R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Mon May 22, 2017 11:48 am

They do like rather Bonney-ish. (The band of knurling is a little wider and shallower, and the broaching inside kind of wispy in the RTECs.) That's the third set I have seen with "RTEC" (no period marks) sockets now, Mud. One of the other two had the same four (4) "R.T.E.C." ignition wrenches in it as mine and a no-name Plomb ratchet. The second one had a no-name driver, but no R.T.E.C. ignition wrenches. None of the three (including yours) have had the R.T.E.C. pliers. The mystery is why they all seem to have the same set number (7016)! My hunch is that the 7016 set should have all the tools (sockets, ratchet, driver, sliding tee, and the four ignition wrenches and pliers), but I'm not sure all of them would fit in the box. (If you send me the sockets, ratchet and sliding tee, I'll do a test. :lol: )

Edit: All joking aside, I just did a little test with orphan components (Cornwell ratchet, Walden driver, unmarked sliding tee). There's no way to get all those and the ignition wrenches and pliers into this box. I managed the ratchet and sliding tee, or driver and sliding tee. The ratchet and driver will not fit. The box is 6-3/4" W x 2-1/4" deep x 1" H. So the question remains, which handles are original to the 7016 set? The sockets are implicit. The R.T.E.C. marked ignition wrenches and pliers seem implicit. It requires at least one handle to turn the sockets.

The other two sets can be seen on this Garage Gazette thread, page 53, keep scrolling down: http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.p ... =10626.780

As for the little L-wrench, that sure looks like a Torx end to me, not a fluted socket head (or Bristol) end.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by mudbox » Mon May 22, 2017 2:12 pm

Fred Coldwell wrote:What size is that beauty? Screwy friends set in their ways want to know. Great find!
Thanks Fred. OAL is about 2-1/2" long. The working end measure about 5/32".
Wingnutt wrote:They do like rather Bonney-ish. (The band of knurling is a little wider and shallower, and the broaching inside kind of wispy in the RTECs.)
Well, I was thinking Bonney, but side to side, they're really nothing alike. Perhaps old style Duro?

Image
Wingnutt wrote:...I'm not sure all of them would fit in the box. (If you send me the sockets, ratchet and sliding tee, I'll do a test. :lol: )
:wink: Sure thing. I'll get them right over! :lol:
Wingnutt wrote:The mystery is why they all seem to have the same set number (7016)!
I always thought that 7016 was the post code for Camden NJ at the time. :?:
Wingnutt wrote:As for the little L-wrench, that sure looks like a Torx end to me, not a fluted socket head (or Bristol) end.
:(
Dang-it! In my haste to post some images (I was at work), I didn't have my other wrench handy to compare with. I think you're right, though the sizes are remarkably similar. The working end on the 41-W-2459 marked wrench is maybe 64th larger than the one that came with the RTEC kit? Do you think the torx was spec for something Signal Corps related? Man... what a bummer.

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Mon May 22, 2017 3:43 pm

mudbox wrote: I always thought that 7016 was the post code for Camden NJ at the time. :?:
Doh, I didn't even think of that! I thought they were two-digit numbers. I'll have to research that. EDIT: Looked it up. Postal zones, instituted in 1943, were 1- and 2-digit numbers.
That's definitely a Torx. Not invented until late 60's I believe.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by d42jeep » Tue May 23, 2017 3:23 am

Here are the photos of Bill's RTEC marked set from the Garage Journal and the unmarked spinner that I'm sending to Wingnutt. It looks like we meet to be on the lookout for another one for Jason's new set. :D


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Attachments
IMG_4277.JPG
Bill's RTEC set
IMG_4277.JPG (148.85 KiB) Viewed 1339 times
IMG_4276.JPG
Bill's RTEC set
IMG_4276.JPG (148.57 KiB) Viewed 1339 times
IMG_4279.JPG
Unmarked RTEC spinner
IMG_4279.JPG (165.85 KiB) Viewed 1339 times
IMG_4280.JPG
Unmarked RTEC spinner
IMG_4280.JPG (139.55 KiB) Viewed 1339 times
Ford GPW 76344 DOD 11/42 Built in Richmond, CA

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Tue May 23, 2017 6:20 am

He doesn't need one - it won't fit in the box anyway! :lol:

Todd posted an update on his R.T.E.C. research, by the way. He's got the company confirmed back to 1943 now!
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.p ... =10626.795
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by d42jeep » Tue May 23, 2017 6:50 am

Wingnutt wrote:He doesn't need one - it won't fit in the box anyway! :lol
It would fit if he got rid of that Bonney ratchet!
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Ford GPW 76344 DOD 11/42 Built in Richmond, CA

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Wed May 31, 2017 12:06 pm

Looking much better with a recent addition from California! :D

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by mudbox » Wed May 31, 2017 12:17 pm

Wingnutt wrote:Looking much better with a recent addition from California! :D
Sure is! Congrats.

