Reposting and expanding from the Garage Sale Thread.
This weekend at an estate sale, I noticed a beat up red tool box on the garage floor and had to open it. What I saw was a 3/4" wrench set covered in dirt and dried grease. I was barely able to discern the name Chief Wrench Set and 14BD on the remnants of the inner decal and picked up a few sockets and drive tools to confirm they were Blackhawk. The tools seemed sound but the box was a mess. Someone had burned the front of it brazing the latch back on. The paint is badly deteriorated and the what's left of the inner decal is barely there.
It took me all afternoon to de-grease the tools and box. I found I'm missing the 1-1/16 60034 but included was a Bonney 1-3/16 HD-38, a size this set did not include. The tools are vastly improved but the box didn't really get any better.
All tools and sockets are stamped either 1-, 1, -1, or 2. According to AA's calculations for the year and design factors for the decade, I believe this set comes from 1952. Polished chrome eliminates the '40s, while the 1953 catalog changed the set number to 14B (vs. 14BD). My only doubt is the catalogs show (I know, I know!) Bald-Head ratchets in the set vs. mine which isn't really a Freewheeling rat either.
At this point I jumped down a rabbit hole looking for my 69987 ratchet which, on the side opposite to the item number, is stamped with Made in U.S.A. followed by the as yet unhelpful number 18.
On the Garage Sale thread,
3baygarage noted that the drive end of my ratchet was a New Britain design. After cobbling together the timeline below, I'm wondering if my otherwise 1952-looking set has a 1955/6 ratchet in it. It doesn't seem probable that NB was making their own style ratchet for Blackhawk before the sale. There are no Blackhawk catalogs between 1953 and 1961 that I can reference so I don't know what was available immediately prior to and after the sale to NB, but I can say with some surety that my ratchet is not depicted in any of the available catalogs. The 1961 catalog does show a 3/4" hinge handle with my ratchet handle design (two groups of latitudinal grooves with cross-knurling between).
Timeline of available catalogs:
Blackhawk has been selling a version of this Heavy Duty set since about 1928--in years prior you couldn't get a ratchet as part of the set. Back then it was called the 36B set and came with four drive tools, eight sockets (1-1/8 - 1-5/8) and a metal case.
Blackhawk's 1931 catalog No. 231 is the first I could find offering the 14BD set (14 pieces & D for Double Hex)--now featuring their Lock-On system--and contained the four drive tools, a Lock-On release tool and nine sockets (1 - 1-5/8).
The Freewheeling ratchet appeared in the 1935 catalog
In 1939 they blew their new labeling system by offering the 14BD set with 15 tools, dropping the release tool and adding two larger sockets (1-13/16 & 2"). In addition to Gripline styling, the tools were now sporting their new item numbers--6999X for 3/4" drive tools and 600XX for sockets.
By 1943, the set was trimmed back to 14 pieces by ditching the 1" socket.
By 1947, the longitudinal lines of the Gripline style were replaced with latitudinal rings around drive tool handles.
In 1950, the set gets the 1" socket back along with two that are even smaller 15/16 and 7/8--increasing the total tool count to seventeen and decreasing the relevance of the 14BD set number. The Bald-Head ratchet appears and usurps the Freewheeling ratchet's item number. The Freewheeling ratchet is not displayed in the 3/4 drive size but remains in all the other sizes.
In 1953 set 14BD loses its D for Double Hex designator but as 14B retains all its 12pt sockets.
At the end of 1955 Blackhawk is sold to New Britain Machine Co.
Since 1947 Blackhawk touted their smooth, easy-to-clean, slip proof handles and denigrated the competition's "ugly, uncomfortable ordinary cross-knurls". In 1961 they added cross-knurling to all their drive tools. The nondescript Powergrip ratchet appears as the only style offered.
In 1969 a 14-piece Heavy Duty set is offered as 414B with the four drive tools and nine sockets (15/16 - 1-5/8). The case is now counted in the total.
www.garagejournal.com
For sale on Facebook in MA. Not mine. https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...icks&referral_story_type=top_picks&__tn__=!:D
