Vintage tape measures

[softailgarage]

^ that's a fun one. Looks nice and lightweight and easy to grip.

These had been thrown away. I rescued them.



The Keuffel & Esser tape is marked 7400-6ft. on the business end and Whiteface 90 on the other side. The whole L-shaped chrome piece moves up and down to lock the tape.



These pocket magnifiers were in the same box. Off topic, but I'm not aware of a thread for those and I figured I'd share them as part of the story. (An absurd amount of nice stuff got thrown away during a hasty downsizing effort).





Tom

"Escondido Village on the Mall", I can remember that Mall from the 70's, 35 years before I moved to the area.

 

[Mintgrun]

Whew! It is vintage. Or, at least close to it. I guess it is time to admit that I have a pocket tape measure collection; but, I'll have you know I only bought one when I dug through a bucket of around three dozen. I'm trying to be selective. I'm also trying to collect (mostly) small things.



The back of the mall tape is similar to the Richlite tape and they both have BARLOW stamped on the bottom.

 

[4xdog]

The Keuffel & Esser tape is marked 7400-6ft. on the business end and Whiteface 90 on the other side. The whole L-shaped chrome piece moves up and down to lock the tape.

I like that K+E tape! Nifty one.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

These pocket magnifiers were in the same box. Off topic, but I'm not aware of a thread for those

I recommend the 'Goggles and safety glasses' thread. It's in the Sticky but I plan to bump it for you in a sec.

I guess it is time to admit that I have a pocket tape measure collection;

Step 1 of 12!

 

[softailgarage]

Part of my collection. The Evans was my Dads. I knew whenever he was going to do some kind of DIY around the house as he would have it on his belt. Seemed he was always wearing it. My Mom worked for Pacific Mutual and brought home the round one.

 

[Mintgrun]

^ That is a very nice assortment. I picked up a MASTER TUFBOY Bright Blade 310 W yesterday, along with a Lufkin fifty-footer that's marked ANCHOR on the other side. I'll also include a photo of the other side of the Master tape, which has a patent number on it. Tom





Here is the patent information (1937)

US2076704A - Steel rule - Google Patents

Here is the patent information for the Lufkin (1940)

USD120369S - Design for a case for tape measures - Google Patents

Tom

 

[softailgarage]

Since we're showing measuring devices, here are some vintage rulers. Dad was an old school machinist and these were a few of his. The brownish ruler is a halogram, tilt it one way it shows standard, tilt it again shows metric, pretty advanced for the early 60's.

 

[Zrsnopro97]

 

[Marsim]

Just picked this up at a yard sale. Kinda neat looking. Streamline no 406. Doesn't look like it was used much.

 

[Bob/Ohio]

A few more.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this one at a garage sale this morning. I like the leather pouch.
-Don

 

[RTM]

That leather case gave it's soul so the tape would look great 50 yrs later.

 

[JEFinCLE]

My favorite daily carry tape broke today. It's a Stanley PowerLock 12' 1/2" wlde...nothing special but it fits the little change pocket of my jeans and I barely notice I'm carrying it. I can get the same thing again, and might. But I thought I would check here and ebay and see if I can find something that would fit the same, but have a little more character. Any of you guys that collect tapes have a duplicate of a favorite you would care to pass along? Needs a clip, must be 1/2" wide, either 10 or 12 foot. Lufkin, Stanley or other good brand. TIA

 

[bmwrd0]

I picked up this old girl the other day:

Lakeside, so Wards, 20s-30's? somewhere in there, and the blade is a peach:

 

[Username already in use]

I picked up this old girl the other day:

Lakeside, so Wards, 20s-30's? somewhere in there, and the blade is a peach:

That’s a dandy!

 

[RTM]

Here is a recent acquisition from a tool box buy. a 50' Lufkin Hi-Line non-metallic woven tape, incremented down to 1/4". Looks like the Hi-Line woven tape was introduced about 1954 based on google books, but isn't in the 1955 or 1963 catalogs, only the 1969 price list.

