craftsman made witworth tools ?

[jim m]

I found a craftsman wrench at the swapmeet marked 1\4 W by 5\16 W but the jaw openings are way bigger than the sizes marked so being stamped with a w I checked it aginst some english witworth wrenchs I have in those sizes they are a perfict match
so when did craftsman make witworth\bsf tools anyone know
thinks guys Jim

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I have a some Craftsman Withworth wrenches and sockets. Three long double box ends, and three double open ends, and nine 1/2 drive 12 pt sockets. The others are all Dowdat brand (made in Germany).

Charles

 

[jim m]

thanks charles any idea when craftsman offerd witworth tools my wifes grandad allso has some he thinks he bought them back in the early 60s to work on an old tryump (spelling) motercycle he used to have
the guys over at the craftsman club were not even aware craftsman ever offerd witworth tools so Im not the only one

thanks again Jim

 

[RAYJAY]

I would say late 50's early 60"s when I helped restore car for my former boss
(now retired ) he has a full set of the craftsman witworth tools

Jeff

 

[chad s]

could someone please enlighten me on what witworth tools are?

 

[eschoendorff]

could someone please enlighten me on what witworth tools are?

Witworth are an old British-specific size system for fasteners. If you work on old British cars, you would need a set of these.

 

[RAYJAY]

here is a size chart for whitworth fasteners

http://www.samstagsales.com/whitworth_table.htm

also some great reading on what whitworth is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Standard_Whitworth

 

[Charles (in GA)]

My first encounter with Whitworth was several years ago when I was assisiting a neighbor (I live in a fly-in community) with a P-51 Mustang that needed a bunch of nit pick work done on it. The engine in the P-51 was a USA made Packard built licensed copy of a Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 used in the British Supermarine Spitfires, and other aircraft. Packard copied it perfectly, including the Whitworth, Armstrong, and British Standard hardware. At the time that I was helping my neighbor, Snap-on had one page in the catalog devoted to Whitworth and I had my Snap-On dealer at work order virtually every thing they had. My neighbor paid for them.

The set I have now, came from a co-worker. His father, who had passed away, worked on Norton and Trimuph motorcycles and had accumulated these tools. My co-worker saw no use for them, so I offered him $50 for the set and took them home. I'm yet to use them, but should a P-51 roll thru the hangar door, I'm prepared.

Charles

 

[jim m]

ok charles if someone shows up with a p51 let me know Id love to see one let alone work on it
my other whitworth tools are made in england not sure by who thy are marked with a o cut in half by a line with a T over a W and marked super slim not sure where I got them anymore had them for years they are old and marked in both withworth and BSF (British standard fine) havnt had A use for them in years either


thanks for the help guys
Jim

 

[MAD]

ok charles if someone shows up with a p51 let me know Id love to see one let alone work on it
my other whitworth tools are made in england not sure by who thy are marked with a o cut in half by a line with a T over a W and marked super slim not sure where I got them anymore had them for years they are old and marked in both withworth and BSF (British standard fine) havnt had A use for them in years either


thanks for the help guys
Jim

Those TW Super Slim wrenches probably came in a factory tool kit supplied with a British car. Later model British cars came with similar "spanners" in AF (across flats) sizes. The later AF size wrenches are the same as our SAE fractional wrenches. If you do a search for Whitworth super slim spanner you will get a lot more relevant info than if you search for wrench.

 

[ZRX61]

ok charles if someone shows up with a p51 let me know Id love to see one let alone work on it
Jim

Where in SoCal are you? I'll point you at the nearest one.

I have loads of Whit/BS tools (also work on Merlins etc) & some guy gave me (for free) a complete set of SnapOn 3/8 drive sockets that he had no use for

 

[Charles (in GA)]

We have a used tool company in Atlanta called Clinton Tools. I was looking for these Whitworth tools for the P-51 When the old man who started the company was still alive. (His son ran it for a while, badly, finally the grandson took it over, he is a real good guy). Anyhow, I went to the old man Clinton, he was a Delta 747 pilot before he retired., and asked about Whitworth tools for the P-51. He told me that a number of years before, he had obtained several US Govt surplus P-51 field service tool kits. Large wooden tool crates with little pockets for virtually every tool you would need, special and ordinary, for servicing a P-51. I quickly began foaming at the mouth, and wanted to know what happened to them. (at the time he had these kits, P-51's had not really become collectors items yet apparently) and he said that no one seemed to want them, and finally a group of Capital Airline mechanics came in and bought up the Whitworth wrenches and sockets. (Capital operated British built Vicount four engined turboprop airliners, powered by Rolls Dart turboprops, one of the very first turboprop engines and built using Whitworth hardware sizes.). Anyway, after he sold the wrenches, he couldn't find any takers for the remainder of the speciality tools so he sold them for scrap!

