Onli-1 Socket Set

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Todd!

.....you're from Jersey?

"From," as you know as a NOVA transplant, can be a loaded preposition.

No, I'm not a "clam digger", as the folks from North Jersey and NYC (i.e., "bennies") call the native sons down the shore, somewhat derisively. I'm a "coal cracker", as the folks from Allentown and Philly would say, somewhat derisively, born and raised in Carbon County, Palmerton, PA, to be exact, at the foot of the Lehigh Gap (Rt. 248) in the Blue Mountain. But I've been here for almost 35 years now, outliving the Army post (Fort Monmouth) where I once worked!

 

[twertsy]

Thanks, Todd!


"From," as you know as a NOVA transplant, can be a loaded preposition. [emoji38]

No, I'm not a "clam digger", as the folks from North Jersey and NYC (i.e., "bennies") call the native sons down the shore, somewhat derisively. I'm a "coal cracker", as the folks from Allentown and Philly would say, somewhat derisively, born and raised in Carbon County, Palmerton, PA, to be exact, at the foot of the Lehigh Gap (Rt. 248) in the Blue Mountain. But I've been here for almost 35 years now, outliving the Army post (Fort Monmouth) where I once worked! [emoji106]

That's more like it! Those loaded "prepositions" will get you every time! Lolx

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[Attempt#2]

Excellent job on the research - glad it's found a good home that is a very cool set. Hope you stumble across that 15/16" someday...

 

[JackVegas]

Glad you put the time into that and glad it worked out that you got what you wanted

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Jack and Attempt #2.

Hope you stumble across that 15/16" someday...

Me too! Odds are slim. I do run into lots of old hex drive stuff, but it's usually marked with a size or knurled or something, and typically Mossberg or Duro.

Couldn't help but notice your username. Funny! Reminds me of User Name Already In Use, another member.

 

[oldmantaylor]

I would love to have that ratchet - very cool!

 

[Lwel9226]

Great read... Thank You for the good story and all the research.....

Lynn W

 

[Private Lugnutz]

You're welcome, Lynn

 

[Farmer J.]

Notice that neither of the patents or any of the trade journal ads cite the size of the hex drive. I can confirm that the set is 7/16-inch hex drive. That is the O.D. of the wrench’s drive stud and the O.D. of the extension, and the I.D. of the drive openings in the sockets.

View media item 73489
View media item 73493
One of the ads (in Automobile Topics, October 27, 1922, page 745) states that the “socket sizes are 1/4 inch U.S.S. to 5/8 inch S.A.E., fitting sixteen different sizes of bolts and nuts.”

View media item 73541
Using the smallest and largest bolt head size that the sockets would fit rather than the milled opening sizes of the sockets to state the set’s range is not that odd for 1922, but I’m not sure how that’s possible when checked against any period U.S.S./S.A.E./hex cap/milled opening nut and bolt chart. The openings of my sockets, measured with digital Vernier calipers, appear to be 1/2”, 9/16”, 5/8”, 11/16”, and 3/4”. (I think the missing socket is 15/16”.)

Here are some photos of the sockets – all unmarked:

View media item 73495
View media item 73494
In my interpretation, the socket with the 1/2-inch milled opening would match the “1/4 inch U.S.S.” spec, and a socket with a 15/16-inch milled opening – missing from my set – would match the “5/8 inch S.A.E.” spec. Here’s a little chart to show my analysis, with the measured milled opening sizes of the sockets in the set in the first column, and what standard nuts and bolts they would turn in 1922, which totals fourteen (14) different standards of fasteners, not sixteen (16) different sizes.

View media item 73586
I welcome those of you with a 5th Edition of Machinery’s Handbook, vintage 1920’s era catalogs, or a working knowledge of vintage wrench to nut and bolt specs to help me unravel this mystery. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the ad. For now, though, I’m chalking it up to exaggerated marketing.

