Who invented the ?

[cj7365]

Well this thread just came to me as I am shopping for some metric ratcheting wrenches,I was alive when the ratcheting wrenches came about, but I can't remember who came out with it first, I am sure everyones favorite brand will say they "invented" it.

Let me here em

Oh and by the way I still need some ratcheting metric wrench, preferably a 12 pc set

 

[punkenduro]

i want to say gearwrench, but i could be wrong. i do know they are named after the ratcheting wrench.

 

[Outlawmws]

I can't say off the to of my head, but ratcheting wenches have been around a lot longer than Gearwrench...

 

[Outlawmws]

From the 1942 Craftsman catalog, and they appear to be marked "Fulton" ?

And I'm sure this wasn't the earliest version

 

[wreckerman5357]

From the 1942 Craftsman catalog, and they appear to be marked "Fulton" ?

And I'm sure this wasn't the earliest version

That's really cool, thanks for digging that up and posting it.

 

[Cobra6]

Robert Owen, Jr (1881 - 1956) invented the ratchet wrench. Owen received a patent on September 9, 1913. U. S. Patent number 1,072,980.

 

[Outlawmws]

Sometimes Google is not your friend...

He invented "a" ratcheting wrench, but it looks and works nothing like the ratchet wrenches we are used to.

This First "ratcheting wrench" (with interchangeable sockets) was much earlier:

The ratcheting socket wrench, with interchangeable sockets, was invented by an American, J.J. Richardson, of Woodstock, Vermont, USA. The tool was patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency on June 18, 1863.[1] The first illustration of the tool appears on pg. 248 of the April 16, 1864 issue of Scientific American

 

[Outlawmws]

Here is the patent you referred to for Owen:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=RmNmAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[Lump]

Transmission band-adjusting wrenches for Model T Fords were ratcheting wrenches, very similar to the same style still used today by Gearwrench and others. (Wow, you must be really old!)

The Model T Ford ratcheting wrenches were made by more than one manufacturer, but I have a couple of indentical wrenches which are NOT marked as "FORD," and these are marked with an "M" for Mossberg.

Who knows who was first? Not me!

 

[el tanque prohibido]

Tom Tuanmu of Taichung, Taiwan invented it.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1112998641.html

 

[Outlawmws]

Now that is a Ford wrench I've never seen, nor even heard of... pretty cool!

 

[Outlawmws]

Tom Tuanmu of Taichung, Taiwan invented it.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1112998641.html

I'm not sure his Great grandmother was born then...

 

[geologist]

Tom Tuanmu of Taichung, Taiwan invented it.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1112998641.html

Tom Tuttle from Tacoma Washington "Volunteers" (film)

 

[richfinn]

My dad had an old car when we were kids, and the jack that came with it used a type of ratchet spanner to crank it up, this was in the 70s. I was very young but it might have been a Russian Lada (based on a 60s Fiat Design). It also came with the best tyre inflator pump I have seen and a set of tools like pliers screwdrivers spanners. Looking back I suppose people in Eastern Europe must have had to repair stuff themselves.

 

[woody 73]

Finally after all these years someone older then me; now my children can say too the op:

When he was in the third grade Robert Owen sat behind him! and we all know who invented the ratcheting wrench... Now if only I can only get my two teenagers to stop telling me it was Moses that sat behind me!

 

[Gort the giant robot]

Those Fulton wrenches look like they were made by KD mfg.

Gort

 

[Outlawmws]

Those Fulton wrenches look like they were made by KD mfg.

Gort

I agree they do have the KD "look", and so do the double ended versions that craftsman had in the fifties. (I have a couple of those) but I'm not sure KD even came about until the 60's?

 

[Danglerb]

But generally those first style ratchet wrenches sucked, who invented the modern style that is actually functional?

Looks like Myers 1973 patent http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3823625.html

I found a diagram of similar patent showing mechanism.

 

[lbgradwell]

...I'm not sure KD even came about until the 60's?

1920 actually! Kulp & Dellinger...

One sometimes sees tools marked "Kay-Dee".

And those Fultons probably are K-D.

 

[bobcatdan]

The old style ratcheting wrenches have been around for ever. New style ratcheting wrenches like gearwrenchs may have been around before like some poster have shown patents, but I don't think any took of until KD introduce the gearwrench. I don't think the wrenches where ever branded KD, but earlier packaging was labled KD. I want to say is was early 90's when they came out. Blackhawk was the other brand that I can think of who had gearwrench style wrenches around the same time, who was first, I don't know.

 

[Joe B.]

There really has been more of a slow evolution than one point of invention. Most innovation is like that.

 

[cj7365]

Thanks for all the replies and pics, didnt know it went that far back