Charles

 

[Uncle Buck]

We have a used tool company in Atlanta called Clinton Tools. I was looking for these Whitworth tools for the P-51 When the old man who started the company was still alive. (His son ran it for a while, badly, finally the grandson took it over, he is a real good guy). Anyhow, I went to the old man Clinton, he was a Delta 747 pilot before he retired., and asked about Whitworth tools for the P-51. He told me that a number of years before, he had obtained several US Govt surplus P-51 field service tool kits. Large wooden tool crates with little pockets for virtually every tool you would need, special and ordinary, for servicing a P-51. I quickly began foaming at the mouth, and wanted to know what happened to them. (at the time he had these kits, P-51's had not really become collectors items yet apparently) and he said that no one seemed to want them, and finally a group of Capital Airline mechanics came in and bought up the Whitworth wrenches and sockets. (Capital operated British built Vicount four engined turboprop airliners, powered by Rolls Dart turboprops, one of the very first turboprop engines and built using Whitworth hardware sizes.). Anyway, after he sold the wrenches, he couldn't find any takers for the remainder of the speciality tools so he sold them for scrap!

Charles

OH now there's a damned shame!

 

[Willy Victor]

My first encounter with Whitworth was several years ago when I was assisiting a neighbor (I live in a fly-in community) with a P-51 Mustang that needed a bunch of nit pick work done on it. The engine in the P-51 was a USA made Packard built licensed copy of a Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 used in the British Supermarine Spitfires, and other aircraft. Packard copied it perfectly, including the Whitworth, Armstrong, and British Standard hardware. At the time that I was helping my neighbor, Snap-on had one page in the catalog devoted to Whitworth and I had my Snap-On dealer at work order virtually every thing they had. My neighbor paid for them.

The set I have now, came from a co-worker. His father, who had passed away, worked on Norton and Trimuph motorcycles and had accumulated these tools. My co-worker saw no use for them, so I offered him $50 for the set and took them home. I'm yet to use them, but should a P-51 roll thru the hangar door, I'm prepared.

Charles

Charles I was in your neighborhood a few weeks back working on a EC121 at the Warner-Robins Museum. They have a P51 in their collection.


Willy

 

[Abe]

It's a shame that whitworth wasn't more widely adopted. Whithworth threads (on fasterners) are inherently stronger than either SAE or ISO threads. This is according to Carroll Smith's nuts, bolts, fasteners and plumbing handbook. Heavy reading but good info in there.

My signature on some other forums reads as follows. "SAE is the new Whitworth..only not as good."

Abe

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Charles I was in your neighborhood a few weeks back working on a EC121 at the Warner-Robins Museum. They have a P51 in their collection. Willy

Oddly, I have never bothered to get down to that fine museum. There are several in the southeast, Warner Robins, the Navy Museum at Penscola, the Army museum at Dothan, and the Eighth Airforce Museum at Savannah. I really need to get busy and take a tour of them.

Charles

 

[ZRX61]

It's a shame that whitworth wasn't more widely adopted. Whithworth threads (on fasterners) are inherently stronger than either SAE or ISO threads. This is according to Carroll Smith's nuts, bolts, fasteners and plumbing handbook. Heavy reading but good info in there.

My signature on some other forums reads as follows. "SAE is the new Whitworth..only not as good."

Abe

I've heard ARP use a thread design that similar to Whit, but uses standard sizes

 

[tyreguy25]

I would love to find some of these old Cman Whitworth wrenches, if for no other reason than to collect them. I am a fan of Triumph bikes though, so may end up needing them after all!

 

[DrkMtnDew]

this is an interesting thread. i've heard of witworth but didn't realize that it was a completly different fastener system. i would love to see a p-51 too.

 

[tyreguy25]

The P-51 was a marvel of engineering at the time of its arrival. It could contend with the Zero whereas the P-40 was completely outclassed by the Zero.