The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

[RTM]

Which made me figure out what was wrong. When they say the format is 1000000, they mean it. Literally!

You have to fill out missing digits with 0's or it will return nulls.

I hate those guys. We have a dB at work where the damn month and day fields have that requirement. No warning, just no data.

Morons.

 

[Outlawmws]

Man, this topic used more pages in one day than I've ever seen the lugzonion power through!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

the lugzonion

We think we'll use this alternate spelling when we go into deep satire mode.

 

[gearhead1960]

So that I could metaphorically use it? Not a bad idea!

Lugz,
No question you’re a strait shooter….I would think so….

 

[Private Lugnutz]

In a small brewpub for dinner where they honor the many and storied old defunct breweries of the commonwealth of Pennsyltucky with period advertising on the walls, including the legendary Horlacher's of Allentown.



We didn't include it on our 'Ye Olde Stompin' Grounds' map back in December 2020, but we have mentioned it often, and trust us when we say that Horlacher's Beer was held in every bit as high of a regard as Mack Truck, Bonney Tools, and Martin Guitar.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

So … i came to this thread because I wanted to learn how to search patent numbers. Wralth of information.

I have this JOIC drill, and previous research says they invented it. Pretty cool. The shorter one with the black paint on the wheel.



So i recently got the other one in a package deal, it wasn’t the reason for the purchase. I looked at it, it’s a Proto brand, and there is obviously a patent number on it. So i thought i would research and see what they claimed was improved over the Clawson JOIC. Then i looked closer at the JOIC … and i see that there is a small-print patent number not easily visible. Looked closer … it’s the exact same number as on the Proto.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

i came to this thread because I wanted to learn how to search patent numbers. Wralth of information.

Is that wealth? Or wrath? If you read page 26, wrath might be just as appropriate!

Seriously, there are a few screen grabs and tutorials about the new USPTO site back one page. But if you're still having trouble...

Go the USPTO site.
Click Patent Public Search link.
Click 'Start search' button.
At the top of the screen on the left, type in the patent number in the 'Enter query text' field.
Under databases, click only the [ ]USOCR option.
Where it offers [Clear] [PN] and [Search] buttons below that, click only the [PN] button.
That will start your search. Results will be listed below. Scroll to the oldest entry if there are multiples.
On the right, the Document Viewer screen, at the top, click on the first button to the left to go to Image View. It will include images of the original drawing and the original text.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

On your pivoting angled egg beater, I happen to have the Proto model, which I posted in the Proto thread, linked here. But as I said in that post, I'm not sure I trust the information on the DATAMP page. The patent (2,310,759), which dates to 1943, granted to the eponymous "Clawson" of L.A., was not assigned to any single company, and I suspect that it may have been made by multiple mfgrs under license to Mr. Ira Clawson, including Jo Mfg Co. and Proto. Incidentally, "JOIC" is Jo Mfg Co's brand name for the adjustable head drill. They named all their tools, all starting with JO. See Jo Mfg thread for more on that and more examples.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

I suspect that it may have been made by multiple mfgrs under license to Mr. Ira Clawson, including Jo Mfg Co. and Proto. Incidentally, "JOIC" is Jo Mfg Co's brand name for the adjustable head drill. They named all their tools, all starting with JO. See Jo Mfg thread for more on that and more examples.

I remember reading that discussion, including the fascinating stories from … the son?

If the other brands were made under license, wouldn’t they be identical?

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Go the USPTO site.
Click Patent Public Search link.
Click 'Start search' button.
At the top of the screen on the left, type in the patent number in the 'Enter query text' field.
Under databases, click only the [ ]USOCR option.
Where it offers [Clear] [PN] and [Search] buttons below that, click only the [PN] button.
That will start your search. Results will be listed below. Scroll to the oldest entry if there are multiples.
On the right, the Document Viewer screen, at the top, click on the first button to the left to go to Image View. It will include images of the original drawing and the original text.

Need help for step 3 & 4. This is the screen i get from step 2. Where is the “start search” button?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm not sure how you got that screen with no options.

Get to this screen, click on the blue [Start search] button....



...and it should load this screen...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

 

[Private Lugnutz]

As I have often said, and as I describe in the guide part of the Sticky, I always start patent look-ups at DATAMP. https://www.datamp.org/

Think of it as an antique and vintage tools only app on top of the USPTO database. And it's linked to USPTO. If DATAMP has a page on the tool, it will include a quick link to the USPTO page. If DATAMP doesn't have a page on the tool, it will still prompt you with a link to the USPTO page.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Ok, i did get that opening page, and clicked start search. Looks like it didn’t load right.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Ok this sux. Working on my ipad, i have tried safari, firefox, chrome … nothing works. Tried my iphone … can’t get the links to even click.

