Jp danielson

[Teenager with old tools]

Age on it? Date code is v-4-4 can't find that one online.


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[Private Lugnutz]

1944. Highly coveted by WWII collectors in the know. One of only two Mfgrs (the other being Diamond) who broached the double hex box end in the hanging hole. And one of only two Mfgrs (the other being Utica) with a square end at the bottom of the jaw. (All the other Mfgrs had a hex point at the bottom of the jaw, created by the sliding jaw.) Which provides significantly more bite on a square fastener. Hence the brand.

 

[Teenager with old tools]

10 in betr grip merit made in
That's what one side says
10in forged vanadium steel 5/8 in
and it has a six stamped in by the jaws merit is stamped in everything else sticks up. Not a hex but not square either


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[four.cycle]

a 6-inch model was just listed on Ebay if you want to add to your "collection"
cheap.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/J-P-Daniels...403042?hash=item568fc77d22:g:AWsAAOSwKOJYGkid

 

[bonneyman]

I've got a pair of JP Danielson adjustable wrenches. Always liked their tools.

 

[davethorik]

I have a 4" that has a 5/16" broached hole iirc. Forgot these have date codes.

 

[LesserSon]

I am attempting to reinvigorate this thread, hoping it will become the repository of discussion of the JP Danielson company, tools, etc, during the time before it was absorbed into the Proto Empire.
Here's my first contribution: a table showing six phases (by color) of the adjustable wrench, from the early 1930s to the early 1960s. The design changes (hard borders) of four features narrow the production date down to approximate decades. Once done, the three-digit date code, Letter-Number-Number (LNN) can be used to determine specific year of production. The rightmost number is the last digit of the year. The central number is believed to represent the month, because it apparently runs from 1 to 12. The letter probably represents the day of production. All known examples run from A to Y, so 25 characters. I have some ideas about this, which I will share in a separate post.
As you can see, sometimes using a single design feature - like the broached hole on these two wrenches - the single digit year can be understood; in the first case, 1940. However, you have to see that the letter form of the second one is sans serif (plain) to distinguish it as 1944, from 1934, which would have a slab serif (typewriter) letterform. The third one is...
That’s right, 1952, because the round hole has no reinforcement.
The fourth case shows the reinforced hole, so...1964.

 

[LesserSon]

So what is the difference between “Typewriter” (slab serif) and “Plain” (sans serif)? I actually don’t like those terms.
Manual typewriters used a letterform where each character occupied the same horizontal space. Typically they also had pronounced serifs - the little, terminal lines at right angles to the main strokes. Your computer probably has a “Courier” font that is similar. But I used two different manual typewriters where the characters did NOT have serifs. They were sans serif, like the familiar “Ariel” font. (Sorry to those who know that Ariel characters are NOT all one width.) To my mind, “typewriter” should only imply uniform width of characters, which is the situation with both of the two different styles of forged-in characters on JP Danielson wrenches. Letterforms with prominent, block-like serifs are termed slab serif. You may have “Rockwell” among your fonts. It’s a lot more like the Danielson slab serif than Courier (or any other typewriter font is. But “typewriter” is what people are already using.
I wish I had a larger example of a slab serif adjustable - this one is 4”, so the forged-in letters are a bit wonky. The sans serif letters on the 12” are much more distinct.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Great info. I was aware the early ones had the broached hanger, but did not understand the lettering difference.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are an 8” and a 12” that I believe are from early 1942.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a 10” from 1944. Note that the Vanadium marking has been replaced by Forged Steel.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

More Proto dated examples. The first three shots are regular Proto, newer and earlier dating. The last three pictures are Proto LA.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Some more 4” examples. The top wrench has no brand name and no date markings. The second one is from 1941. The third is a Proto LA, maybe from ‘56 and the bottom one is a newer dated Proto.
-Don

 

[LesserSon]

Wow, Don, you have quite a few of those! Maybe getting a statistically significant sample size is practicable after all.
Something I’ve been thinking about - are there ANY examples of the middle digit being something other than 1 to 12? Ever a 0, 13, or S?
And are there ANY examples of the leading letter ever being a Z? (I think there is an example on AA or somewhere that had a doubled letter, but I haven’t seen Z.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Something I’ve been thinking about - are there ANY examples of the middle digit being something other than 1 to 12? Ever a 0, 13, or S?