Those sockets, although slightly oversize, would fit a couple of the old British Standard sizes as well, so that would make up the 16 different sizes if you include them:
5/8" across flats fits a 5/16" whitworth (3/8" British Standard Fine)
15/16" across flats fits a 1/2" whitworth (9/16" BSF)

sorry, just realised i'm not making sense with this and have got my USS and SAE specs muddled.. never mind. It's a lovely set Lugz, and a great story to go with it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Those sockets, although slightly oversize, would fit a couple of the old British Standard sizes as well, so that would make up the 16 different sizes if you include them:
5/8" across flats fits a 5/16" whitworth (3/8" British Standard Fine)
15/16" across flats fits a 1/2" whitworth (9/16" BSF)

sorry, just realised i'm not making sense with this and have got my USS and SAE specs muddled.. never mind. It's a lovely set Lugz, and a great story to go with it.

No worries, Farmer J. I get caught thinking out loud on here all the time! And you may be onto something... Regardless, I appreciate your appreciation!

 

[Ratchet.]

Great thread!

Its such an cool little set, and the story behind it is very interesting, nice detective work Lugnutz, its great the amount of info that can be found on what is a very rare and obscure tool, by a company that only existed for a few years.. nearly a century ago.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Ratchet. What amazes me is how a bunch of far flung tool hounds like us in 2017 are so captivated by a tool that almost ruined a man's life in 1927 and was probably forgotten by everyone (except maybe him...) by 1957. I haven't followed up on this, and I don't plan to, but I will admit to wondering if his grandchildren even know the history. If you think about it, it may have been one of those things better left unspoken.

 

[Rileysan]

I am late to the party but was I ever captivated by this thread! Your research is impressive and the write-up very well done! Thank you for taking the time to share your findings with us.

Brian

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Better late than never, Brian! Thanks for reading, and for the compliments.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It’s multiplying!

View media item 74523
Check out the double-strike on this wrench.

View media item 74524
The backstory on this acquisition is what often makes the camaraderie of this hobby and this site so rewarding.

A long time GJ member was following this thread and remembered that someone gave him these tools, with no case, a long time ago. He said it took him awhile to remember where they were in his basement. (Sounds familiar!)

Anyway, he lives in the same area and kindly offered them to me. I accepted, thinking that one of the sockets might be the 15/16” socket missing from my set. And, I was anxious to see another wrench, to see if the construction and action was the same. We met today, talked some shop, and I came home with the tools. Unfortunately, these four sockets are duplicates.

So I have decide to pay the generosity forward to Jim No Garage, who has the Onli-1 case but no tools.

Jim,

If you’re reading, check your PM’s. If you want to clean up that case of yours and put this Onli-1 wrench and 4 of the 6 sockets (missing the 1/2” and 15/16”) inside it, they’re yours!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

And the saga continues…

View media item 75141
No, you’re not seeing double. Those are now TWO Onli-1 wrench kits on my workbench!

If you recall from just a few posts above, GJ member and New Jersey resident Frakas gave me an Onli-1 wrench and four of the six sockets that he had been holding to for quite some time. I decided to pay that generosity forward to GJ member and New Jersey resident Jim No Garage, who found an empty Onli-1 case at a flea market back in 2013.

Here is a link to Jim’s original post. The case looked as if it had been sitting in water for years, and you really need to see it for the full “Before and After” effect.

View media item 75144View media item 75145
Well, Jim turned the tables on me and sent me the case instead. And when it arrived, it was de-rusted and primed!

View media item 75143
So now I am the proud owner of TWO near complete Onli-1 wrench kits!

View media item 75142

 

[bill300d]

Was picken your backyard last week Lugs but came up empty handed as far as these sets go. Did get a few things but not much tool related.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Was picken your backyard last week Lugs but came up empty handed as far as these sets go. Did get a few things but not much tool related.

I'm glad you didn't make any big tool scores. Wouldn't want you to make a habit of crossing the river!

 

[MattVette89]

Wow! Now there are Onli-2 of them

Love the generosity and sense of community on the forum.

 

[MattVette89]

I'm assuming you've already seen this ad before, figured I'd add it to the thread.

 

[rpcraft]

I have an older set similar to that I need to post up when I get home. It was my great grandfathers. He was more a carpenter than a mechanic but he did have some interesting old tools. I think my great uncle got most of them but I managed to get a hand-me-down or two here and there, lol.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm assuming you've already seen this ad before, figured I'd add it to the thread.

