Plomb 1238 - Merely elusive or completely Mythical?

[zeet]

A question for all the Plomb guys.....

I've been putting a set of Plomb Tools together for decades and at this point the set is pretty comprehensive. These are the tools I use on a daily basis so I've focused on acquiring the ones that would be most useful to me rather than from a collector's standpoint.

Nevertheless, there's one thing that has bugged me for years. In the 1200 series combination wrenches I've never been able to find a #1238 (which would be a 1-3/16). I confess, I don't have a lot of call for that size wrench but over the years that "hole" in my set has become an increasingly nagging irritant. I've checked every catalog I could get my hands on and in every single one the part numbers leap-frog right over 1238... Yet Proto currently produces one.

My question to all the Plomb aficionados and gurus; Have any of you guys ever actually laid eyes on one? Do they even exist? Or is this the equivalent of a Plomb (Pebble) Unicorn??

It sure would be good to know, one way or the other! :^)

 

[drivesitfar]

Zeet: i have a bunch of Plvmb big wrenches so i'll have to check to see if i have one, two or a dozen of them and get back to you. hopefully i have two so i can trade you for some of your doubles that i might be missing.

cheers

 

[zeet]

Thanks, Drives... That would certainly be a great resolution to a long-standing issue!

Let me/us know what you find... Either way! :^)

 

[zeet]

FrankLee,

Probably forged in the Atlantis factory! ;^)

 

[twertsy]

I will check the Plomb boxes in the morning, but I swear I have the older, pre-pebble style. I know it's the one I'm missing from my pebble set.

Speaking of unicorns, 1/4 & 3/8" drive dual marked ratchets? Anyone?

 

[zeet]

I've been keeping my eyes peeled out here in the Los Angeles area twertsy, but no luck so far.... If I find either or both, they're slated for you.

 

[twertsy]

I've been keeping my eyes peeled out here in the Los Angeles area twertsy, but no luck so far.... If I find either or both, they're slated for you.

Awesome Zeet, and greatly appreciated. I'll be sure to fill some holes in your stash in return, if we ever find one!

OP, I don't have a 1 3/8" combo after all. BUT, it makes absolutely NO SENSE that I have it in DOE and sockets, but not Combos. I find it very hard to believe that they were never made

 

[chopper1]

Awesome Zeet, and greatly appreciated. I'll be sure to fill some holes in your stash in return, if we ever find one!

OP, I don't have a 1 3/8" combo after all. BUT, it makes absolutely NO SENSE that I have it in DOE and sockets, but not Combos. I find it very hard to believe that they were never made

1-3/8 or 1-3/16?

 

[twertsy]

1-3/8 or 1-3/16?

Oops, sorry Chop, maybe I got up a little early. Meant 1 3/16, which I actually don't have in DOE or socket. Apologies............

 

[stormking]

The story I've heard is that the 1-3/16" combo was never made. They left the 1238 number open for it (future), but it's not listed in the catalog or on the tool boards. If it was made during the "Plomb" years it was a special (contract) and in very limited quantities. This is conjecture and not absolute fact, so take with grain of salt.

 

[twertsy]

If I actually had all my Proto/Plomb cats, I could take a look!!!

EDIT: I have a couple and it doesn't show up in Cat #6, 16, 19, nor the Proto '53 cat or Proto cat PR120-6909, which I believe is '69.

It is however on the Proto site now........

 

[twertsy]

Not in the Plomb 1948 Cat either.

 

[MShaw]

I have an S-K combo set I bought in 1958 and it does not have a 1 3/16 either. I also have 1 3/16 in doe and dbe wrenches. It must not have been a very popular size.

I checked my Machinery's Handbook from 1967 and there was no hex nut or hex head bolt at 1 3/16 across the flats and no square ones either. The list of American Standard wrench openings did not list 1 3/16. It looks like that size was only used on special equipment.

 

[Chevelle454]

Hell'o.Pipe wrench I found yesterday was really different its offset at the top..Its a Ridgid-# 18..Does any 1 know anything of this type of wrench..Thanks..Joe here...

 

[drivesitfar]

454: you are a bit off topic so might i suggest you find a thread that is talking about the tool you mentioned. this is also vintage tools and yours sounds a lot newer.

welcome to the forum and if you can delete your post it will keep this thread talking about a certain wrench.

start a thread here http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=27

to introduce yourself and also maybe post a few pictures of that cool car you named yourself. do you own one?