Leather cover over a rust resistant metal case says one article.

 

[four.cycle]

@bmwrd0 -
1931 Montgomery Ward catalog excerpt includes some Lakeside (and Hinsdale) items

 

[Mintgrun]

I added this little crown top Craftsman "VUE-MEASURE" tape to my collection yesterday.



The plastic window on the top is cracked, but it was only $.50, so I bought it anyway.



It no longer retracts without help, which may have something to do with the slight inaccuracy in the window measurements.



They put Ft. + inches measurements on one edge and regular inches on the other.
I hadn't seen that done on a small tape before and the long ones I've seen usually only have Ft. + 1"-12" markings.



Here is a photo of the label on one in better condition.



Tom

 

[Macduf]

Found a few as well , noticed what looks like a Stanley tape in the big chief measure.

 

[ctuai]

Tape measures: Keuffel & Esser, Phoenix Wyteface 50' (fabric); Lufkin White Tape HW2233 50' (steel); The Lufkin Rule Co, Universal 50' (steel).

 

[kwigly]

I have this old Carson & Sullivan 6ft tape. It has Carlson's patented swing tip to allow for accurate inside measurements (pat 2629180 Feb 24 1953) which predated the usual slip hook we see today.
The tape marking references pat 2089209 (1937 Keuffel patent for marking the measurement divisions) and "Pat Pend" (likely referencing the swing tip, so maybe dating the tape to c1951/52?)

 

[kwigly]

Another old tape, a "Tru Test" 50 ft steel tape with the old style etched measure marks on the steel tape. I like the brass rewind wheel, but I find the etched tapes hard to read unless held in the light at the right angle.
I'd guess the tape dates to the 1940s when Tru Test was a hardware brand for tools distributed to independent hardware stores by Oakes & Co of Chicago. (1948 ad)

Hardware Age

www.google.ca

 

[Old Radar]

Tape measures: Keuffel & Esser, Phoenix Wyteface 50' (fabric); Lufkin White Tape HW2233 50' (steel); The Lufkin Rule Co, Universal 50' (steel).

I found a Keuffel & Esser the other day, also--along with a 100' L.S. Starrett No. 530 and a Lufkin 6’ advertising tape from the old Allied American Bank of San Antonio

 

[kwigly]

Lufkin.
Three 50 ft tapes from different eras; c1940s "Rival" etched tape, c1970s white face, and a c2000s yellow tape.
That old "Rival" tape was made in Windsor Ontario. For Canadian made Lufkin tapes, the ones labeled "Windsor Ont." were made in the period 1907-1948. Lufkin Canada then moved to Barrie, and tapes were then labeled "Barrie Ont." until that plant closed in the 1970s
The little Lufkin is an 8ft, 1/4" wide tape. For inside measure you'd need to add 1-5/8", (although they could have made it the standard 2" if they'd continued the front slope of the case down to the base)

 

[FourthQuarter]

Scored a couple dozen of these in an auction. Nice to litter shop, house and cars with them. I like heft of metal cases.

 

[Southern83]

Very cool that you have the original case and individual packaging.

 

[FourthQuarter]

Very cool that you have the original case and individual packaging.

Yes, interesting to see packaging, graphics, typeface choices etc. I ended up with a couple of boxes of each length; old hardware store in PA closing up. Treasures found in stock room.

 

[Username already in use]

Scored a couple dozen of these in an auction. Nice to litter shop, house and cars with them. I like heft of metal cases.

Very nice find. I’d ask you to send me one, but I would probably prefer to keep them all together in the original box if they were mine.

 

[davethorik]

Another interesting tape I've never seen before.
The W. Bingham Co. Cleveland, Ohio
XLCR 50' Steel Tape no. XL-50

Bingham was a long time (1841-1961) Cleveland-based hardware wholesale company. I am not sure if they manufactured anything themselves, however I'm pretty sure this tape was made by Lufkin.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a little Craftsman Crown tape at an estate sale yesterday.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

I brought a little Keuffel & Esser Co. #7407 tape home with me today. It's the first one I've seen with a level built in. The (odd) tall shape gives a little more length to the 'square' corner and the hook on the end of the tape is short, so it doesn't protrude beyond the bottom surface.



