Utica parallel jaw pliers ID?

[M J Peters]

Recently acquired several pairs of parallel jaw pliers, including these marked as Utica on the handle and U18325 around the pivot.

I’ve looked at the catalogues I could find on line from the 1910s to the 1970s. None have this model number. They look newer, but I can’t find any information of Utica making pliers after the 1970s.

They don’t seem to have a date code, or country of origin marking.

If anyone has an approximate date of manufacture, I would appreciate it.

 

[RTM]

Couple of references to them here and following.

Show Your Vintage Utica Tools!

Plus they have a Signal Corps part number! -Don Which # is the Signal Corps one?

www.garagejournal.com

@Private Lugnutz had a pair too, recently, but I can't find them in my current addled state.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

If anyone has an approximate date of manufacture, I would appreciate it.

If you read the extended conversation in the Utica thread, as @RTM recommended, which is worth it for the backstory, you'll eventually run into this range summary...

Ah, p14 in 1968 shows your model 402. So do other catalogs as far back as 1952. Not 1950.
So, 1952-1968, maybe a bit later, but not as late as 1977.

///Break///

@Private Lugnutz had a pair too, recently, but I can't find them in my current addled state.

Nope. You're probably thinking of me bloodhounding the mystery behind Utica making a Schollhorn pattern, but the pliers weren't mine.

 

[M J Peters]

I had found the 402s in that catalog. I can’t find anything that would indicate when they would have changed the model numbers.

I can’t find a symbol anywhere on them that would indicate they were made when Utica was part of Triangle corporation along with Bonney and Diamond. I’ve tried checking catalogs for them as well to see if they used similar model numbers, to no avail.

The lack of a country of origin stamp makes me think these are made overseas. Does anyone know if Cooper Industries moved Utica production overseas before the line was killed off?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I can’t find anything that would indicate when they would have changed the model numbers.

Ahhh. Gotcha. I hadn't even paid attention to the model numbers. That goes beyond my initial interest in figuring out why and when Utica was making a type of pliers classically identified as Schollhorn.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Second thoughts...
I don't know if that "U18325" is a new model number or a customer's number. Everything else, including the knurling and the logo on the grips, seems consistent with the later production 402's that have been posted on the Utica thread, linked here. The earlier models are not chromed and have the distinctive Utica three-diamonds pattern knurling on the grips. EDIT: Examples linked here.

 

[M J Peters]

I guess that’s a possibility.