The Ratchet Triple, Quad, Quint or More Thread

[bonneyman]

Gedore triplet.

Thin shank near the handle on that 3/8". Wow!

 

[Username already in use]

Here's a triple of Plomb 5449 1/2" drive ratchets.

 

[d42jeep]

Keeping with the Plomb theme.
-Don

 

[MShaw]

Here's what I have. first picture is Snap on. 1/4" drive from 1962. 3/8" drive coarse and fine tooth from 1957 and 1955. purchased as factory rebuilt (E Stamp) in 1962. 1/2" drive from 1947 and rebuilt by the dealer when I bought it in 1961.

Second picture. All Kilness. 1/4" drive flex New Britain, 3/8" drive Champion Plugmaster and prototype Blackhawk stubby, 1/2" drive New Britain.

 

[Jack84]

Thin shank near the handle on that 3/8". Wow!

It’s 3/8.

 

[Provincial]

Here are some New Britain-made ratchets:

Husky CS 43 1/2" drive
New Britain NB 45 3/8" drive
Sparta CM43 1/4" drive

 

[twertsy]

Here is an interesting Blackhawk quad. 906, 9714P, 97012F, 9706S

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[twertsy]

Thorsen open gear triple.

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[twertsy]

Walden Quad.

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[twertsy]

Cornwell Gearless. Did they make a 1/4"?

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[d42jeep]

Here is a ********* of S-K made Chrome Alloy (Brazil) beaver tail ratchets.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Some Indestro and Thorsen ratchets I had out recently.
-Don

 

[Fred Knox]

My Blackhawk baldies: 3/4”, 1/2”, 3/8”.

 

[PowderKeg]

Giving the thread a boost back to the front page - realized I haven't posted any of my Triple Plays. Will try not to repeat any that have already been posted.

Crappy Phone Pics of Easco classic pear heads and round head plastic grips along with both RHFT - QR and non:

 

[PowderKeg]

Firestone and Craftsman sourced from Plomb, and Powr-Kraft & Bluegrass sourced from Wright:

 

[PowderKeg]

New Britain Fors patent Filson and Husky:

 

[PowderKeg]

New Britain Kilness patent Blackhawk, Giller, Thorsen, and Mustang:

 

[four.cycle]

^ I wasn't aware that Mustang even offered a ratchet in 1/4" drive! Both of my sets came only with a breaker bar, and there's no space in the boxes for a ratchet.

Do you see ANY difference at all on the Thorsen 77JC7E model? (I have always assumed those units with the extra letters/numbers after the part number were later production, possibly manufactured by National Hand Tools. Is that a "real" Thorsen or is it the Kilness-patent design? (on which they stamped the same part number, at least in the two NOS sets I bought from whatchamacallittools in Oklahoma City.)

 

[PowderKeg]

A few more New Britain Kilness patent sets, NBM -45, and Sparta -43 & -45:

 

[PowderKeg]

^ I wasn't aware that Mustang even offered a ratchet in 1/4" drive! Both of my sets came only with a breaker bar, and there's no space in the boxes for a ratchet.

Do you see ANY difference at all on the Thorsen 77JC7E model? (I have always assumed those units with the extra letters/numbers after the part number were later production, possibly manufactured by National Hand Tools. Is that a "real" Thorsen or is it the Kilness-patent design? (on which they stamped the same part number, at least in the two NOS sets I bought from whatchamacallittools in Oklahoma City.)

Yep, there are Mustang 1/4 inchers, just not as common to find. Unfortunately many 1/4" versions of triple plays have been harder to come by, I just recently broke 200 1/4" ratchets, with 300+ each 3/8" and 1/2". Could be that Mustang 1/4" ratchets were offered as separate add-ons to the basic sets you have to keep the sets in the bargain price range they were most likely intended.

No, I don't see any major difference in the Thorsen (or Giller) branded Kilness ratchets from any other Kilness ratchet that came off the New Britain line. I recall conversations on other tool boards (like Mark KW's from many many years ago) that Thorsen had trouble getting their new factory up and running so they had to sub out some production to meet quotas - Giller is a .gov/.mil branding. Then there's the progression of ownership with NHT buying up NB assets and brands at the "fire sale" when NB went under, and apparently acquiring Thorsen a little later. That could explain the newer appearing Thorsen ratchets with Kilness pedigree.

For what it's worth, there are 3 slightly different shifter caps on (most) Kilness ratchets - the earlier and by far the most common version has a circular center with bars extending out 180 degrees apart (most of the Kilness ratchets I've pic'd so far). The second, much less common one that I've seen is a single bar that is slightly convex in shape - thicker and slightly taller in the center an tapering slightly to the ends (2 of the Thorsens). The third and least common is concave shaped - thinner in the center and thicker to the ends (2 of the Blackhawks). All of those caps drop right out when you remove the guts - there's a fourth version for quick release ratchets with a hole in the center for the plastic plunger cap. The earliest version is a tall cap that is retained on the handle by a ring inside (none pictured yet).

I've also noticed that suspected late production ratchets (possibly NHT and Stanley production, some with the less common shifter caps and brands not normally associated with NB) can have a sloppier fit to the guts, even NOS appearing or little used ones. I'm thinking the tooling was getting mighty worn by then and led to the demise of Kilness production, by that time under Stanley control after they swallowed NHT, in favor of cheaper-to-produce designs they already had.

 

[PowderKeg]

More Kilness patent ratchets, Husky -43 & -45, and Challenger Proto (IMHO patent def under Stanley ownership when the Challengers came out):

 

[d42jeep]

Here are a couple of updated photos of some Williams ratchets, some of which I posted much earlier in the thread.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

^ I wasn't aware that Mustang even offered a ratchet in 1/4" drive! Both of my sets came only with a breaker bar, and there's no space in the boxes for a ratchet.

Here is a nice example of a 1/4” drive Mustang ratchet that arrived in the mail yesterday.
-Don

 

[ratcheted]

Lots of nice ratchets pictured in this thread. Here is a newer set, late '80s to early 90s.