 

[zeet]

I have an S-K combo set I bought in 1958 and it does not have a 1 3/16 either. I also have 1 3/16 in doe and dbe wrenches. It must not have been a very popular size.

I checked my Machinery's Handbook from 1967 and there was no hex nut or hex head bolt at 1 3/16 across the flats and no square ones either. The list of American Standard wrench openings did not list 1 3/16. It looks like that size was only used on special equipment.

Checking Machinery's Handbook was a darn good idea, MShaw.... That had never occurred to me. If the 1-3/16 was never in production from the get-go, it's interesting that the designation number for it (1238) was left unused in the the product line. Perhaps Alphonse was just as OCD as the rest of us!

 

[jakemac]

Checking Machinery's Handbook was a darn good idea, MShaw.... That had never occurred to me. If the 1-3/16 was never in production from the get-go, it's interesting that the designation number for it (1238) was left unused in the the product line. Perhaps Alphonse was just as OCD as the rest of us!

Or, they left the designation unused as a practice of foresight so that it would be available should it ever be needed.

If it was an issue of OCD, then he would have demanded that the wrench be made so that there wasn't a hole in the display.

 

[MShaw]

Just for the gee whiz I checked a Snap on catalog. All of their combo sets have a 1 3/16 wrench.

Gee whiz.

 

[twertsy]

Like I said earlier Mshaw, Proto offers it now as well. I'd be interested to know when production began. All (or most at least) my Plomb/Proto cats are frustratingly with another member or I'd look.

 

[zeet]

Like I said earlier Mshaw, Proto offers it now as well. I'd be interested to know when production began. All (or most at least) my Plomb/Proto cats are frustratingly with another member or I'd look.

I'd be interested to know that too, Twertsy! My Proto catalog from 1962 skips right past it, but that's as late as my catalogs go..

 

[Carla]

Or, they left the designation unused as a practice of foresight so that it would be available should it ever be needed.

If it was an issue of OCD, then he would have demanded that the wrench be made so that there wasn't a hole in the display.

Actually, it most likely wasn't OCD, or a designation left as 'foresight'.

It was the Plomb practice for the size designation number for their combination wrenches, in which the first two digits specified a 'combination wrench', the 12XX series, and the last two digits specified the wrench size in 32nds. The 1238, had they made it (it wasn't ever a regular 'catalogue listed' tool) would have that number cos the wrench size was 38/32nds, or !-6/32, which, of course, would be 1-3/16.

Presumably, they chose not to offer a 1-3/16 combination wrench cos they felt there would not be enough demand for that size to justify the investment in the dies and broaches.

(and, whilst on the subject, I'm missing the 1-5/16 from my post-war non-pebble Plomb combination wrench set.....has anyone a really nice one they'd care to sell me, or trade for?)

cheers

Carla

 

[zeet]

Oh well... there'll probably never be a satisfying answer as to why the 1-3/16 combo is missing from the lineup... They certainly had money invested in tooling... I have that size in both 1/2" and 3'4" sockets.

 

[twertsy]

So, here's a "wild goose chase for y'all. Mind you, I heard this story 4th hand. I was talking with an eBay seller, who mentioned a sale he attended. The seller wove a tale of his father working in LA at the Plomb factory. He also worked there in the summers as a kid. He said his father told him they DID do a test run of 1238s and produced about 30 or so. According to the father, he assumed most or all went home with management after they decided not to go ahead with production. FWIW

 

[zeet]

....The seller wove a tale of his father working in LA at the Plomb factory. He also worked there in the summers as a kid. He said his father told him they DID do a test run of 1238s and produced about 30 or so. According to the father, he assumed most or all went home with management after they decided not to go ahead with production. FWIW

Oh man, Twertsy.... If THAT doesn't keep the flame flickering!

 

[twertsy]

Oh man, Twertsy.... If THAT doesn't keep the flame flickering!

Yeah, who knows. Probably ain't surfacing around here.

 

[zeet]

Well.... The second one I find is yours ;^)

 

[Packard V8]

So, here's a "wild goose chase for y'all. Mind you, I heard this story 4th hand. I was talking with an eBay seller, who mentioned a sale he attended. The seller wove a tale of his father working in LA at the Plomb factory. He also worked there in the summers as a kid. He said his father told him they DID do a test run of 1238s and produced about 30 or so. According to the father, he assumed most or all went home with management after they decided not to go ahead with production. FWIW

Now, you're just being mean; teasing the Plombobs like that.

jack vines