Patent dates on a vise

[F111C]

Hi All

Can you tell a vises age from the Patent dates cast into its body? For instance prior to 1975 Patents lasted 17 years so if a vise had cast in dates of 1908, 1912 does that date the vise to 17 years past those dates?

Cheers
Jim

 

[chrisnazzy]

You can certainly use them as a guide. Are you referring to a Reed vise with the 1908 and 1912 patent dates? If so these are often found with a 1914 date as well, some with 2 dates and others with all 3.

My Reed 103 1/2 has the 1912 and 1914 patent dates. The only sure thing is obviously that the vise wasn't manufactured before the most recent date. Even if the listed patents expired at 17 or 20 years, from what I understand manufacturers weren't required to stop printing the date. If Reed stopped using the dates promptly after patent expiration then it would give you a couple decade window when the vise was manufactured.

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[F111C]

Yes I was thinking of a Reed.

 

[F111C]

Soooo does anyone have any evidence of when patent dates were removed from vises.......anyone......anyone.......Beuller?

 

[Maui]

If you want to know when your Reed vise was manufactured, it probably has a date stamp on it that will tell you the month and year of manufacture. This discussion shows you where to look and how to interpret the markings:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=400156&highlight=reed+dates

Maui

 

[chrisnazzy]

If you want to know when your Reed vise was manufactured, it probably has a date stamp on it that will tell you the month and year of manufacture. This discussion shows you where to look and how to interpret the markings:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=400156&highlight=reed+dates

Maui

Good morning Maui.

Definitely awesome that AngryBeaver discovered these stamps and started a thread to start tracking and talking about them. Unfortunately so far the date stamps seem to be exclusive to the later "R" series Reeds which would generally include the 1C through 4C also.

My 103 1/2 with the 1912 and 1914 date codes that I posted above does not have any date stamps and as I recall several other members posted in that thread that their early Reeds didn't either.

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[Maui]

Hi Chris,

Please check your PM. I sent you one about a month ago.

Maui