Unusual SnapOn socket

[Shiftless]

I found this little quarter inch drive socket in a set I picked up at an estate clean out. It’s a odd ball, not matching the other sockets. The set contained a regular looking TM 12.

What’s up with the 4 divots on the upper edge of the socket? Is this a special purpose socket? That logo also looks different from what I’ve seen before?

Can anybody say what date range this is from?


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[3baygarage]

Those appear to be owner grind marks, not sure why someone would do that to their tools but I've seen things like it many times. Maybe to id a certain socket easily.

In the first pic, it looks like the hourglass symbol, which represents 1948 on the chart.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The knurl is still there, so maybe not a grind mark. Could have had something hammered on to it

 

[thehorse13]

The picture is hard to make out but that appears to be a 1948 date code on the side of the socket. Those marks are most likely owner tool markings, which I personally hate. Unfortunately a lot of the vintage tools that you come across today have been marked by the previous owner(s).

 

[Wrench97]

A lot of old timers shared tools it was a way of telling who's was who's when the job got cleaned up.

 

[d42jeep]

Yep. A 1948 TM12 with unusual owners marks. I’m not sure how the depressions were made. Maybe he squeezed the poor thing in a vise. Here are a couple from around the same time period. The non-chrome one is from 1944.
-Don

 

[Jim C.]

....... Those marks are most likely owner tool markings, which I personally hate........

+1 ...... “Hate” might not be a strong enough word.

Jim C.

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge, guys!

Those supposed owner marks are certainly done in a precise manner. Exact spacing and identical sized indentations.

1948 vintage is exactly the same as the vintage of me!

Here is a close up of the hourglass date code.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Maybe the socket fit a bit loose and they tried to swedge it.

 

[Shiftless]

Maybe the socket fit a bit loose and they tried to swedge it.

Interesting theory...I didn’t think of that.

 

[buckspooker]

I have several from the same era with the same marks. They don't look like owner marks to me.

 

[4xdog]

I have several from the same era with the same marks. They don't look like owner marks to me.

Maybe they're the rest of Shiftless's set.

 

[tym]

Interesting theory...I didn’t think of that.

Trying to turn a 9/32" drive socket into a 1/4" drive one?

 

[Shiftless]

Maybe they're the rest of Shiftless's set.

Bingo!
Are you missing the TM12 ?

No...I have the missing piece of 4xdog’s set !!! (Or not...)

 

[Wrench97]

I would have to think if the chrome finish is intact in the notches then they were made that way for some reason. Could it be military or industrial?

 

[buckspooker]

Upon further review they are grinder marks. Some have one. Some have four. Definitely didn't come that way.

 

[Shiftless]

Upon further review they are grinder marks. Some have one. Some have four. Definitely didn't come that way.

Yep, grinder marks.
If these sockets of ours were in use in the ‘50s when I suppose more guys shared tools, putting one, two, three, or four notches in their sockets would definitely help sort them out at the end of the job or the end of the day.
I wonder when the nifty little vibrating pencil engravers were invented and came into widespread use? If you didn’t have an engraving tool, a couple of seconds on a grinder wheel would be super quick and easy, right? Ugly yes, but quick and easy.

I have seen old power tools at garage sales with spray paint colors no doubt applied for the same reason. Acetone makes quick work of removing old spray paint.
Grinder notches are there to stay.

 

[d42jeep]

The electric engravers were in use during WW2. Maybe too much use, in my opinion.
-Don

 

[woody 73]

Typical grind marks I see them all the time, just something that the owner put on their tools to id them plus it tends to scare off coworkers workers from stealing them.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I have one I used for a time when I worked with some questionable coworkers

 

[d42jeep]

The thing about Shiftless’ socket is that the marks in his socket aren’t done with a grinder since the knurling is still in place. A TM12 is a 1/4” drive socket not a 9/32” drive so no reason to try to make the drive smaller. Probably done with a press or a vise.
-Don