How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

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Wingnutt
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Wingnutt » Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:54 am

Silly's MB wrote:Sometime they changed the design cosmetically from the 1929 Patent to what we would consider the war time correct pattern.
In 1940. Much more than cosmetic, though, Roger, although the 1940 patent does have that very distinctive raised and slightly angled pad-like rectangular panel on the head. All of the patents after the original 1925 patent (to include the 1929 patent that is for some reason the only patent they seem to ever have used on the tool itself) had the same basic purpose: to improve on the stability of the floating jaw. I've read them all.

Here is a chart I put together by cutting and pasting figures from their patent diagrams, including the year, the patent number, and the location of Ridge Tool Company as regsitered with the USPTO... The original diagrams have many more views on the various stabilizing mechanisms they are patenting if anyone is really interested. I cut it down to the salient profile view for the purpose of this chart.

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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Wingnutt » Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:48 am

I like your Snap-On catalog approach, Roger.

Following your lead, I just searched on ‘pipe wrench’ at http://collectingsnapon.com/index.php and looked inside every catalog from the late 1930's, the 40's, and 50's that included pipe wrenches. I don't have time to make links or images for everyone, but I encourage those interested to have a look.

Here's what I found:

1937 Catalog 37P p037
6" RIDGID marked "PAT'd" on the shank (I think that may be a space thing, not enough space for full patent? although I've owned 6" RIDGID's with the full patent number, also)
All-knurled adjusting nut
Squared off threaded floating jaw end
Pre-war pattern head
Tapered shank

1941 Catalog O p042, 1942 Catalog, 1945 Catalog Q p030, and 1946 Catalog R p031
ALL show the same pipe wrench image used in the 1929 catalog Roger shared above
TRADE RIDGID MARK and 1929 patent number on the shank
All-knurled adjusting nut
Squared off threaded floating jaw end
PRE-WAR pattern head
Tapered shank

1948 Catalog S p045
No markings shown on shank
All-knurled adjusting nut
Squared off floating jaw end
Tapered shank
WARTIME head pattern (first time it shows up in any Snap-On catalog)

1950 Catalog T p045
No markings shown on shank
Adjusting nut with THREE BANDS of knurling
Squared off floating jaw end
WARTIME head pattern
Shank with a BULGE at the hanging hole

1953 Catalog V p090
Ditto to 1950

1958 Catalog W p046
Marked RIDGID HEAVY DUTY 14 (no patent number)
Adjusting nut has TWO BANDS of knurling
Rounded floating jaw end
Tapered shank (NO bulge)
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:12 pm

The Snap-On Catalogues clearly shows the Diamalloy crescent wrench through the 1930's as well and then the logo is removed from the picture as time goes on.

These are all the same style as the 6" wrench I posted earlier(My camera cable has gone walkabout)
My codes are
6" wrench E4-9
10" wrench B 1 5
10" wrench B-8-4 (?corroded)
14" wrench B-6-4
14" wrench B-12-3

If others look and see what codes exist on theirs and post the results with a photo or description of the style we might get a consensus.
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:52 pm

Looks like the wartime design was around from at least 1937.
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:51 pm

The Angled Panel was filed as a Trademark in 1937 and granted in 1938.

First Use Anywhere Date1937-07-10

THE TRADE-MARK CONSISTS OF AN ANGULAR BAR, AS SHOWN IN THE DRAWING, EXTENDING ACROSS THE HEAD OF THE WRENCH HOUSING.
. http://trademarks.justia.com/713/96/n-a-71396044.html

The first use of the joined DG was in 1926 but was not registered until 1946.
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Schultzd » Mon Nov 03, 2014 3:22 pm

Mudbox;

I only have an 8" wrench, not GMTK length. But, it is exactly like your 14" pictured in your post, except that the knurled ring has no center cut out, all knurling. Same patent and lettering. Great info here everyone. This should help greatly in my search. Thanks to all so far!

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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by mudbox » Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:42 pm

Some more pics from my wrench to add to the puzzle.
Code on the jaw is B-4-7; the reverse side has the interlocked DG in RIDGED
Also, there is an HR stamped in to the handle.
Image
In addition to the stamped 'E' I also found a small kartush stamped on the handle.
Looks like a Y stamped diagonally inside a square.
Image
Image
And a picture of the nut with 2 bands of knurling
Image
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:21 am

Found my camera cable.
Ridgid  codes.jpg
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:33 am

Thanks for posting yours Jason. I also have a similar square on one of mine and also on a Craftsman. Rigid and Craftsman are near identical apart from a few cosmetic differences so I would guess they were all made by Ridgid or under licence by another manufacturer with a few changes.