Yes, I have, Matt, but thanks for posting it anyway. It was one of six variations, a few of which I posted on page 2 of this thread, all of which appeared in various trade mags in 1922.

I have an older set similar to that I need to post up when I get home.

I look forward to seeing that, rpcraft.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Reviving this for four.cycle!

 

[four.cycle]

Fascinating. Really well done on the research.
Note that the artist's rendition of the driver handle in that last ad I sent to you appears to have that "connector" attached to it:



Have you managed to secure the other one yet?

BK

(* and did you mean to misspell the name in the thread title? *)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Note that the artist's rendition of the driver handle in that last ad I sent to you appears to have that "connector" attached to it

That figure (of the wrench with two hands on it...) was re-used in several ads. See post #25. I don't know if it's supposed to be the "connector" (or "coupler" as I call it in post #27) or a socket. In one of the ads I think I can see a taper on it.

Have you managed to secure the other one yet?

If you mean the one selling for $160 smackers for over a year now, um, no. My two sets were considerably less expensive.

(* and did you mean to misspell the name in the thread title? *)

Ugh. I did not! This thread started as a flea market LEAVE-BEHIND post, well before I did much research (and well before I actually had any of the tools in hand) and that was just sloppy on my part. I tried to change the title a long time ago, but it only changed it on the first post. I don't know how to change the overall thread title. If you do, please let me know.

 

[four.cycle]

I think "connector" is the term used in the Stevens-Walden PM21 set for their 3/8" f x 3/8" female "coupler/connector" piece.



Either way, it seems to be the only thing that makes sense, notwithstanding your comment about it being a bit flippy-floppy.

I don't know if you can fix the spelling in the thread title here or not... I never tried.
On the other forum I haunt you can change the title easily.


I wasn't aware that set had been for sale that long - I thought it had only been listed just a month or so back. I probably missed it in my absence.
I'm going to make a wild guess and assume that you have already approached the seller with a fair and reasonable offer, right?
Maybe he thinks it's made out of platinum-plated neutronium or something like that.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm going to make a wild guess and assume that you have already approached the seller with a fair and reasonable offer, right?

I have not. I'm good with the two sets I have managed to put together through luck, instincts, wile, and local friendship. In fact, I would've been good with just one, but the second set and the second set case made the two Jersey Boys giving them to me happier than me taking them! As for the value of the Onli-1, it actually has almost all of the right characteristics for a pricey vintage collectible too-set: it's cool, it's old, and it's extremely rare. It even has a catchy name. As I've said before, though, it's so rare and so strange that it's probably too obscure to command those kinds of prices. But you never know. There are collectors out there willing to pay for obscure, unique pieces and sets. I am one of them sometimes! Hopefully my kids will find another one of them when I kick.

 

[four.cycle]

Salient points. Like my Wakefield 8-R hex drive set. There's one currently on ebay the seller has been trying to unload for at least two or three months now - he started at about $60 and he's down to $20 now.
Mine's in better shape, but I paid quite a bit more than $20 bucks.
Some brands probably just are never going to command crazy high prices like NAF Plomb and stuff along that line.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Last night my baby boy (#5 of 5 children) graduated from high school and after the ceremony we drove down Ocean Avenue to Asbury Park to eat dinner, walk the boardwalk and listen to the buskers. As if by some sense of synchronicity, I found another Onli-1 ratchet wrench at the flea market this morning. If you're new to this quirky offset close-quarter "periscope" ratchet, you should go back to page 1 post 1 and read the whole thread. Short story is they were made in Asbury Park by the King Tool Company for a few years in the very early 1920's, when the small jewel on the shore was still in its heyday.

Here it is with some fin de siecle landmarks.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice scenery!

 

[2oolhound]

From your first post, seeing the embossed box and passing on it only to have haunting memories of it and then acquiring the box and other pieces bit by bit later in time makes this an intriguing thread. Plus the rich gravy about the inventor gives this east coast NY story a Hollywood ending. I don't think I would have gotten anything like this had I turned on the TV instead of coming to GJ this evening.

Thanks Lugs!!!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, 2oolhound! Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Kev442]

Before my time, but my brother used to go to the Stone Pony to see Bruce Springsteen in '75-'76. I did go to the boardwalk several times back then, thanks for the memories.