Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[Private Lugnutz]

Ditto. That would be an instant buy. I have seen exactly one wartime box (my V series midget set) in the wild here in 15 years. In fact, it's getting overcrowded and I would not hesitate to repurpose that for non-reefer midget stuff.

 

[kyrbz]

 

[four.cycle]

November 15, 1945 Aero Digest - Bonney Tool advertisement

 

[Username already in use]

I just took this picture for another thread and thought I’d post it here as well
Bonney T-42 3/8” drive nut spinner.

 

[bonneyman]

Shorty offset double box wrenches get me every time. Nice acquisitions, JK!

 

[kyrbz]

A vintage dealer on Instagram who goes by "gratefultradesvintage" just posted this if anyone is interested. I don't know him or have any affiliation. Just thought it was a cool item for the Bonney collector

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Wow. That is ssssssuh-weet! Hard to fill, but it looks great empty. Must be for a truck. Or industrial? Those are some big wrenches.

 

[Shelbylex]

I wonder how much he wants for it...

 

[Ricky Joe]

Quality must have been pretty poor if the wrenches had to be replaced after use.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I wonder how much he wants for it...

I tried to find it to see, but I don't have Instagram and what was showing up with that username without the app was not that board. Maybe kyrbz will let us know.

Quality must have been pretty poor if the wrenches had to be replaced after use.

Snerk. All joking aside, I guess the board was not meant for a store, but a shop?

EDIT: I looked for that No. 75 board in every Bonney catalog I have or what is available on IA/ITCL from the late Teens through early 30's. Also searched Google Books on all kinds of variations of Bonney, Emergency Repair, No. 75, Boards, Hercules, etc. No dice.

 

[four.cycle]

^ "Replace wrenches immediately after use" isn't something you'd print on a display board intended for a retail store.

That thing was destined to be hung in a repair shop of some sort right from the start. Probably shipped fully loaded.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Bonney apparently patented the No. 75 board, and had already applied for an improvement patent, which is interesting in its own right. What would they patent? The arrangement? Certainly not the board itself (i.e., construction, hangers, etc.), which they were having made for them like everyone else. My No. 65, from roughly the same era, was made for them by American Art Works in Coshocton, Ohio, the center for almost all of this type of metal linotype advertising in America at that time, and I wouldn't be surprised if that metal tag on the bottom is the same as the one on the bottom of mine.

 

[nadogail]

i built an almost matching board at a Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing plant so that the machine operators could maintain their their machines and not forget where the toolswere to be at the ends of their shifts.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That board can't be any earlier than 1921, when they changed their name to Bonney Forge & Tool Works, and it can't be much later than 1926 with that "Hercules" brand Screw Wrench on it and the sizes still being expressed in U.S.S. and Hex Cap nut and bolt standards rather than milled openings. I'm going to have to put doing this the hard way (searching through every Patent Office Commissioner's Report between 1921 and 1926 on the Smithsonian site) on my 'to do' list for 2023.

 

[kyrbz]

I tried to find it to see, but I don't have Instagram and what was showing up with that username without the app was not that board. Maybe kyrbz will let us know.

Snerk. All joking aside, I guess the board was not meant for a store, but a shop?

EDIT: I looked for that No. 75 board in every Bonney catalog I have or what is available on IA/ITCL from the late Teens through early 30's. Also searched Google Books on all kinds of variations of Bonney, Emergency Repair, No. 75, Boards, Hercules, etc. No dice.

Like a lot of the vintage dealers on Instagram, he wants you to direct message him for price, so I don't know how much he's asking for it. For those of you not on Instagram here's the rest of the pics he had posted

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Like a lot of the vintage dealers on Instagram, he wants you to direct message him for price, so I don't know how much he's asking for it.

Thanks.

For those of you not on Instagram here's the rest of the pics he had posted

Just as I predicted, made by American Art Works, same exact construction (follow my link above to see...), and the exact same tag as on my No. 65, which is ca. 1923 and appears with others of its kind and number range (e.g. No. 55) in early to mid 1920's catalogs. I guess that No. 75 just didn't make the cut.