The AS is cast into it . Probably for Alloy Steel
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Hartofoak » Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:59 am

My 14" Ridgid is marked B-9-3 (September 1943?) and my 6" Ridgid is marked E4-9 (April 1939/49?) like your's Roger. The 14" also has a "2" on the handle by the hanging hole:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=191003#p1112573
Some more Ridgid info here:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=242552#p1419204
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:17 am

Hartofoak wrote:My 14" Ridgid is marked B-9-3 (September 1943?) and my 6" Ridgid is marked E4-9 (April 1939/49?) like your's Roger. The 14" also has a "2" on the handle by the hanging hole:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=191003#p1112573
I am along the same lines as you Cliff. I think the E is the 1930's as the Red came in in some time in 1949 but we would need to see more examples to be sure.
Theoretically the last letter on the E marked would be 7,8 or 9 on the angled panel.
I am not sure why E would represent the thirties though and B the forties but then I don't think anybody has cracked the Danielson letters either yet. I have not seen any red ones to know if they have a date code.
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Tin Medic » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:30 pm

My 10" has a C-3 stamp on it.
2014-11-04 19.06.34.jpg
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2014-11-04 19.06.09.jpg
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by pjones » Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:05 pm

Here are two more 14" Rigids to add. I guess we should also consider the possibilty that with use and associated damage that replacement parts could have been used accounting for some of the variability.
wr1.JPG
wr1.JPG (39.71 KiB) Viewed 4823 times
wr2.JPG
wr2.JPG (43.92 KiB) Viewed 4823 times
wr3.JPG
wr3.JPG (41.62 KiB) Viewed 4823 times
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by mudbox » Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:36 pm

Tin Medic wrote:My 10" has a C-3 stamp on it.
Tin, I think your handle looks most like the 1929 dated patent posted above (patent # 1,727,623).
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Re: How do you date a Ridgid pipe wrench.

Post by Wingnutt » Wed Nov 05, 2014 11:25 am

Here are some additional samples…

Code is H36, wartime pattern (angled plate, square end on floating jaw, all-knurled adjusting nut, tapered handle), ‘RIDGID’ and patent number on handle, property marks (‘A P’ or 'A R' or 'A P' and a little 'A' next to it) on housing

Image

Code is B-11-5, wartime pattern, ‘TRADE RIDGID MARK’ and patent number on handle, property marks (same as above) on housing

Image
Image

Code is A2-5, wartime pattern, ‘RIDGID' and patent number on handle, property marks on angled-plate on housing (“137” and "S P Co" on flip side)

Image
Image

Comments:

Three “wartime” wrenches, three different formats to the code (No hyphens, two hyphens, one hyphen) and three different letters: H, B, and A.
Also illustrate one of my earliest comments: some wartime wrenches are marked just ‘RIDGID’, some ‘TRADE RIDGID MARK.’

In order to understand the code, and ascertain if it’s a date code, we need to collect more data from wrenches that are ambiguous or questionable. If all we have are codes from wartime pattern wrenches, we’ll have nothing to compare the code against to see how they differ, if they differ, from earlier or later wrenches.

Mudbox’s is a great example. It has the wartime pattern, but the adjusting nut has two bands of knurling. It suggests a transition. But when did that transition occur? Does the B-4-6 indicate April 1946?

Here’s another good example:

Wartime pattern housing, and it has the same adjusting nut as Mudbox’s, but it has a rounded floating jaw end, the hanging hole bulges, and there is no patent number, just ‘RIDGID’ and heavy duty.

Image
Image
Image

The code is B52.

That “B” is no help, since it’s also found on wrenches with “earlier” features.

We can read the “5” as May and the “2” as 1952, as we do with wrenches with "earlier" features, but not without the use of the other features.

The code, if it is a date code, therefore, seemingly has no vintage identification function in absence of the rest of the wrench. B52 doesn't only mean May 1952. B52 on a different wrench could mean May 1942. If that proves out with additional samples, we have to use the features to date the wrench, not the code alone.
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