Sockets by The Barnes Tool co Logo, really Boston Auto Tool

[chasinfram]

I just acquired a set of vintage sockets that I must admit I am very excited about…

Theses are massive cold broached sockets with a hex drive. The range in sizes is 9/26 to 1-5/8, from 9/16 to 15/16 are marked with the number of 32nds (30, 22, etc) the larger sizes are marked with fractions.

From 9/16ths to 1-1/4 have a hex drive size of 5/8” and the larger sizes have a hex drive of 3/4”
I would date these in the early 1930’s in that they are cold broached and hex drive.

Quality wise, each socket is massive but the hex drive hole is rounded out in several of them, one shows marks of having been driven with a pipe wrench and several have the drive ends are mushroomed from being hit with a hammer. All of these indicate that the steel is not very hard.

Now the interesting part…each socket it marked with the logo of the Barnes Tool Company, a B in a diamond shape. Our buddies at Alloy Artifacts have wrenches and pipe cutters but nothing at all about sockets.

Anybody got any knowledge about these, or do I have the only set in existence? The B in a diamond is a registered trademark of the Barnes Tool Co. but perhaps another company used the same mark?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

King/newton? They had that funky base, not sure about logo. Was Barnes in Boston area?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

No. New Haven, CT. And there is no record I know of them making or selling detachable socket wrench sets. They did sell bicycle wrenches. Having said all that, the round-lipped Grecian urn like base on that socket sure does unmistakably resemble the King/Newton family of sockets. I've never seen a socket that deep, or 3/4-drive. Without going so far as to suggest that the < B > signifies it, that family did include a few companies with "Boston" in their business entity names.

@chasinfram
Is there anything in that box to drive them? A T or L handle?

Poke around in this link and compare your stuff...

c. 1920-1925 Newton and King Pressed Steel & Mfg Co

It’s impossible to talk about King Pressed Steel & Manufacturing Company without talking about Newton Pressed Steel & Manufacturing Company - or vice versa. Why? Because they shared an address and corporate officers. They obviously also shared machinery, dies, and jigs – because the socket...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[chasinfram]

I’ll send more pics, with accessories. I think the King/Newton origin is pretty firm, identical shape. The numbering system is different, as is the logo, perhaps they stole it! Anyway, wife’s bday, so a little later. Thanks for the input!

 

[four.cycle]

Boston / Boston Auto Tool Co., 17 Tudor St., Cambridge, MA / patent 1578065 Mar 23 1926 T.A. Bemus / "Batco" / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/c-1920-1925-newton-and-king-pressed-steel-mfg-co.393644/ (see post #7) /


1922 Automobile Dealer and Repairer - Boston Auto Tool Co. ad pp 63

1922 Automobile Dealer and Repairer - Boston Auto Tool Co. No. 3 Socket Set ad pp 61

Patent 1578065 March 23 1926 Bemus - Boston Auto Tool Co

(photo images of examples below: ebay)

 

[four.cycle]

Unfortunately, Alloy-Artifacts.org chose to NOT include in his list of logos and trademarks those logos which were simply a name or a letter. I'm kind of surprised he didn't include this one, as I sent him all of the material I had.

@chasinfram -

Welcome to the site. The photos below might help answer your questions. Apparently Boston Auto Tool produced a 5/8" drive system. (all photos: ebay)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for closing the loop on my allusion to BATCO. I did not know they used a diamond B. That seals it.

 

[four.cycle]

^ it's an odd one.
I really wish AA had included all the images in his chart. I know I sent about 225 images in the first batch.
really need to find somebody who knows "photoshop" who can figure out a way to edit, collate, sort, and post the material I have.

 

[chasinfram]

Thanks to you all, my fellow lovers of cool old stuff! So much information, most importantly, an answer to my query in 2/100ths of the time I spent coming up with the wrong answer all by myself.