Do you think that RTEC was making their own sockets? I know your set has Walden sockets, but the RTEC sockets don't quite match anything else I've seen...
The broaching and the cross hatch knurling are most similar to the SK but the shape is off.

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Wed May 31, 2017 1:30 pm

mudbox wrote:Do you think that RTEC was making their own sockets?
I don't know. It would be a step up from stamped steel wrenches and plier halves, that's for sure. But not having a good OEM match is a strong implication, I agree.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Thu Jun 01, 2017 8:19 am

A very interesting development, courtesy of some Todd research, on the R.T.E.C. subject.

He just sent me this newspaper clip dated November 3, 1945.
RTEC SC ad.jpg
RTEC SC ad.jpg (61.5 KiB) Viewed 1292 times
I think this is R.T.E.C. working for the Signal Corps to manage the surplus tools sales being advertised under the two (2) Signal Corps contracts cited, much in the same capacity a SETA support contractor would handle that today. SETA stands for System Engineering and Technical Acquisition. Long story short, it's basically a government agency hiring contractors to handle things (usually the 'technical ash & trash', as we call it) almost like extended staff positions. There is no evidence that R.T.E.C. ever made any of the tools listed, many of which are clearly beyond them. At the very least I think this article - while dealing with the technical aspects of selling off the Signal Corps tools (inventorying, review of bids, facilitating pick-up, etc) in their facility, rather than buying, making (some), integrating, and assembling sets of them in their facility at the beginning of the war, clearly helps support my earlier postulation that R.T.E.C. was a Signal Corps contractor.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by lt.luke » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:24 pm

Wingnutt wrote:A very interesting development, courtesy of some Todd research, on the R.T.E.C. subject.

He just sent me this newspaper clip dated November 3, 1945.
RTEC SC ad.jpg
I think this is R.T.E.C. working for the Signal Corps to manage the surplus tools sales being advertised under the two (2) Signal Corps contracts cited, much in the same capacity a SETA support contractor would handle that today. SETA stands for System Engineering and Technical Acquisition. Long story short, it's basically a government agency hiring contractors to handle things (usually the 'technical ash & trash', as we call it) almost like extended staff positions. There is no evidence that R.T.E.C. ever made any of the tools listed, many of which are clearly beyond them. At the very least I think this article - while dealing with the technical aspects of selling off the Signal Corps tools (inventorying, review of bids, facilitating pick-up, etc) in their facility, rather than buying, making (some), integrating, and assembling sets of them in their facility at the beginning of the war, clearly helps support my earlier postulation that R.T.E.C. was a Signal Corps contractor.
the extension argument would be that RTEC bid on contracts, subcontracted the work, then sold the sub-contract produced to order materials to the government and made a profit margin, having done little to no actual manufacturing?

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:08 pm

Totally agree. This absolutely suggests they operated like a prime/SETA during the war and had their name stamped on some of the tools being made for them, assembling other sets with other sockets and wrenches and drivers, slapping their label and ubiquitous set number on the lid of every box, regardless of the make of the contents.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by lt.luke » Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:48 pm

Wingnutt wrote:Totally agree. This absolutely suggests they operated like a prime/SETA during the war and had their name stamped on some of the tools being made for them, assembling other sets with other sockets and wrenches and drivers, slapping their label and ubiquitous set number on the lid of every box, regardless of the make of the contents.
I do not own any RTEC items, so really don't have a dog in the hunt, but I've become interested. One piece of evidence that would support this is a mix-match of RTEC marked items, showing signs of the "same" tool being made by different sub contractors.

There was a movie about a company who did something similar at the outset of the GWOT. Your earlier comment reminded me of that in reverse and got my interest.

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Thu Jun 01, 2017 4:02 pm

lt.luke wrote:There was a movie about a company who did something similar at the outset of the GWOT.
War Dogs, with Miles Teller and Jonah Hill. Great movie. But that is a very extreme example. They were two guys deep and had no semblance of integration or warehouse space whatsoever. That movie gave a bad name to hundreds of legitimate Prime and SETA contractors out there who provide legitimate technical acquisition services, essentially buying piece parts, fabricating other piece parts, and integrating, assembling and fielding entire systems or sets from the piece parts. And that practice does go back to WWII, which was the beginning of the Military-Industrial Economy. The Signal Corps had several of them, all located in the Philly area. The Fleck Brothers was another major contractor they used for acquisition and integration services, and their data plates can be seen on many Signal Corps toolkits.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by twertsy » Fri Jun 02, 2017 1:18 am

These are the last 2 mentions of RTEC I can find anywhere. Dates are on the file names but the last mention is 1/46.
rtecend12-45.jpg
rtecend12-45.jpg (108.46 KiB) Viewed 1238 times
rtecend1-46.jpg
rtecend1-46.jpg (44.41 KiB) Viewed 1238 times


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