The codes on the J.P. Danielson CONTROLLED STEEL tools - particularly the water pump pliers and some of the DOE wrenches - are sometimes inconsistent, and do not always follow the same pattern. EDIT: That's probably overstated. Better said, I have encountered JPD tools with strange date codes.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Pic 1: The adjustable crescent-type wrench is perhaps their most recognizable product, with the most followers, and for good reason, but here are some examples of other tools.

Pics 2 & 3: Date codes on the 1941 CONTROLLED STEEL waterpump pliers (not the best specimen I have ever owned, unfortunately) and a few CONTROLLED STEEL DOE wrenches. Note: The waterpump pliers are highly desirable with GMTK collectors due almost exclusively to them being date coded. I have found several of them over the years and put them in my own GMTK's and moved them on to others for their GMTK's.

Pics 4 & 5: Markings on the battery pliers and slip joints (oddly, Crescent-made).

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Like the adjustable crescent-type wrench, the J.P. Danielson plant was used to make CONTROLLED STEEL brand wrenches long after the Plomb acquisition, and it was also used to make DOE wrenches for the PENENS brand. This set, all dated 1952 or 1953, are from my PENENS Master Mechanics Set.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Looping back to the original topic, the JPD-made adjustables in my PENENS kit (Pics 1 & 2), a P&C, if only to round the brands out (Pic 3), and my pre-Plomb BET'R GRIP collection (4" to 10" so far), um, just because (Pic 4).

 

[Username already in use]

Here's a few of mine.
8in and 6in slip joints along with 6in side cutters.
A handful of adjustables. two 12in Danielson and a 12in Penens, 4in Danielson and 8in Danielson.
Date codes on the adjuatables are as follows from top to bottom
12in Danielson (W-7-3)
4in Danielson (8.1.4)
12in Danielson (M-3.5)
8in Danielson (V-12-2)
12in Penens (S.3.5)

I've got some P&C adjustables around here as well...

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a pair of 1943 dated water pump pliers. It looks like each half of the pair was made at slightly different times.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Like the adjustable crescent-type wrench, the J.P. Danielson plant was used to make CONTROLLED STEEL brand wrenches long after the Plomb acquisition, and it was also used to make DOE wrenches for the PENENS brand. This set, all dated 1952 or 1953, are from my PENENS Master Mechanics Set.

Nice! I don't really like DOE's but the Select Steel varieties have a place on my shelf.

 

[ganymede]

The codes on the J.P. Danielson CONTROLLED STEEL tools - particularly the water pump pliers and some of the DOE wrenches - are sometimes inconsistent, and do not always follow the same pattern. EDIT: That's probably overstated. Better said, I have encountered JPD tools with strange date codes.

You can say that again.
Ive got a set of Controlled Steel double open S wrenches.
Each one has a different code.

 

[misterbill]

This is how we get started collecting collections of things. I picked up this wrench set holder along with a batch of other things. Didn't think too much of it until I saw the 2083130 patent on it after cleaning it up. So, JP Danielson held the patent. What was in it?

 

[misterbill]

I checked the Danielson section on Alloy Artifacts and saw that they had this very clip and it held Controlled Steel wrenches. Cool. Didn't think too much about it until I came across the two smallest DOEs a short time later. The smallest (5/16 x 11/32) has a date code of A.2.6 and the 723-sized one (3/8 x 7/16) has a date code of X.5.6.

Time goes by and today I pick up this wrench - the largest of the set at 5/8 x 3/4 - so now I've got 3 of the 5 wrenches. (This one has an earlier 1935 date.)

And that, boys and girls, is how we start building a collection!

Bill

 

[ganymede]

This is how we get started collecting collections of things. I picked up this wrench set holder along with a batch of other things. Didn't think too much of it until I saw the 2083130 patent on it after cleaning it up. So, JP Danielson held the patent. What was in it?
]

View media item 95671

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Are those yours, ganymede?! I have never seen J.P. Danielson CONTROLLED STEEL "S" wrenches before, in photos or in person. Very nice.

 

[ganymede]

Are those yours, ganymede?! I have never seen J.P. Danielson CONTROLLED STEEL "S" wrenches before, in photos or in person. Very nice.

Yes thanks.
One of the only complete wrench sets I own.
All my others are a hodge podge of mfgs .

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Well, if you're only going to have one complete wrench set with holder, it's certainly one to brag about. I doubt anyone else has one!

 

[ganymede]

Well, if you're only going to have one complete wrench set with holder, it's certainly one to brag about. I doubt anyone else has one!