I am attaching photos of my Boston Auto Tool sockets.
First, the tray: homemade with little stubs of hex rod brazed to a plate to keep the sockets organized, 5/8” hex for smaller, 3/4” hex for the larger. Tray is heavy gauge sheet material.
Next, smaller sockets:
18/32” - 9/16”, 5/8” drive, 2-3/4” lg, shallow grip

20/32” - 5/8”, 5/8” drive, 2-15/16” lg, shallow grip
22/32” - 11/16”, 5/8” drive 2-15/16 lg, deep grip
24/32” - 3/4”, 5/8” drive 2-3/4” lg, deep grip
26/32” - 13/16”, 5/8” drive 2-15/16 lg, deep grip
28/32” - 7/8”, 5/8” drive 2-15/16 lg, deep grip
30/32” - 15/16”, 5/8” drive 2-3/4” lg, deep grip
31/32” - 31/32, 5/8” drive 2-15/16” lg deep grip
(Duplicates of 28, 30, 31)
Larger sockets:
1-1/16”, 5/8” drive, 2-15/16” long deep grip
1-1/8”, same as above
1-1/4”, same as above
1-7/16”, 3/4” drive, 2-1/4” long, deep grip
1-7/16”, 3/4” drive, 2-5/8” long, deep grip
1-3/8”, 3/4” drive, 2-3/4” long, deep grip
1-1/2”, 3/4” drive, 2-1/4” long, deep grip
1-5/8”, 3/4” drive, 2-1/8” long, deep grip
(Duplicate 1-1/8” and 1-7/16” with diff length)

The <B> logo is in different places in relation to the size stamp. I assume this indicates different production runs. If this is true there are four different production runs represented.

Accessories: 5/8” hex rods 12”, 8”, 3-1/2”
The 12” hex rod has a couple attached stamped 20 at one end. None of the hex rod are marked so they may not be original.
There is a coupler built to allow a rod to penetrate at 90 degrees to produce a tee handle. The rod that came is a 5/8” threaded rod which is most likely not original.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for the extra pics. It continues to be a helluva nice find. I never envisioned the King/Newton/Service/BATCO confab making a larger drive size and seeing the uniquely shaped sockets in such a massive form is amazing. Looks like some semblance of a drive tool configuration was present. What remains looks modified and slightly boogered, but still cool. If you've looked through the thread, you've seen that they were enamored with a multi-piece sort of L- and/or T- handle and that piece is consistent with that approach, and also consistent with all early 3/4-drive sets from other OEMs. Bonney, just to name one example, did not add a ratchet to their big heavy duty drive sizes (3/4- and 1-drive) for many years.

The <B> logo is in different places in relation to the size stamp. I assume this indicates different production runs. If this is true there are four different production runs represented.

If by a run, you mean some were made a shift or two later or a day or two later in the milling room/dept, and then they all sat in a bin and were hand plucked by someone else in an assembly room/dept, and the end result was they weren't all alike when they were put in a case or box as a set - I agree. It's also possible they had undisciplined production. Keep in mind that my sockets aren't even stamped with sizes let alone a logo. These were small outfits trying to scrape out a foothold before they succumbed ot the 600 lb gorillas in the industry. Comparing them to a professionalized line like Bonney or New Britain or Snap-on looking for marking consistency is probably unrealistic expectation. My opinion.

 

[four.cycle]

@chasinfram -
thanks for fixing that thread title and the additional photos.
I looked through the folder but I'm not sure any more of the images I have are going to help a great deal - yours certainly illustrate the range of sizes they were producing. I'll post these others just for future reference.
is that box with the hexagonal "plug" thingies a home-made affair?

(photo images: ebay)

 

[chasinfram]

Concur with your assessment of production ‘run.’ These puppies are abused, only about half will take a drive rod. I understand using a pipe wrench but the hammering onto a rusty nut is kinda counterproductive, hard to get the drive rod in once the socket is mushroomed.