 

[RTM]

I suspect it’s an iPad / iOS issue. Trying it on mine, I get the same blank windows. Suspect it’s Apple trying to protect us again.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

If the other brands were made under license, wouldn’t they be identical?

No. The dimensions were not patented. What companies would be licensing is the design of the essential novelty, which is the pivoting head and the shape of everything to accommodate that.

 

[Half-fast eddie]

Ok, that’s pretty slick. I used my android tablet, and it works like it should. Well, the database works, the tablet controls are frustrating, but i can get to the documents.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Sometimes the Curator just has to hand it (pun fully intended!) to the Acquisitions Dept - he has an amusing, quirky, good eye.

Take these "1/4 DOZ." (if your brain hurts, that's 3!) inserts for "BIG HAND" scrapers in their original box.



Wethinks that Alfred Abrahamsen, his Hook Scraper Company, and his "Big Hand" brand scrapers may be the origins of the type of wood scrapers with the wide head, usually red, that we probably all grew up begrudgingly using when it was time to help our dads paint the clapboards on the house. By 1958 (or thereabouts) they were bought out by Red Devil. Before then, starting in 1939, they had this really cool name and logo...



....reminiscent for me, of these lines from a well-known Pink Floyd song...

"When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am."

In this case, I guess it's just one balloon hand.

Each scraper insert actually has this whole swirling branding ordeal...



...stamped into it!



Based on the TRADEMARK PENDING notice on the box, we're dating these to very early 1939!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Not an automotive tool, and not even a **** non-automotive tool, but we're still amused by the "Big Hand" brand name and logo this morning. And to complete the research, our informed guess of "1958 (or thereabouts)" for when Red Devil acquired Hook Scrapers based purely on narrowing down the period ads was pretty close. It was 1957. I don't know how long they kept the line and imagery, but they were still using it (though more refined, and more boring than our 1939 artwork, in our opinion) in 1965.

 

[LesserSon]

I like that the Big Hand logo could be used to instruct the unfamiliar in the art of counting by the dozen, thence the gross.
If you possess opposable thumbs, you can count to twelve on the phalanges of one hand, then tally whole dozens on the other hand, up to a gross. I think this was the prevailing method of recording inventory for a few millenia.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I like that the Big Hand logo could be used to instruct the unfamiliar in the art of counting by the dozen, thence the gross.

Hm. You could be onto something there. It is kind of strange the way the thumb is pulled in like that.

...you can count to twelve on the phalanges of one hand, then tally whole dozens on the other hand, up to a gross. I think this was the prevailing method of recording inventory for a few millennia.

At least until books with handy tables for warehousemen and traders like this "Ready Reckoner" from 1887 started appearing!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

We're on a low budget right now, puttering around, cleaning up, and re-organizing, and adding some features to the clean-up table, such as this new deep dunk tank, salvaged from a discarded Keurig coffee maker. It will good for suspending tools in Evaporust, like screwdrivers with wooden handles, or anything else we need to keep from being submerged.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

We also repaired the buckle ******** this leather tool bag some of you may remember. We just reamed out the remains of the old threading and re-used the old holes. Didn't even need a palm. Stained and distressed the braided cotton embroidery floss with a thumb of leftover gunk from the clean-up table. We're going to have to make the lid more supple, because it's putting a lot of strain on the straps wanting to open. The cool thing we did not notice until now is the buckle straps are handmade. They are crudely cut and not identical in shape.

 

[Outlawmws]

I like the repurposed Keurig! glass? how tall?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I like the repurposed Keurig! glass? how tall?

Plexiglass or plastic. A foot. It's 4" x 4" x 12".

Here's the one in the new machine for context...

 

[Outlawmws]

Probably acrylic then

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Acquisitions Dept came home with this bottle jack this morning.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

But looks can be deceiving! It may be truck, house, or RR jack in shape, but it's machinist jack in size.



As far as I have been able to determine, I think it could be from the 1934 World's Fair, or at the very least, in commemoration of the Templeton Kenly Company display in the Hall of Science at the 1934 World's Fair, which took place in Chicago, where TKCo was located.





I've got some orphan 1/4-drive tommy bars that fit that 3/16" diameter hole, should I ever need to put it to use. I know I have one somewhere with a retaining nub on the end, too. But for now, this one will do.

