PLOMB 1/4 breaker bar not 1/4???

[TMplayers]

Can anyone explain to me why both my plomb breaker bar and one plomb extension are slightly biger then a 1/4 so they will not not fit in any 1/4 sockets? Is the "WF" in the type code for military use and is a special size only for them as to discourage theft? If so then are all "WF" plomb tools special size? I have other plomb tools that are normal 1/4 and 3/8 bit are not the "WF" code so just trying to figure out if this is the norm or not. Thanks to all that help
Breaker bar part number is " WF-7 Plomb "

 

[Rileysan]

9/32" drive. Plomb and Snap-on both sold that standard.

WF on these tools means "Wright Field". Check out the write-up on Plomb tools on the Alloy Artifacts website - http://alloy-artifacts.org/

There's a couple of threads dedicated to Plomb and WF in this forum. Best of luck!

Brian

 

[Cruzan80]

I have a t slider that is also 9/32. Before 1/4" was standard.

 

[d42jeep]

Many Plomb tools were sold to the military under contract during WW2. The WF in the Plomb WF tools stands for Wright Field and were for the Army Air Force. The problem size that you have are 9/32". Those were standardized to 1/4" drive after the war.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Plomb was making 1/4-inch-drive midget sockets, handles, and extensions at least as early as 1936, and continued making them right through the war. The 9/32-inch-drive production appears to have been exclusively tooled for the requirements/specifications of the US Army Air Corps, located at Wright Field in Ohio, as others have mentioned above. Plomb made 1/4-inch-drive sets for the US Army Ordnance Dept and other customers. In fact, there are no references to 9/32-inch-drive sockets, handles, or extensions in Catalog 15A (1936) or 19A (1942-1947).

Snap-On was a different story. Their midgets sets were entirely 9/32-inch-drive until 1944. In 1943 they cleverly introduced a 1/4-inch-drive ratchet that was, quite literally, their 9/32-inch-drive ratchet fitted with a 1/4-inch drive plug insert. Socket, other handles, and extension production followed later.

 

[RM209]

The Plomb "WF" series were specific tools that were made under contract to the U.S. Government during WWII. There were a little over 100 tools. It appears they were used to support a variety of military applications including aviation and armor maintenance and repair. Here's a link to a (hopefully complete) list: http://toolarchives.com/node/19

RM209

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The WF series was made exclusively for a series of contracts with the US Army Air Corps. They were not used by armored (ground) forces on armored vehicles.

 

[crankshaftdan II]

They got their start as found in the dessert S.W. around Roswell N.M. back in the 40's. Found with some of that space junk and weather ballons and green bodies and shipped back to Wright Field by Jessie Marcell & company. The AF fiqured if they came from another planet they were good enough for our Army AF to use and no one else would copy them

 

[Rileysan]

They got their start as found in the dessert S.W. around Roswell N.M. back in the 40's. Found with some of that space junk and weather ballons and green bodies and shipped back to Wright Field by Jessie Marcell & company. The AF fiqured if they came from another planet they were good enough for our Army AF to use and no one else would copy them

Finally - someone who makes sense!

 

[TMplayers]

Thanks to everyone for the responses to help clarify this for me and as for the aliens post im totally on bored lmao! Thanks again everyone