Plomb master chest question

[Project 2501]

Does anyone known the intended purpose of the second tapered socket tray on the upper shelving? As far as I know, plomb didnt make a metric socket set or a full set of hex sockets and I cant imagine that it would designed to hold two sets of 1/2 drive sockets .. so what's the deal?

 

[Stadger]

Just a guess, 1/2" drive and 3/8" drive ?

 

[Stuart in MN]

For what it's worth, I looked at my 1954 Proto catalog and the page on master chests doesn't say anything about what specific tools are supposed to fit where. Generally, the information in this catalog is more or less the same as the earlier Plomb catalogs.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

9989c master set from 48 catalog

 

[r_olson_06]

Does anyone known the intended purpose of the second tapered socket tray on the upper shelving? As far as I know, plomb didnt make a metric socket set or a full set of hex sockets and I cant imagine that it would designed to hold two sets of 1/2 drive sockets .. so what's the deal?

I am not sure. The 1/2" socket boxes also have an additional tray but sure for what. I would have to imagine it is for additional sockets.
They made a full set of 1/2" drive impact (hex) sockets. They seem to be extremely hard to come by.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I can fit pretty much a whole set of 1/4 3/8 1/2 and 3/4 in mine. This thing is very space efficient.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Not sure if your chest is a 9999 or a smaller 9989, but both chests were used for several different "Master" sets with a letter designator (e.g., 9999C, 9999D, and 9999E, 9989D, 9989E, and 9989F, ), each with different configurations. Secondly, I think your chest is early. Late 30's. Pages 30 though 34 in Catalog 15A (1936) and pages 26 through 31 in Catalog 17B (1939) include birds-eye view illustrations. Some of the illustrations have the drawers carefully populated, like a loading plan. Others are a little more haphazard.

EDIT: I'll try to snap some shots later unless you can find them somewhere before I get to it.

 

[Project 2501]

I can fit pretty much a whole set of 1/4 3/8 1/2 and 3/4 in mine. This thing is very space efficient.

The tray that im referring to is the one circled in my original post. Its tapered and of a specific size congruent with 1/2" drive sockets. Of course im able to fit smaller drive sockets in it but since the tray is not designed for anything smaller than 1/2 drive sockets, it would just look sloppy to place 1/4" and 3/8" in and have them slide and tumble around.

 

[Project 2501]

Not sure if your chest is a 9999 or a smaller 9989, but both chests were used for several different "Master" sets with a letter designator (e.g., 9999C, 9999D, and 9999E, 9989D, 9989E, and 9989F, ), each with different configurations. Secondly, I think your chest is early. Late 30's. Pages 30 though 34 in Catalog 15A (1936) and pages 26 through 31 in Catalog 17B (1939) include birds-eye view illustrations. Some of the illustrations have the drawers carefully populated, like a loading plan. Others are a little more haphazard.

EDIT: I'll try to snap some shots later unless you can find them somewhere before I get to it.

I'm not exactly sure which model the chest is but it's this one here..

Bottom drawer holds my 1/4" and 3/8" socket sets, and inside the main compartment at the bottom is another tapered socket tray and it's easily identifiable as 3/4" drive.

 

[Project 2501]

The upper drawer is for screwdrivers, punches, chisels, etc..
Bottom small drawer is for excess 1/4" drive ****.. and top small drawer is for tiny ignition tools like wrenches, pliers.. stuff that my girlfriend says "How Cute" every time she sees them.

 

[Project 2501]

I am not sure. The 1/2" socket boxes also have an additional tray but sure for what. I would have to imagine it is for additional sockets.
They made a full set of 1/2" drive impact (hex) sockets. They seem to be extremely hard to come by.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

That's what I figured

 

[Project 2501]

I didnt know the hex line was a full set. I thought it was just a handful of sizes

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Sorry was mixing up boxes. That looks like a 9990. No specific set listed for that box in my catalog, but there were 8pt sockets as well as whitworth, drag link and others. My proto version has same two socket sections

 

[d42jeep]

Plomb just made the boxes which they either sold separately or with tools that they thought appropriate to the box. I think they left it up to the customer to decide what to put where. Here is a set they sold for the 9990 box.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

48 catalog describes it as "the toolchest you have longed for"

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Plomb introduced the 9990 chest in Catalog 15A (1936) along with Master Set 9990-A, which had 114 pieces. They offered the same chest and master set in Catalog 17B (1939) and Catalog 18A (1941). In Catalog 19 (c.1943) they downsized it to 101 pieces, and called it Master Set 9990-C. They offered that chest and master set throughout the war - shown in Catalog 19A (c.1944), 19R REPRINT (c.1945), and after the war.

Again, your box looks like late 30's or early 40's to me. The contents of the 1943 9990-C master set (114 pieces) were the same as what Otg is showing from much later in the 40's, so I'm not going to bother posting any 1943 to 1947 excerpts.

But here are some excerpts from 1936 and 1941. The 1936 excerpt shows some semblance of a loading plan, including the top tray, which might help on your question. The scan was terrible and cannot be blown up without blurring the pixels, unfortunately. The 1941 illustration is not a loading plan, but that will show you the earlier 114-piece Master Set 9990-A contents as opposed to the 9990-C contents that Otg is showing.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

I've tried to avoid the 2nd set of sockets in the upper tray mostly because of weight. When you get that much weight hanging off those two tabs connecting it to the lid it is harder to open and feels overloaded to me. I put a breaker bar and a couple specialty sockets in the outside socket rail on one of my 9990's and the lid lifts open easier and just feels better. Ed.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes it is a nice spot for a breaker bar or something

 

[thehorse13]

I haven't seen so much Plomb **** outside of the Twertsy tool temple. Outstanding stuff. Yes, I'm jealous. lol