Torque controls inc

[SPAMNATOR]

I am still going thru a tool box I purchased at auction full of vintage tools and came across this torque wrench. Just wondering if anyone has seen one before. This wrench looks brand new!

 

[notlob]

Very little info out there about TCI. Here's a GJ link from 2011:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95982

 

[SPAMNATOR]

Thanks for the link.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I just came across an ad for Torque Controls featuring Don Garlits in an old Hot Rod magazine from 1966 I was reading last night.

 

[Musicinabottle]

I have a Torque Controls wrench very similar to that. It was used in a military shop. I really like the wrench, and it's very well made and very positive operation.

 

[Stuart in MN]

From the February 1966 issue of Hot Rod magazine:

Oddly enough, I looked up the address on Google Maps and it doesn't seem to exist anymore - there's a Hoyt Park Place in El Monte, but no Hoyt Avenue.

 

[notlob]

Wow - "with computer accuracy." That's pretty good for a 1966 torque wrench.

 

[Tool Shed]

Was just looking up information on this torque wrench and got directed to this web site. I have one similar to yours, in very good shape. This one appears to start out at 100 lbs up to 750lbs.

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[four.cycle]

Hello Tool Shed and welcome to the site!

Could you please take a look at that unit and see if there are any patent numbers or dates on it (or on the instruction sheet or box) ?

Part of the difficulty in finding information about the company might be because they apparently changed locations at some point.

Torque Controls / Torque Controls Inc., San Gabriel, CA / 1920 Hoyt Ave. So., So. El Monte, CA 91733 (1966) / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/torque-controls-inc.395781/

 

[Tool Shed]

Here’s a picture of the instruction, and there was a sticker on the box at one time and this is what remains, and there is a patent on the barrel opposite side of barrel die increments which reads,
U.S.PATENTS
2.918.834
3.165.014
and then on the sleeve die it has the Company name and address , same as instruction sheet and MFG. Part no. TCI 750 and FSN 5120-821-3441 And on opposite side it has P18989

 

[Roberts210]

Tool Shed, your torque wrench measures in inch-pounds, not foot-pounds.

 

[Roberts210]

These T.C. torque wrenches look like my Craftsman torque wrench that I bought new in '78.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Sears was probably outsourcing them from TCI.

Thanks for the numbers, Tool Shed!

 

[d42jeep]

Looks like I have the same inch pound 3/8” drive non ratcheting model as the OP. I must have picked it up at a Tahoe sale in the last few years. Looks almost unused.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Torque Controls / Torque Controls Inc., San Gabriel, CA / 1920 Hoyt Ave. So., So. El Monte, CA 91733 (1966) / patent 2918834 Dec 29 1959 James W. Cranford & 3165014 Jan 12 1965 & & 3270594 Sep 6 1966 & D236079 Jul 29 1975 Bosko Grabovac / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/torque-controls-inc.395781/

@d42jeep - your TCI-750 has a third patent number on it that Tool Shed's does not.

 

[SoberKCfam4Life]

Found both these together in a old abandoned house , with cases and paperwork

 

[Tool Pants]

Thanks to google search for TCI torque wrenches I am here, again. You would have to be 100 years old to know who Don Garlits was - he is still alive.

The TCI name is long gone. But I have the Big Daddy autographed edition.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Big Daddy Don Garlitz was a regular attraction at S.I.R. (Seattle International Raceway) - heavily advertised on local AM radio KJR (among others.)
You would need to have lived in a cave around here in the 1960s do not recognize the name.

 

[Tool Shed]

Who hasn’t heard of Big Daddy Don Garlitz, one of NASCAR’s good ole boys. Back in the day, along with many others!

 

[Tool Pants]

Next up for your enjoyment is the Cha Cha signature edition. Same TCI designed torque wrench except now sporting a Utica name. Fixed head instead of flex. Wish it was pink.

First Lady of Drag Racing. Obtained her NHRA Top Fuel license in 1973.

Back then you needed 3 NHRA license holders to sign in support of a license application. Only every license holder back then was male.

Big Daddy was one of the 3 to sign her application.

 

[RoMow]

My Torque Controls, Inc., torque wrench is a hollow-square-tube dial-gauge style I got military-surplus when the USS Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970. There is no Model Number on it. It's 1/2"-drive, 24-3/16" long overall. According to the Operation Instruction sheet, it could be any of four Models -- D2600. D350, D3175F or D3250F -- but the Serial Number is U14883. I need to find someone or somewhere to calibrate this wrench, as I've never had it calibrated the whole time I owned it, and I'm not sure of its accuracy anymore. It has Calibration Instructions inside the case (pictured), but I need a "certified torque tester" machine to load it for testing. Suggestions?

 

[Provincial]

For most wrenches, I compare the break point on the "clicker" torque wrench to the reading on a beam-type wrench. If close, it probably is good enough.

If you have kept the tension off the spring of a "clicker," it holds accuracy very well.

I have an old APCO Mossberg torque wrench with a clockwork type dial. Despite careful cleaning and lubrication, it still won't read properly, and this with the linkage seemingly all assembled properly.