wilton vise

[mickey dink]

Found this in an old body shop that went out of business in the Seminole Fl. area. Owner said it was on the bench when he purchased the place originally. It was almost a permanent part of the bench. After i removed the bolts it still had to be pried off the bench. The jaws are 4 1/2" and the date code is 3 46. Is this one of Wilton's first vises. Can't find any other numbers but they may be under the crud. Any info will be helpful.

 

[WWShop]

Wilton was founded in 1941. I am not positive but I think their very early models say patent pending on them.

 

[cgrutt]

Nice! Looks like it is in pretty good shape. Not sure but the March 46 date may mean that it was manufactured in March 41 with 5 year warranty ending 46. New jaws are available from a few different places. I recently bought a pair from WiltonViceParts.net and they were top notch. Good luck with it.

 

[drivesitfar]

Mickey; your wilton is an oldie that is for certain. from what we can figure out from the Wilton date stamping thread i started last year your vise was sold from the factory the date that it is stamped. they didn't date any vises prior to 1945 because they sold all their inventory to Uncle Sam.

here's a good read if you want to know a bit more and take care of that one. if you need help check out the vise repair 101 thread i started a couple years ago that has several Wilton bullet vises on it.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269079

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252830

 

[DCarr2]

that is one **** looking vise.

 

[exmaxima1]

Nice! Looks like it is in pretty good shape. Not sure but the March 46 date may mean that it was manufactured in March 41 with 5 year warranty ending 46. New jaws are available from a few different places. I recently bought a pair from WiltonViceParts.net and they were top notch. Good luck with it.

If the date code doesn't include the words "Guar Exp" (which didn't happen until the 50's), the consensus is that you don't subtract 5 years from the date. All the indicators are that this vise is a 1946 model.

 

[cgrutt]

If the date code doesn't include the words "Guar Exp" (which didn't happen until the 50's), the consensus is that you don't subtract 5 years from the date. All the indicators are that this vise is a 1946 model.

You may be right but I've read otherwise. I'm first to admit I'm no expert on Wilton history but I understood that the early models were stamped with five year expiration and Wilton didn't start stamping with date of manufacturer until late 50's. Post 27 on this thread shows a Wilton Vise with 1-46 date stamp (no GUAR EXP) and casting stamped "PAT PENDING". Earlier in same thread somebody stated Wilton applied for patent in 1941 and was granted in 1942, which would make vise in that thread manufactured in 1941 while patent was pending with expiration in 1946 (no GUAR EXP mark).

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86615&page=2

Here's another link that basically says same thing

http://junkyardtools.com/tool_history/wilton

The Company (Wilton Tool Manufacturing Co.) stayed at the Chicago location until the 1955 to 1957 time frame when they transitioned to the suburban Schiller Park, Illinois location in the metropolitan Chicago area. Vises were cast with either the Chicago or Schiller Park location on them and this can be helpful in determining their age. But the best method to determine production date is to remove the dynamic jaw, turn it over, wipe any grease to see a stamped date on the keyway. It is also possible that there will be “GUAR EXP” stamp instead of the date code.

The Company started out by stamping, not casting, their vises with dates, but these were originally not manufacturing dates, but dates when the 5-year guarantee would expire. In other words, if your vise is stamped with 9-46, as is mine, then it was made approximately in September of 1941. However, I can see where Wilton would run into trouble using this method. If there was ever a backlog of vises due to a recession then many would be sold later with a shorter guarantee period. So Wilton changed their method at some later unknown date more or less in the 1960s. And that is when they started using actual production dates I believe.

The Company’s first patent was for the “bullet style vise.” It was applied for August 1st, 1941 and was granted on March 3rd, 1942. Vises made before the approval were cast with “patent pending.”

 

[coljar]

That is a beauty. I have recently bought my first Wilton bullet and I will tell you, they are addicting. I have one identical to it.

 

[exmaxima1]

You may be right but I've read otherwise. I'm first to admit I'm no expert on Wilton history but I understood that the early models were stamped with five year expiration and Wilton didn't start stamping with date of manufacturer until late 50's. Post 27 on this thread shows a Wilton Vise with 1-46 date stamp (no GUAR EXP) and casting stamped "PAT PENDING". Earlier in same thread somebody stated Wilton applied for patent in 1941 and was granted in 1942, which would make vise in that thread manufactured in 1941 while patent was pending with expiration in 1946 (no GUAR EXP mark).

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86615&page=2

Here's another link that basically says same thing

http://junkyardtools.com/tool_history/wilton

There is an entire thread devoted to dating Wilton vises, and Bluebolt has tabulated an extensive database of vises over the last few years, and it gets really interesting around this point:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269079&highlight=dating+wilton&page=13

The most recent findings tend to negate prior mentions of "subtracting 5 years", both from earlier posts and that Junkyard site (that hasn't been updated in many years). When used in conjunction with Wilton's own posted company history, the database is very conclusive that post dating (ie, stamping warranty expiration dates) only occurred over a short span in the 50's. Unfortunately there is no good explanation as to why there is such a hodgepodge of mixed castings during the post War era other than Wilton was struggling and used whatever stock they had to ship products out the door. I think, at best, it is safe to say that only "Guar Exp" stamped vises are post dated FOR SURE, and that post War vises MIGHT be post dated depending on other clues like Pat Pend castings, etc. (the OP's vise in this thread does not have those clues). Still a mystery....

Here's a pic of my 1945 Wilton C1 that could not possibly have been made in 1940:

 

[cgrutt]

Agreed, good stuff!

 

[drivesitfar]

CG: i concur with ExMaxima's post that Wilton's patent pending vises with 1945 and 1946 dates stamped on them were sold after WWII to keep them from going under after the government stopped buying all their vises.

another interesting fact on that Wilton date stamping thread is the fact that Chicago baby bullets have been stamped into the early 80's so i'm guessing since they are smaller and take up less shelf space that maybe Wilton cast thousands of them prior to moving to Schiller Park or maybe they just never changed the cast.

best guess about the 5 year warranty is that Wilton started stamping vises with Guar Exp when they moved to Schiller park and in the mid 50's and in 1960 just stamped the vises with the date of actual sale probably because vises were sitting on shelves for a while before selling and hence using up part of the 5 year warranty.

Bluebolt put a lot of time in on collecting all the data and putting it on an Excel sheet like Ex mentioned so while it isn't 100% fact it's a lot better than what was gathered in the past. before i started the Wilton date stamping thread i actually talked to the owner and writer of the web site you mentioned and he said he just copied his information from another web site that was put there and he wasn't sure what the truth was.

good stuff and all these old Wiltons are great vises no matter what date they were sold or built.