EDIT: I just double-checked and there is nothing like that patent notice on my board.

 

[four.cycle]

^ 1921-1926 heavy truck market was big money in the day. That's obviously not a one-off job. They were targeting truck repair shops / fleet repair facilities there.

 

[LesserSon]

That’s really nice.
I wanted to chime in that the Stillson-pattern 18” & 10” wrenches were probably of the rarer “automotive” variety, but the tooth count in the illustrations looks the same as the general-purpose pipe wrenches of corresponding length. That could mean nothing…it probably does mean nothing.

 

[four.cycle]

1961 Bonney Forge & Tool Works Catalog No. 60S NOW AVAILABLE at ITCL thanks to GJ member JjKk40

Only ONE MORE DAY LEFT to get a 2 to 1 match on your contribution to International Tool Catalog Library! Triple your monetary contribution!

 

[LesserSon]

I see it is attributed to 1961, but the main catalog seems identical in content to the larger-format Catalog 60, even to the “copyright 1959” notice. It is a very good b/w scan, so some illustrations and text may be clearer, and I haven’t looked at the cover letter, price lists, etc.

 

[four.cycle]

ahhh.... wonder if it's a deal like Indestro's "Catalog No. 55" and "Catalog No. 55M" - the former being the full-size, color version, and the latter being the black-and-white pocket-sized version?
are there items shown in the Catalog No. 60 that do not appear in the Catalog No. 60-S ? (Like displays, merchandisers, etc.?)

 

[bonneyman]

Nice catalog shots! Helps to fill in some gaps for me.

Thanks, guys!

 

[mritchie77]

Going through grandpa's misc. box and I found quite a few older sockets. Here's some Bonney.

 

[Straightgrain]

I picked this up today from a local tool collector for $10. Alloy Artifacts dates it from the late 20s/early 30s through the late 1940s.

 

[bonneyman]

I picked this up today from a local tool collector for $10. Alloy Artifacts dates it from the late 20s/early 30s through the late 1940s.

Nice Bonney hammer - er, I mean wrench - you grabbed there! lol

 

[LesserSon]

“LR” date code and some dots, plus 3/8dr not 1/2dr. I think Dec1940 not Dec1926.

 

[Fred Knox]

Here are a couple photos of my Krieger 3/8” x 1/2” open-end wrench, fresh out of an Evapo-rust bath. It has a date code of CU (March, 1943), which I believe is a little earlier than others posted upthread.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It has a date code of CU (March, 1943), which I believe is a little earlier than others posted upthread.

It's the earliest Krieger wrench I have ever seen. More importantly, it's earlier than the earliest contract (August 1943) that there is a record of, as far as I know. See this post here, in the 'Krieger' thread. If you've never seen it before, Fred, it started out as a query thread, and there are more wrenches and more discussion and info on Krieger and the Krieger-Bonney connection, if you're interested, although I suspect I have cross-linked most if not all of it to here by now.

I suspect there may have been an earlier contract that did not meet the minimum $50,000 value to make the WPB book. Anything under that they did not track.

 

[alinc100]

OK I figured I better chime in here and share the latest find. As others have eluded in the Garage Sale Thread this beast is pretty rare. I picked it up yesterday, managed to get it in the garage today. I've looked through some of the 1939-47 catalogs(not all,I believe Internet Archive skips a couple) but the first thing I notice is my caster stems are inboard of the cabinet edges, catalogs illustrations are showing casters that are outboard of the cabinet. As Pvt.Lugz has asked in the GS thread, I will go out and look for any mfg marks/stampings,etc. Is there any specific places I should start?

 

[alinc100]

As an addendum to the above. I've put the cabinet up on the bench,I've looked at it with a raking light. I cannot see any stampings, date codes,etc over any surface.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

As I intimated up on the GS thread, I think we're in FOAK territory here in terms of knowing where to look, although some of the smaller boxes of that era, or the same box and roller in the postwar era, if they're made by the same outfit, might provide some tips. What about the pulls, handles, hinges, and locks? Nothing on that kind of hardware, either?