 

[Old Radar]

Hmmm. Supporting sagging boilers... I guess the Depression mentality was pervasive in '35--prop everything up past failure and hope the creek don't rise before the economy...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Snerk. I saw that. Of all the uses the ad copywriters could come up with, I thought "stretching shoes" the oddest. From the inside, I guess. If they were too tight, and you had corns.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Really quite an amazing find there, Private Lugnutz. Cute little thing, too!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, 4.c! It was buried with a bunch of other odds and ends in the bottom of an old glazier's box.

For anyone interested in seeing more of them (@Shiftless and @Oregon rock crusher also have one, and Shifty's is in its original box! ), and much more info, I ended up doing a deeper dive on them in an ensuing discussion with those two on a 'Screw Jacks' thread I found when searching GJ for other examples, linked here...

Vintage Screw Jacks, Post here.

A old pair hell4stout unmarked ratchet jacks using 1" round handles & being 15" tall retracted. 9" OD base, 4"OD pad, weighing 42 lbs. each. Anyone recognize 'em?

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Acquisitions Dept came home from the flea market this morning with yet another (his third!) Colt Patent quick-set clamp...



...this one a No. 2!



We're extra pleased that it's not a dupe. Faithful Lugzsonian thread followers may recall that we have a No. 4, licensed to and branded by E.C. Stearns, and a No. 1, with no branding, which the Curator reckoned was an original Colt production model. This No. 2 is identical to the No. 1 in shape and features with the same stubborn traces of black japanning or enamel and the same raised/forged-in "PAT FEB 8 81" marking, which refers to 237,431, granted to Alva M. Colt on February 8, 1881.



Here they are together and just begging us for some permanent display space!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Speaking of clamps, the Acquisition Dept also came home with this nifty GRAND No. 102 QL, which stands for "Quick Lockcet."



We are proud of the WWII era GRAND vises we have in the Lugzsonian, each with an unmistakable early war OD green finish and Federal Stock Numbers forged into their bodies, and we are happy to add this clamp, which has a very good chance of being wartime as well.



Here is an excerpt from the WPB contracts books.



And corroborating and matching that info are these excerpts from their 1943 Catalog, which I found on IA/ITCL (as always, thank you @Mark Stansbury)!



They were proud of their Ordnance Dept work!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Look hoo's back! This is his third November now. He usually hangs around until March or so. The raptor center does think he's a male based on his behavior. As a reminder, this hole in my linden tree is not his nest, just one of several roosts. The jays announced his arrival early this morning. Oddly, even the robins and some smaller birds got in on the flocking, screaming, and harassing. I have never seen anything quite like it before. Only the jays were bold enough to dive at the hole. As usual, he just tucks himself deeper inside that cavity until they run out of energy and patience, and then he just enjoys the snooze and sunbath.

 

[Outlawmws]

Awesome!

 

[Smokeshow69]

Look hoo's back! This is his third November now. He usually hangs around until March or so. The raptor center does think he's a male based on his behavior. As a reminder, this hole in my linden tree is not his nest, just one of several roosts. The jays announced his arrival early this morning. Oddly, even the robins and some smaller birds got in on the flocking, screaming, and harassing. I have never seen anything quite like it before. Only the jays were bold enough to dive at the hole. As usual, he just tucks himself deeper inside that cavity until they run out of energy and patience, and then he just enjoys the snooze and sunbath.

Who, who?

 

[four.cycle]

"...which has a very good chance of being wartime as well."

Assuming that the "Pat Pend" stamped on your specimen is referring to Anthony Sasgen's earlier patent 2374899 - and taking into consideration the notes at the bottom of that datamp.org page, it would appear that you indeed have an item made at some point prior to May 1 1945.
Just a wild guess.

Grand / Grand Specialties Co., Chicago, IL / patent 2374899 May 01 1945 & patent 2490923 Dec 13 1949 Anthony M. Sasgen / http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=11633 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...an-a-virtual-tour.468584/page-27#post-9840547 /

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Acquisitions Dept had a nice "barn find" this morning - and he didn't even have to tow it!

We present the rolling chassis and body, with original wooden wheels, from a genuine 1930's era Wyandotte Searchlight truck. It's missing the front bumper, the grille, the bedrail, the toolbox, and the searchlight, but we love the high hood, the gorgeous fender lines, and the rat rod patina, and as we always like to say around here at the Lugzsonian, "Pickers can't be choosers!"

This has given the Curator some fanciful ideas about a possible prestorvation project.