Thanks Lugz.
Coming from you, that's something.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a Danielson pair of parrot nose pliers on Saturday that I hadn’t seen before. Actually, I didn’t know who made them until they came out of the evaporust.
-Don

 

[r_olson_06]

Nice Don,
Those pliers are very unique. I picked up the Plomb version about a week ago. I think Plomb called them a "Wrench Pliers" in the catalogs.

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[outofbounds]

Early pair of battery pliers unearthed with a "box and contents" lot I recently brought home......

 

[bonneyman]

I have several pairs of the "Parrot" head pliers - different manufacturers as I recall. I like them.

Also the Controlled Steel DOE's are nice because the center depression gives my thumb a handy resting place during use.

 

[LesserSon]

I picked up three “Controlled Steel” Autokit wrenches on a tapered screw yesterday, thus filling a hole in my wrenches and acquiring my first tapered screw. Alas, the screw is too short to accomodate the full range! I suppose they came in sets of different size ranges? Haven’t had a moment to check.

 

[d42jeep]

I picked up an auto kit wrench on Saturday to add to my two others. Of course it turned out to be a duplicate. Here are my random Danielson tools that aren’t in my keeper sets.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Back in 2019 ganymede posted an eye-popping , envy-inducing , and enlightening set of "CONTROLLED STEEL" marked "S" wrenches, something I didn't even know existed (there are none on AA and I had never seen any anywhere else before his set). Complete, in a clip. See Post #25. They were beautiful dark steel, but I didn't realize how dark and how beautiful until I found two of them myself at the flea yesterday. They are 13/16" x 3/4" and 11/16" x 5/8" with those sizes forged in extra large and perpendicular to the shank near the head. His wrenches are date-coded. These are not. Which makes me think they're early, but that is just conjecture.



For a better sense and visual of just how dark they are, here they are pictured with a few other things I found in the same haul and cleaned up together. They are much darker than the satin finish Herbrand DBE's and nearly as dark as the black oxide finish on the Walden-Worcester hinge handle.

 

[four.cycle]

first time I've seen this thread.

Danielson / J.P. Danielson, Jamestown, NY / "Bet'r-Grip" "Auto Kit" / http://alloy-artifacts.org/danielson-jp-company.html / http://alloy-artifacts.org/danielson-jp-company.html#history / http://toolarchives.com/node/115 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/jp-danielson.344578/ /

mrbill - post #23 - patent 2083130 was issued June 8 1937 to one Carl E. Sundberg for a "Wrench Set Holder". The patent drawing (below) shows it holding five wrenches, but known examples sometimes contain six (see below.) This was the holder for the "Auto Kit 200" open-end wrenches.

LesserSon - post #34 - Photo below of "Auto Kit 100" set containing six wrenches. I know that Indestro made similar sets containing 4, 5, or 6 wrenches (refer to the "Auto Kit" thread HERE https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/kit-wrenches-auto-kit-and-others.354478/) I think it would be a reasonable assumption to assume that Danielson was also offering sets in various size ranges. (The other maker was Barcalo, but that's d42jeep's area of expertise.)

The only documentation I have for Danielson is a tiny little snip for a pair of gas pliers.

 

[four.cycle]

entry in list edited to include "Controlled Steel".

I'm hitting the wall on edit limits here.

 

[bonneyman]

I forgot about this thread, and have since added several more Controlled Steel DOE's to my set. According to AA's list I only lack 3 - 3/8X7/16, 13/16x1, and 15/16x1.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

entry in list edited to include "Controlled Steel".

You may be interested in noting that in addition to contract DOE engineers wrenches, and, apparently, contract DOE "S" wrenches, they also later used this moniker on a run of the Auto-Kit wrenches, after they dropped VANADIUM, akin to Indestro using the SELECT STEEL moniker on their nested kit wrenches.

I'm still amazed by my "S" wrenches. These have the typewriter font and no date codes, so they were made before 1933, and well prior to the edit: steep perfection of black oxide processes for steel and tool steel (1942), but whatever black rust proofing they used, it is unusual on their wrenches, and was a very effective formula.

According to AA's list I only lack 3 - 3/8X7/16, 13/16x1, and 15/16x1.

I don't see a list on AA. I see them list some examples in the date code table, but that is not exhaustive. And they list the wrenches in the 5-pc clip set. But I must be missing a longer list. Please provide a link to what you're referring to.

I know I have a 3/8 x 7/16 for you.