 

[alinc100]

The hinges, the knobs, the drawer details,the tray details,side handle.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, Andy. I didn't intend that to be a request for more photos, although I certainly enjoy them! I was asking if maybe they had markings. Apparently not!

 

[alinc100]

Continuing my deep dive 1947 catalog( casters outboard) shows the CC cabinet as 27" wide, mine is 27-7/8" which is the listed dimension in the 1957 catalog and the casters are inboard. To further muddy the water the 1951 catalog shows the CC10 cabinet"(replaces CC Cabinet) at 28" wide ,a red"crackle" finish and the logo has the checkerboard design,not found on my set. I'm guessing a safe bet would be the cabinet was built between 1948 and 1951. I will dig through more catalogs as I go. It is obvious my first guess of 1939 missed the mark,subtle differences in subsequent years.

EDIT - CC10 specs the same in the 1950 catalog so the date range is even smaller at 1948-1950.

 

[alinc100]

Thanks, Andy. I didn't intend that to be a request for more photos, although I certainly enjoy them! I was asking if maybe they had markings. Apparently not!

Hey,I kinda enjoy this treasure hunt, digging,learning,documenting. And rather than saving it up in one dissertation ,you guys get my research and thoughts in real-time.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

You may have missed my post on the GS thread, Andy, but I had it dated to 1939-1946 based purely on the color and logo. The wartime brown ("crackle tan") boxes coincide with the wartime logo stretching into 1946 (that jobbers cat No. 46J has a February 1946 date on it). I've seen that 1947 catalog No. C-1, and I know it includes graphics inside that show the wartime logo and brown boxes, but I didn't trust it, frankly. That is the next generation Bonney logo and red-and-black plaid color scheme on the cover, the same one that appears on the cover of No. C-2 (1950), and throughout all the 1950's catalogs, with all the graphics inside now updated to show red crackle boxes with that new logo, and I don't know why they would make a big splash about that in a 1947 publication only to turn around and put the older wartime logo on brown boxes coming off the line. But your roller specs give me some pause on that reluctance. So thanks, and that's interesting. If it were mine, I would be calling it wartime, 7/8" difference be danged!

 

[Shelbylex]

Alink100, CONGRATULATIONS!!! THIS IS GREAT!!!
I am not sure about the bottom roller. The top one looks very similar to Blackhawk (also used in Caterpillar) design.
Please post approximate dimensions
Please check this link:

Blackhawk Tool Chests and Tool Rollers (Caterpillar by Blackhawk are welcomed as well!)

There is a lot of interest in Blackhawk tools and toolboxes. We already have a general thread and tool box thread. Let's start Blackhawk specific thread! Caterpillar boxes welcomed! Not as pristine, but this is what I have!

www.garagejournal.com

if you go to the catalog images I added in the second post, look for page which starts with 52W tractor and construction wrench set which has W case

 

[Ricky Joe]

That bottom roller looks very much like a Huot from that time period, even to the offset trim on the doors.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The top one looks very similar to Blackhawk (also used in Caterpillar) design.

Yup. It's been pointed out before. Possibly Langenau.

 

[alinc100]

Alink100, CONGRATULATIONS!!! THIS IS GREAT!!!
I am not sure about the bottom roller. The top one looks very similar to Blackhawk (also used in Caterpillar) design.
Please post approximate dimensions
Please check this link:

Blackhawk Tool Chests and Tool Rollers (Caterpillar by Blackhawk are welcomed as well!)

There is a lot of interest in Blackhawk tools and toolboxes. We already have a general thread and tool box thread. Let's start Blackhawk specific thread! Caterpillar boxes welcomed! Not as pristine, but this is what I have!

www.garagejournal.com

if you go to the catalog images I added in the second post, look for page which starts with 52W tractor and construction wrench set which has W case

Top box measures 27-1/4" wide (28-1/4" outside handle to outside handle)
13-1/2" deep to front of cover when closed
12" high