Help Me Date These Utica 524-7 Battery Pliers

[misterbill]

Took some cleaning to discover that these battery pliers are Utica 524-7. Anybody able to date them?

Bill

 

[d42jeep]

Bill,
My best guess is that they are from the ‘50s since the part number isn’t stamped into the tool. I had some adjustable wrenches with the three diamond logo and username alerted me that they weren’t wartime.
-Don

 

[jdoe213]

Those markings look laser etched.

 

[vavet]

You want to date pliers? Man, you are a tough dude. I know good women can be hard to find, but certainly there are better options than pliers.
Have you tried your hand?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I had some adjustable wrenches with the three diamond logo and username alerted me that they weren’t wartime.

Post photos. I don't want to side-track Bill's pliers dating thread, but I'd like to see them.

It's almost impossible to distinguish pre-war from wartime Utica crescent-type adjustables (both webbed, both ALLOY STEEL, both had the < U > < TI > < CA > logos). They dropped the U.D.T.F. during the war (better said, sometime between 1941 and 1951), switching to UTICA. But both are acceptable in my opinion, since there is no evidence in the public domain on when exactly that switch took place. (Note that AA has the 1941 catalog and a 1951 catalog, nothing in between.)

The web panel and the < U >< TI >< CA > logo were gone by 1951, so postwar adjustables are much easier to eliminate.

Maybe Unaiu has information I have never seen. (EDIT: Did I miss a Tin Medic UTICA catalog drop?) Maybe he will jump in. In the meantime, I'd like to see photos.

 

[d42jeep]

I can’t remember what the proof was, but it was definitive enough to make me change to dated Danielsons for my early keeper set. Maybe he will remember.
-Don

 

[Username already in use]

Maybe Unaiu has information I have never seen.

I can't remember what I had for dinner last night.

That said, I know we discussed linesman pliers at length, but I don't remember talking adjustables. Wasn't Utica making Plomb adjustable wrenches before the war?

Back on topic though, I'm with Don on the battery pliers. I would think them 50s or later based on the etched marking.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I can’t remember what the proof was, but it was definitive enough to make me change to dated Danielsons for my early keeper set. Maybe he will remember.

That Utica adjustable is postwar, but not because of the < U >< TI >< CA > logo, because the handle is not paneled. Later they would drop the < U >< T I >< CA > logo, too.

Wasn't Utica making Plomb adjustable wrenches before the war?

Not only before, but during - and throughout the war! They were paneled. The last Plomb catalog (in the public domain, anyway) with WPB restrictions and discontinuation notices etc in it is 19-R REPRINT, which I date to NET February 1944 and NLT October 1946. It includes the figure of a Utica-made crescent type adjustable, as every catalog before it did, including Catalog 18, 19, and 19-A, all published between 1941 and 1943.

J.P. Danielson was acquired in November 1946. And the first Plomb catalog that includes the figure of a J.P. Danielson made adjustable crescent type wrench is 19-R FOURTH PRINTING, which I date to NET November 1946 to at least March 1948. EDIT: AA likes to hint around or at least vaguely mention that Plomb may have been buying J.P. Danielson made wrenches before they bought JPD out, but there is absolutely NO PROOF of that, and if they were, they weren't doing it during WWII.

Back on topic though, I'm with Don on the battery pliers. I would think them 50s or later based on the etched marking.

Agreed.

 

[misterbill]

Thank you much, gentlemen.

Bill