New Britain Socket Set

[Jacobs976]

Got this at a sale Saturday and currently working towards degreasing it(minimal rust, mainly grease caked plus 95-99% chrome loss across the board, basically copper plating fully exposed) but I'm still processing all the stuff I've gotten last week for sets before I can get to it so I'm mainly just doing research for now. Everything is New Britain except the shiny chrome socket and crowsfoot.

Looked around on archive.org and found the socket style in the 1955 catalog and the ratchet in the 1940 catalog. I'm assuming it's from somewhere in-between the two but there's no other catalogs uploaded between those years.

Anybody know what would be part of a set versus thrown in the box and what the original set might've looked like? Or what to look for to get more info on it(didn't search for date codes or anything that'd give an idea of time beyond designs but also haven't heard of anything). Currently have some other sets in another tab (from the catalogs) but none of them matched up.

 

[d42jeep]

I had the same problem when putting together my 1/2” drive New Britain set of about the same vintage as yours. A lack of New BrItain catalogs made figuring out the exact date and configuration impossible. Even though the style of tools is slightly different, the None Better set shown below likely mirrors the original contents of your set.
-Don

Here is my 1/2” drive set of around the same vintage.

 

[Jacobs976]

I had the same problem when putting together my 1/2” drive New Britain set of about the same vintage as yours. A lack of New BrItain catalogs made figuring out the exact date and configuration impossible. Even though the style of tools is slightly different, the None Better set shown below likely mirrors the original contents of your set.
-Don

Here is my 1/2” drive set of around the same vintage.

The none better set matches up with the new Britain set from the few catalogs on the site(1955). Figured it's kinda weird to only have 4 out of the 7 universals they made as part of the actual set but it'd make sense someone added the rest on. They don't quite fit in the box neatly so far. Plus there's two Tommy bars( crank bars in the catalog) so obviously some stuff has been added.

Nice 1/2 set, now I have to figure out my 1/2 ratchet too. Thought it was standard but mines got a long selector (half shaft instead of just the nub). Figured bigger ratchet might've had a long selector for ease of use.

Also no boxes were set up like this one as far as I've seen. They all look to be like yours with the little bits holding the speed handle on the top instead of one bit keeping it in position on the bottom.

 

[Jacobs976]

I'll have to measure the box tomorrow but it could be a 613 set(9 sockets, universal, speed handle, breaker, Tommy) meaning ratchet plus Tommy, 7 universals, extensions, were added. Probably going to be the best way to identify it since pics details aren't quite distinguishable.

 

[Jacobs976]

Spoke too soon. New Britain boxes are the same between the big set and the little set but I did find this since you found similar in the other brands under the same umbrella so to speak.

Two more bits to separate the ratchet, breaker,and an extension but looks closer to my box.

 

[d42jeep]

The earlier 1/2” drive ratchet had the longer selector. They went to the shorter selector during WW2.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

These sets and dating them has come up before on the NB thread, also the Costello survey thread. Those long selectors are 1937 to 1940, as Don alluded to, although you will see them on some female ratchets throughout the war. Also, the three bands of knurling on all the handles disappeared sometime during the war, late probably, and definitely before 1948. I have a 1948 NONE BETTER Catalog pdf. I also have a 1953 NB catalog pdf. Both were downloaded from the old TA site. All the handles are fully knurled again by 1948. Not sure why these were never uploaded to IA/ITCL. But the NONE BETTER 1948 reduces the NB catalog gap to 1941-1947, which was basically wartime, and we have some very good ideas of what that looked like from manuals and also Craftsman BE/(H). So the gap is not as bad as it seems.

 

[d42jeep]

Unfortunately, the design details of the None Better tools are significantly different than their New Britain counterparts so dating the sets using the None Better catalogs isn’t foolproof particularly when it comes to knurling on the sockets and drive tools.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Agreed, not foolproof, especially wrt the sockets (two bands of knurling on 1953 NB vs one band on the bottom for 1948 NONE BETTER), but they weren't two completely different lines, either, in terms of major features and the implied mfg dies. FWIW, I would date the OP's to wartime (if that finish is the natural steel it looks like to me...) and yours to a little earlier than that. I could be wrong.

