Loc-Rite

[alton1911]

It’s an odd combination wrench. 7/16 line nut with 7/16 box end. No offset, it has a straight profile. Seems very well made. I don’t know a ton about these but there is some information. Very interesting.
Is there any other brand that combines a line nut, with a same size, box end? Seems redundant. And 0 degree in off set? ... not every application is identical, but virtually everyone has knuckles.
Oh well, I should not criticize anything I don’t understand. Perhaps I would appreciate it more if I knew it’s application.
I have been looking around for more of these since I found this one. I think about 6 weeks ago. Nothing yet.





Thanks
alton1911

 

[Provincial]

These were first made by Kelsey-Hayes, the automobile wheel company. They were an early "flank drive" design that applied the pressure away from the corner of the nut. There were at least three companies that produced this design.

Chrysler marked sets show up on Ebay often. Loc-Rite sockets show up often there as well.

The 0 offset with box end is unusual. It was probably made for an application where installing the line also involved installing a hex fitting or a union with the box end was followed by tightening the line nut with the line wrench end.

My gut feeling is that most of these wrenches were used in OEM assembly operations where the manufacturer didn't want any rounded corners on the fittings when the assembly went out the door.

 

[four.cycle]

Is there any other brand that combines a line nut, with a same size, box end?

Proto, but I do not believe they are 0° offset on the box end.
I see sets of them listed on Ebay occasionally.

Bonney as well:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/263533623184

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Makes a lot of sense for servicing wheel cylinders.

 

[alton1911]

Proto, but I do not believe they are 0° offset on the box end.
I see sets of them listed on Ebay occasionally.

Bonney as well:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/263533623184

Wow. I love that set. I will have to try harder or change my hunting grounds. I think thats a first for me seeing Utica and bonney logos together.

Thanks again
alton1911

 

[twertsy]

Wow. I love that set. I will have to try harder or change my hunting grounds. I think thats a first for me seeing Utica and bonney logos together.

Thanks again
alton1911

Your wrench was actually made by Bonney, being owned at the time by Kelsey Hayes. All Loc-Rite was made by Bonney.

 

[Provincial]

So all my Loc-Rite wrenches marked "Kelsey-Hayes Tool Div." were made by Bonney? Alloy Artifacts says Bonney was absorbed into the Utica Tool Division of Kelsey-Hayes by 1964.

I seem to remember that the Loc-Rite patent was held by Kelsey-Hayes. Is that correct? My earlier comment of three companies making these wrenches meant K-H, Utica, and Bonney.

Alloy Artifacts has a page on Loc-Rite, featuring a wrench configured like the one the OP shows. http://alloy-artifacts.org/totw_locrite_flare_box_wrench.html

AA also has a link on that page to the Loc-Rite patent which was assigned to K-H and applied for in 1961, three years before the Bonney acquisition.

 

[RustFarmer]

I seem to remember that the Loc-Rite patent was held by Kelsey-Hayes. Is that correct?

Berkshire Hathaway (once a textile mill, now a holding company) (aka Warren Buffett) owns all kinds of companies which in turn have many patents.

Bonny (Tool company and Forge) originated Loc-Rite. (incorrect, see below)


Bonny manufactured most if not all of the Loc-Rite broached tools, Alfred Kavalar of Detroit, MI was the inventor of the Loc-Rite off-corner opening.

 

[Provincial]

So, K-H was assigned a patent which was applied for on October 18, 1961 and granted on March 24, 1964. No wrenches were made until the acquisition of Bonney sometime in 1964. Is this correct?

Was the patent assigned to Bonney earlier, and then changed to K-H with the acquisiton? K-H was actively buying tool companies in 1961, so it could have been the original assignee.

 

[RustFarmer]

Maybe it was Kelsey. I see that Alfred Kavalar (inventor of Cam Loc wrench and Loc Rite broach) was associated with both Swagelok (Cleveland, OH) and Kelsey Hayes (Detroit, MI) Kavalar lived in Detroit. Bonny was in Pennsylvania.

 

[Provincial]

Kelsey-Hayes trademarked Loc-Rite (#0789030) filed on 08/10/1964 with a first use dated 02/14/1964.

Tool Archives shows the sale of Bonney to K-H as either 02/29/1964 or 03/31/1964.

The first use of Loc-Rite predates the K-H acquisition of Bonney.

Did Bonney bring Loc-Rite into the K-H product line, or did K-H already own the design and have Bonney make it under the "Kelsey-Hayes Tool Div." logo?

Edit to add: I'm not arguing, just trying to determine what happened.

 

[RustFarmer]

Alfred Kavalar

http://www.reynolds-jonkhoff.com/obituaries/Alfred-Kavalar-444511/#!/Obituary

 

[bonneyman]

As far as I can tell, the Bonney design started out as Cam-Loc (with moveable pins) patented in 1951. It was at that time used for air conditioning, brakes, and other hydraulic systems, as a way to more evenly apply torque on fittings and prevent distortion and leaks. Then in 1964 they applied the design to forged steel with Loc-Rite.

I've got a set of DFE Bonney's with Loc-Rite, and they are fantastic. Nothing better on brass water fittings. When clearance allows I use my Cam-Locs, as the ratcheting action helps with repetitive motion.

 

[Provincial]

I found my first Loc-Rites at a garage sale, and put together a set of K-H brand, the largest one having the Chrysler branding on the opposite side. After finding the first two at that sale, I was hooked and kept looking until I could complete the set. I had to buy the last one (the largest) off Ebay.

It looks like they were all forged with the same dies and just stamped with the different brand names.

 

[notlob]

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2013/05/vanished-tool-makers-bnt-sheffield.html

 

[notlob]

Loc-rite seems extremely similar to the NB Nut-Master, patent granted a decade prior to the Loc-rite patent.

