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old ratchet

T

tom upton

Member
Anyone know the idea/purpose of female drive ratchet? This one is 1/4 inch , well made (Husky) and nice fine ratchet. looks old to me, but not sure of vintage.
cvphoto2280.jpg
 
Your photo isn't clear, if the hole is 4-sided it could be a refrigeration valve wrench.
 
we have some in our shop for different machine adj. we are a stamping shop making car parts and a lot of our mat'l feeds and straighteners that feed mat'l too our stamping presses use them to adj tension on rollers.
cvphoto2289.jpg


cvphoto2290.jpg
 

Many old English and Australian ratchet handles were like this , Britool [ British tool co. ] was one brand that made tools for use on Ferguson and other tractors , Dufor [ Duly Hansford co. ]was another .
A small square drive shaft fitted into the hole , the socket then fitted to the end of that . They were fiddly to use and were superseded by the more common ones sometime in the late 50's or early 60's . Some didn't have a reverse lever , to undo something you removed the drive shaft, flipped the handle and put it into the other side .
 
As Charles in Aus says you are missing the square drive the socket snaps on. You pull it out and put it in the other side of the ratchet and it reverses. I have a couple of them hanging up but don't have a picture handy so I found a picture online. The square drive knob is sitting beside the ratchet.
cvphoto2295.jpg
 
I had an Industro 1/2" drive one it was great for adjusting the brakes on my ford 2n I kept it in the fender mounted tool box. I gave the tractor to my stepson so he is the proud owner of tractor and wrench.
 

I use a half inch drive one from chinese freight to adjust the deck height on my JD lawn tractor. The sockets are also open all the way through so the long bolt goes through and I can get to the nut that is 3 inches up the bolt.
 
Dad had set like Kansas 4010 posted less rachet at bottom badged Western Auto. Also had a bunch of Indestro wrenchs and sockets all gone now.
 
Hey,Kansas!! I've got part of a set like yours with the stamped out ratchet and the Allen wrench breaker bar. Got it in late '60's/early '70's when I got my first Honda motorcycle.
 
If it's square it could be for turning the valves on a/c compressors, think they were York like found on semi tractors and Ford cars.
 
Good afternoon: I have a 3/8 inch drive ratchet handle. When I bought it from a flea market vendor, the square shank or extension was included. As long as I don't lose the extension, it will work just like a normal 3/8 in. drive. I wonder if years ago, some sockets were made with a male extension as part of the socket instead of it being part of the handle. (I don't recall the name of mine, and there is rain right now so I am not going out to look!)

Dennis M. in W. tenn.
 
I have a similar ratchet with a 1/2 inch square drive in a USA made Nutmaster socket set. It has a couple of different length extension shafts to fit in the ratchet, and a coupler to fit them together if needed.

When Australian soldiers were demobilised after WW2 they were given 10 Pounds (Australian currency back then) to buy tools of trade. My dad bought the Nutmaster socket set to use on the farm. Strangely for a US made set, it contains SAE and Whitworth sockets. Really useful back then as a lot of machinery here had Whitworth bolts.
 

Anyone ever see Plumb socket wrenches? I have a 1/4" and a 1/2" sets, they are not quite complete, that were my dads. Probable from the early '40's.

Dusty
 
Sure have. There is a company called Chapman. Used those tools when I repaired photo copiers. Use the. 5/16 hex bits. Very compact and for more delicate work. That ratchet would use those if it is 5/16.
cvphoto2352.jpg
 
Great now I'm mixing stuff up. Is it 1/4 or 5/16. Take the ratchet with you to the hardware store. Should be the same size as those dry wall screw bits and stuff. Getting old is getting to be a pain!
 
I have. My dad had Plumb ratchets and wrenches for many years. Unfortunately he also had a tendency to plant them out in the field so none are complete sets.
 
Plumb was a Philadelphia hammer maker, Plomb was a Los Angeles wrench maker. Today, the Plumb name is owned and used by Apex Tool, while Plomb's new-in-1949 (IIRC) name, Proto, is owned and used by Stanley.
 
My Chapman set (#8900, which I bought for gunsmithing) takes 1/4" hex drives. NICE kit, and very handy for screws, especially flat drive ones, where "close enough" isn't.
 
Good evening: This is an addition to my previous comment; My ratchet has pat. no. 1,902,878; and was made by Duro Metal Products of Chicago, around 1933 and later. The handle also has stamped in it: "no. 2889". There is a small reversing lever on the handle, so one does not have swap the extension from one side to the other to change ratchet directions.

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 
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