Googling 'wyteface' brings up only K&E tapes, so that must be their way of spelling it.



I suppose it could be dated (approximately) based on the patent pending, but I'm not sure how to go about that. Finding them by date, or by number is easy enough.... Okay, I just brought up more images of this model and they have the DES.PAT. #182,165 . Apparently, (according to one ad's description) the patent was from 1958, so it is vintage after all.

This example also has a metric dimension (5cm) for the length of the base, even though the tape is only marked in inches.

 

[Targa68]

- Two US made KEUFFEL & ESSER, "HANDY WYTEFACE", in mm, clearly made for the European marked.
- A Duch made LUFKIN, W822M, also mm for European use.
- One German no-name, has advertising for a Norwegian dynamite company "NORSK SPRÆNGSTOFINDUSTRI A/S" active 1917 - 1971
- One no-name West German
- An old, assuming bakelite, only marked "Foreign" on the unpainted tape.

All are 2 meter.

 

[RTM]

A few finds over the last few months.

A 8' White Chief by Carlson & Sullivan, predecessor to Disston Carlson, from my home town.


And a Lufkin Lufkin Hi Line 50' non-metallic woven tape from this haul.



Have not been able to pin this one down the age on this one yet, I suspect it is earlier, as the case and winder are a bit cheesy, and the tape is marked in 1/4".

 

[RTM]

The first references these two for internal reading (way down the page)

https://patents.google.com/patent/FR1452742A/en

https://patents.google.com/patent/FR1241202A/en

Got asked a question about this topic elsewhere and thought I'd add a little more to the topic.

Found this US patent assigned to HK porter from 1969, which is not in DATAMP
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/48/4f/a5/3d302d34936c15/US3426435.pdf


And then the French two above I remembered to search espacenet.com for, to get some text and pix


https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/001569461/publication/FR1241202A?q=FR1241202A

https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/008585576/publication/FR1452742A?q=FR1452742A

 

[RTM]

Finally found this one, which had migrated to a box, and didn't get its picture taken. Found it under the box o sockets and stuff.

This is a Mezurall 928, 8ft version, with Patents on the case and the tape. Assuming 17 years post grant, this one could be 1947 - 1948 based on expiry of the earliest patent (+17 years later they should take it off)
#1828401 1931 issue
RE22908 1947 issue
1964280 1932 issue
1987652 1935 issue
Can - 1943



This was one of those tape measures from before people got soft, and started marked both feet and inches. This puppy is inches all the way through. No red stud marking, diamonds for trusses, etc. Just inches and 1/16ths, and 1/32nds for the first 6".

 

[Macduf]

Ok that puts the count way above 100

 

[Username already in use]

Ok that puts the count way above 100

Nice!

 

[Old Radar]

Estate sale find this week:

 

[Stuart in MN]

I got this 12 foot Red Ace tape measure from my brother yesterday, he was cleaning out a house he just bought.

 

[ghostnuke]

I've been meaning to start a thread like this but kept getting sidetracked. I figured there had to be others! As of now my collection is modest- mostly Lufkin; and most of those pre-Cooper Tools.

I also like finding NOS or new condition tapes in original boxes/packaging. Attached is the bulk of this collection...all Lufkin save for a lone K&E. 2nd pic a closeup of my Lufkin chrome plated Artisan tapes...I had one with hook and diameter on tape, meant for trees, already. But thanks to member 3baygarage I now have it's almost twin. Both immaculate!

I have collectors, collector users, and pure users...none of which are HF tapes, which I LOATHE. USA made mostly Stanley, and recently discovered Milwaukee, which are nice from overseas, are my users. I think I have some pics on phone, may have to do a photo shoot later.

Do you have manuals for these? Or at least know how to get it apart non-destructively?