 

[bonneyman]

Loc-rite seems extremely similar to the NB Nut-Master, patent granted a decade prior to the Loc-rite patent.

Oooooh, very cool!

 

[notlob]

So which came first?

New Britain Nutmaster, Patented March 9, 1954

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2671368

OR

Peugeot "SurPans" (meaning ~ "on flanks") circa ???

My guess is Peugeot.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Cam-Loc is not a Bonney design. Alfred Kavalar had no connection to Bonney or any other tool mfgr in 1951. As far as I can tell, he licensed use-rights for the CAM-LOC patent (2,550,010) to several tool makers. Bonney was merely one of them. For example, Snap-On used the same patented Cam-Loc design for their FW- series ratcheting flare nut wrenches (3/8" to 1") from the mid 50's through the early 60's. Someone mentioned Swagelok. Another common maker was T.K.F., St Claire Shores, MI, later Detroit.

EDIT: As Provincial has pointed out, Kavalar was an assignor for Kelsey-Hayes in 1964 when he applied for his second patent (3,125,910).

My guess is Peugeot.

Kavalar cited an April 8, 1953 French patent (1,033,792) in his second patent application. Could be.

 

[notlob]

We've been through this before, bonneyman. Cam-Loc is not a Bonney design. It's not accurate to keep attributing it to Bonney. Alfred Kavalar had no connection to Bonney or any other tool mfgr in 1951. He licensed use-rights for the CAM-LOC patent (2,550,010) to several tool makers. Bonney was merely one of them. For example, Snap-On used the same patented Cam-Loc design for their FW- series ratcheting flare nut wrenches (3/8" to 1") from the mid 50's through the early 60's. I am sure there are Snap-On fans out there who probably think it's a Snap-On design, and they'd be wrong, too. Another common maker was T.K. Fisher, St Claire Shores, MI, later Detroit.

My understanding is the Cam-Loc design was first manufactured by TKF Co.(T.K. Fisher?), and then by Swagelock/Bonney/Utica/Snapon.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

T.K.F. is The Kramer Fabrication company. I have Cam-Loc's marked T. K. F. St. Clare Shores, MI, (a suburb of Detroit), and others marked T.K.F. Detroit, MI. I never could unravel a sequence, notlob. Just that every Tom, ****, and Harry made them. If you have some research on it, I'd love to see it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

One more curious tidbit. A 1935 patent (2,023,832) that Kavalar cites in his first application belonged to Joe C. Fisher. I never tracked him down further for a T.K. connection, which seems unlikely. The design has an astonishing likeness to the 1951 Cam-Loc patent.

 

[alton1911]

I found my first Loc-Rites at a garage sale, and put together a set of K-H brand, the largest one having the Chrysler branding on the opposite side. After finding the first two at that sale, I was hooked and kept looking until I could complete the set. I had to buy the last one (the largest) off Ebay.

It looks like they were all forged with the same dies and just stamped with the different brand names.

Do you still have the set described above. I would be very interested in pics of the set. Chrysler especially.

Thank you
alton1911

 

[bonneyman]

As far as I can tell, the Bonney design started out as Cam-Loc (with moveable pins) patented in 1951. It was at that time used for air conditioning, brakes, and other hydraulic systems, as a way to more evenly apply torque on fittings and prevent distortion and leaks. Then in 1964 they applied the design to forged steel with Loc-Rite.

I've got a set of DFE Bonney's with Loc-Rite, and they are fantastic. Nothing better on brass water fittings. When clearance allows I use my Cam-Locs, as the ratcheting action helps with repetitive motion.

As you can tell from my quote here, I'm not saying Cam-Loc WAS Bonney's. I'm saying that the rounded, engagement off the corners BEGAN as an attempt to prevent rounding, and Kavalar's design used moveable pins. Then - 14 years later - his patent for Loc-Rite bears a STRONG resemblance to the Cam-Loc profile. (Rounded peaks rather than pointed). Just in forged steel, not moveable pins. Who used it when, with what company, I have no idea.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for clarifying, bonneyman, and my apologies for interpreting the phrase, "the Bonney design," as you attributing the design to Bonney. I was trying to make sure you understood that there is no Bonney design credit for the Cam-Loc or the Loc-Rite wrenches. As far as the evolution of the design goes, I agree 100%. Kavalar's 1964 Loc-Rite design, with fixed rounded rocking action, can be logically traced to Kavalar's earlier Cam-Loc design, with spring-loaded moving rollers rocking action. I do also agree with notlob that he may have take some cues from other contemporary designs, just as he took cues back in 1951 from the earlier 1935 Fisher design.

 

[bonneyman]

No problem, lugnutz. I may have thought there was a bonafide connection at one time, but it was based only circumstantial evidence.

 

[Sunset_Z28]

Here’s a couple Bonney wrenches next to a Loc-Rite that I have.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Private Lugnutz]

My understanding is the Cam-Loc design was first manufactured by TKF Co.(T.K. Fisher?),

You were correct. But I think I have discovered that the 'T.K.F. Co.' markings on early Cam-Loc wrenches stands for The Kramer Fabricating Company. I have also discovered that Al Kavalar was the chief engineer of the company, confirming your understanding about T.K.F. Co. examples coming first in sequence before Swagelok, Bonney, and Snap-on. I recently went into a mini-deep dive on the subject and posted the findings on the Bonney thread, linked here.

 

[bonneyman]

Here are some of my Cam-Loc wrenches, with the various manufacturers markings. Other than the nomenclature they are basically identical construction.

Very odd is the Bonney Cam-Lock with the added "K". Only one I have marked like that.