Old Craftsman ratchets

[larry duda]

Here's some pictures of very old Craftsman ratchets that I have, 1/4" and 1/2" drive. Never seen any others like it in my life. Wonder how old they are. Before my time and I'm 68 and started buying tools in the fifty's when I was a kid.

 

[TimV]

Larry: as you're no doubt aware, Craftsman tools have been made by many firms over the years, which can make identifying some stuff quite a challenge. Here's one of the better sources of early Craftsman info--take a look and you might be able to find out something.
early Craftsman stuff

 

[Don S.]

As a kid in the 50's, dad had a Craftsman 1/2" socket set. As I remember, the ratchet looked something similar to the one pictured, except that there was a button on the teardrop head that slid N to S to change direction. It must have been purchased in late forties, early fifties. Have never seen another like it.

 

[larry duda]

Tim, THANKS for the info. Pretty neat site that I never seen before. Looks like the 1/4" was made in the mid thirtys. The 1/2" maybe a little later as it has a round knurled handle instead of the forged one. I also have a couple of the 30's box end wrench's they show and a few of the early sockets with the knurl on top. THANKS again for the info. Larry

 

[TimV]

No problem, Larry--in case you didn't get a chance to wander around the rest of that site, there's tons of more info there on all sorts of old tools, not just Craftsman ones. It's my go-to page to ID oddball stuff I've picked up and it's came through for me with info many times. For others interested, I'm linking their main index page below.
Alloy Artifacts

 

[larry duda]

I was browsing around on the site and seen an old Aristocrat NO1 auto kit socket set. I think I have one of them too somewhere in the garage, will have to look for it.

 

[gab]

I got it's twin, I'll take a picture tomorrow if I think about it.

 

[Roger in Wisconsin]

Here are some pictures of a Bonney 4098. It looks very similar

 

[steve19438]

my dad had a lot of Bonney wenches. there may be one or two in my tool box.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Thanks for posting that link, Tim. I have a bunch of old wrenches from my father-in-law that I still use, and some Williams stuff that I picked up in garage sales. It would be interesting to find out how old some of them are.

 

[gab]

Guess it's not quite a twin.