 

[bmwrd0]

I have that same box, albeit in Craftsman form. Which should give a bit of a hand in dating it, since New Britain was the primary supplier for Craftsman at that time. So, checking the archive, it shows up with that ratchet in the '39 catalog first (and the oldest catalog there) and lastly in the '48 catalog.

That is from the '39 cat, new versions can be found here

 

[Oldtuleguy]

My husky and none better sets are pretty much the same

 

[d42jeep]

Agreed, not foolproof, especially wrt the sockets (two bands of knurling on 1953 NB vs one band on the bottom for 1948 NONE BETTER), but they weren't two completely different lines, either, in terms of major features and the implied mfg dies. FWIW, I would date the OP's to wartime (if that finish is the natural steel it looks like to me...) and yours to a little earlier than that. I could be wrong.

According to AA who I can’t argue with in this instance due to lack of New Britain catalog information, the double knurl sockets came out in the late 40s. Husky and None Better as well as Craftsman stayed with the single knurl as far as I know, so I would date both the OP’s set and mine to the late 40s or very early 50s right before the Fors ratchet design change. The knurling on None Better and Husky handles can’t be generalized to New Britain.
-Don

 

[Jacobs976]

I got the set cleaned up now. Might've went too hard on the floor of the box, paint was thin/worn off and came off with the grease.

Noticed sockets aren't all one design and some have copper colour here and there with some probably having all of it worn off. Ratchet also has copper colour inside of face plate but nowhere else and everything else looks to be plain steel.


Figured with what's there this is about as good as I'm going to go for a set. Everything fits well enough now that it'll probably be a good display piece.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The knurling on None Better and Husky handles can’t be generalized to New Britain.

Good point. Not before 1952, anyway. Now that we're talking about it further, I do recall the three-bands of knurling on the NB handles being identified as distinctive from NONE BETTER, Husky, and Craftsman BE/(H) for a time. But note that the handles are fully knurled in the 1952 NB catalog.

According to AA who I can’t argue with in this instance due to lack of New Britain catalog information, the double knurl sockets came out in the late 40s.

Note that they have access to the same catalogs we have. 1940 NB. 1948 NONE BETTER. 1952 NB. AA doesn't actually include a reference for their conclusion that the "dual bands" of knurling on the sockets were "introduced in the late 1940's". They're not in the 1948 NONE BETTER and they first show up in the 1952 NB, so maybe they're just guessing. But me ignoring that and forgetting that the three-banded handles were retained for the NB line after the war was dumb of me. Although I'm not sure I'd go into the 50's with these Costello ratchet sets. The Fors ratchet patent was applied for in 1946 and shows up in the 1948 NONE BETTER catalog. While the 1952 NB is the first NB catalog the Fors ratchet shows up in, that's the earliest NB catalog available. Always an interesting topic, though, given what was happening at Craftsman and the Kilness ratchet not far behind.

 

[d42jeep]

I got the set cleaned up now. Might've went too hard on the floor of the box, paint was thin/worn off and came off with the grease.

Noticed sockets aren't all one design and some have copper colour here and there with some probably having all of it worn off. Ratchet also has copper colour inside of face plate but nowhere else and everything else looks to be plain steel.


Figured with what's there this is about as good as I'm going to go for a set. Everything fits well enough now that it'll probably be a good display piece.

Your set looks good all cleaned up. My 1/2” drive set came with a couple of single knurled sockets as well. Here it is as I found it at a Tahoe garage sale in 2018. It took a while to complete to my satisfaction. The copper color on New Britain tools is a protective coating applied at the factory which tends to wear off over the years.
-Don
-Don

 

[Dieselclunker]

Newer set

 

[Dieselclunker]

Husky

 

[genog]

Found this vintage Husky set
The 1/2 drive is pretty comprehensive with sockets from 1/16 through 1-1/8, four 8 points, speeder, breaker bar, ratchet, with multiple extensions and a sliding T
There's also a 3/8 ratchet and sockets and a small 1/4 drive set with case and breaker bar.

 

[Dieselclunker]

some New Britain stuff laying around......