 

[chasinfram]

@chasinfram -
thanks for fixing that thread title and the additional photos.
I looked through the folder but I'm not sure any more of the images I have are going to help a great deal - yours certainly illustrate the range of sizes they were producing. I'll post these others just for future reference.
is that box with the hexagonal "plug" thingies a home-made affair?

(photo images: ebay)

Certainly is a home made tray and organizer, weighs a ton without anything in it.

 

[chasinfram]

@chasinfram -
thanks for fixing that thread title and the additional photos.
I looked through the folder but I'm not sure any more of the images I have are going to help a great deal - yours certainly illustrate the range of sizes they were producing. I'll post these others just for future reference.
is that box with the hexagonal "plug" thingies a home-made affair?

(photo images: ebay)

Are these sockets in your pictures part of your collection?

 

[chasinfram]

Thanks for the extra pics. It continues to be a helluva nice find. I never envisioned the King/Newton/Service/BATCO confab making a larger drive size and seeing the uniquely shaped sockets in such a massive form is amazing. Looks like some semblance of a drive tool configuration was present. What remains looks modified and slightly boogered, but still cool. If you've looked through the thread, you've seen that they were enamored with a multi-piece sort of L- and/or T- handle and that piece is consistent with that approach, and also consistent with all early 3/4-drive sets from other OEMs. Bonney, just to name one example, did not add a ratchet to their big heavy duty drive sizes (3/4- and 1-drive) for many years.

If by a run, you mean some were made a shift or two later or a day or two later in the milling room/dept, and then they all sat in a bin and were hand plucked by someone else in an assembly room/dept, and the end result was they weren't all alike when they were put in a case or box as a set - I agree. It's also possible they had undisciplined production. Keep in mind that my sockets aren't even stamped with sizes let alone a logo. These were small outfits trying to scrape out a foothold before they succumbed ot the 600 lb gorillas in the industry. Comparing them to a professionalized line like Bonney or New Britain or Snap-on looking for marking consistency is probably unrealistic expectation. My opinion.

Do you have some of the Batco sockets in your collection?

 

[four.cycle]

Are these sockets in your pictures part of your collection?

No.
I have thousands of photo image files I've pulled off ebay and other sites expressly for this purpose - the guy that shows up here asking "What is this?"

If there's no credit on the image, it's mine. Otherwise I'll always post a photo credit with the image.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Do you have some of the Batco sockets in your collection?

No. I have three (3) sets: King (7/16-inch drive), Newton (7/16-inch drive), and Service Engineering (1/2-inch drive). The only BATCO set I have ever seen were an ad and old eBay image that @twertsy posted in the King/Newton thread and then the set that @Patrick Eubanks owns and posted in the same thread. But none of those have deep sockets and they're not 3/4-inch drive.

 

[elidas]

I just acquired a set of vintage sockets that I must admit I am very excited about…

Theses are massive cold broached sockets with a hex drive. The range in sizes is 9/26 to 1-5/8, from 9/16 to 15/16 are marked with the number of 32nds (30, 22, etc) the larger sizes are marked with fractions.

From 9/16ths to 1-1/4 have a hex drive size of 5/8” and the larger sizes have a hex drive of 3/4”
I would date these in the early 1930’s in that they are cold broached and hex drive.

Quality wise, each socket is massive but the hex drive hole is rounded out in several of them, one shows marks of having been driven with a pipe wrench and several have the drive ends are mushroomed from being hit with a hammer. All of these indicate that the steel is not very hard.

Now the interesting part…each socket it marked with the logo of the Barnes Tool Company, a B in a diamond shape. Our buddies at Alloy Artifacts have wrenches and pipe cutters but nothing at all about sockets.

Anybody got any knowledge about these, or do I have the only set in existence? The B in a diamond is a registered trademark of the Barnes Tool Co. but perhaps another company used the same mark?

 

[elidas]

You don't have the only set. I just picked up a set Saturday. The sockets have the diamond "B" logo also. Almost sent me down the wrong rabbit hole. The same logo is also on my BATCO set.