cleaner. Nice snag. It does appear to be missing a screwdriver bit, and have an extra socket. But maybe they changed the contents. Please inventory the sockets by size and compare to my set. See post #3. I'm curious.

Thanks! 2 years lol. I remember trying to load the photo and couldn’t and didn’t remember until I was cleaning the other day. I got it at an auction for pretty cheap. I don’t know much about old tools but it looked so cool I had to get it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don’t know much about old tools but it looked so cool...

Sometimes that's all there is to know!

 

[Farmer J.]

I see there's one of these sets for sale on eBay UK, auction ends Saturday.
August 8th 1924, and it has no sliding T handle.
I've no connection with the seller but got a few pics for interest

vintage socket set | eBay

Eastern Screw Corporation of New Haven, Connecticut, USA made this socket set 100years ago in 1923. A collector's item!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Oh my sweet lord that is gorgeous in so much better condition than mine. And that sticker with the date is just icing on the dang cake. Wow.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's a nice one. I am up to a couple sets, an extra ratchet and one ad

 

[Patrick Eubanks]

Here is my set. The box is in pretty rough shape, with a decal on the top of the lid that had just enough of it remaining for me to identify it.

View media item 85638
View media item 85639
View media item 85640
View media item 85641
Thankfully, the decal on the inside was a little better preserved. Notice that it’s oval. I have never seen a decal on an actual H&G set that was square, as those shown in the early ads, and I suspect that may be either an artists rendering, or very early.

View media item 85642
I can attest to the distinctiveness of the tools.

I don’t know of a more appropriate word than unique to describe them. The sockets were milled from a solid bar, with a drive tang that was essentially a long hex nut. The connections system was also unique. Sockets are secured to the handles by a split pin made of spring steel that puts pressure on the inner walls of the hole bored in each male drive tang. It’s hard to conceive of a time when a socket set would be made so uniquely from other socket sets. It’s hard to believe this was designed and produced almost 100 years ago. It would be considered exotic and peculiar today, given the homogeneity of forged and broached sockets and tools, and yet the pieces in this set are still as functional as they are durable. They are also beautiful, flawlessly made and finished. The “ratchet head” (Gates’ patent term), a tool which would come to be referred to as a “ratchet adaptor” by industry in the years ahead, with its pop-up pin-head directional lever, is a work of mechanical science and art combined, like a Swiss watch, complex, elegant and rugged at the same time.

Here are some additional ads, the last (blown up text) which supplies a description in their own terms better than I ever could ever muster.

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I absolutely love this set. My box was half eaten by termites so I transferred its contents to another box as I patiently wait for my opportunity. It’s great to see that I have all the pieces.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's the way to do it. Ya never know when a box with nothing or a bunch of other miscellaneous tools in it will show up. Stranger things have happened. @Oldtuleguy has a couple sweet sets, too.

 

[Patrick Eubanks]

Go coax him into posting pics. I cleaned my set up today. It cleaned up unbelievably well.

 

[Patrick Eubanks]

Nevermind. I just saw his post