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