Friday, November 17, 2023

Craftsman speed handle


I saw this Craftsman speed handle in a locked display case at Antiques at 10 Mechanic in Camden, Maine. At that price I didn't think I needed to buy it but I've never seen anything like it before.


Consensus in the comments is that it doesn't look like a useful device but it was apparently part or the regular tool lineup in 1960.

Thanks, Dave...  Craftsman catalog


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11 comments:

  1. Hailwood1965November 17, 2023 at 9:50 AM

    I think maybe they have an extra zero on the price.

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  2. planemechNovember 17, 2023 at 11:37 AM

    I own a 1/2" drive Craftsman ratchet of similar age. It has the V-shaped shifter as this one does. Do we see a faint "V" stamped on the drive side of yours? Looks like it. Made by Moore Drop Forging Co.
    From Alloy Artifacts:
    "V"-Shaped Shifters. In 1959 Craftsman began using a distinctive "V" shaped shifter on its ratchets, and a review of the catalogs shows these ratchets remained available at least until 1964. For now we will use an estimated date range of 1959-1964 for this feature.

    http://alloy-artifacts.org/craftsman-maker-v.html

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  3. planemechNovember 17, 2023 at 11:47 AM

    From The Duke:

    https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2017/03/vanished-tool-makers-moore-drop-forging.html

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  4. ratsNovember 17, 2023 at 3:42 PM

    Who knows whether the would-be sellers will get anything close to their asking price, but there's a few specimens of the same speed ratchet on that auction site for much more $$.

    Thanks, Mr G., I never saw such a thing before. Must lie down before I swoon.

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  5. BeazldNovember 17, 2023 at 4:13 PM

    I retired this year after selling construction and industrial tools for 44 years. 4 of those were as a manufacturer’s rep for Danaher Tool. They manufactured Craftsman for years until Sears sold the brabd name to Stanley Black & Decker. I have never seen anything like this speed wrench. You learn something every day, neat tool but I don’t see it worth the asking price. I think there’s a reason why nobody copied it.

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  6. JPNovember 17, 2023 at 4:18 PM

    I don't get it. If there's room to spin the handle you don't need the ratchet, and if you need the ratchet the crank handle is useless... WTF ??

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  7. ratsNovember 17, 2023 at 11:58 PM

    Troublemaker!

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  8. pzakNovember 18, 2023 at 3:15 PM

    It seems to me to be a sort of winch handle. Maybe for some sort of craftsman hand winch. It seems pretty much useless and awkward for any type of wrenching. The ratchet handle is short and the other end would be in the way for almost every task.Only say ratcheting up a jack or other repetitive task would it be any use. Maybe spinning on lugnuts but you couldn't tighten with so little leverage.

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  9. BeazldNovember 18, 2023 at 6:37 PM

    I think pzak is on to something, this is probably a part to some other contraption.

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  10. DaveNovember 19, 2023 at 12:15 PM

    As far as what is, it appears in the Craftsman catalogs of the era so it's not a whatsit. See page 3 of the 1960 catalog as an example:

    https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanHandTools1960/page/n1/mode/2up

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  11. Mister GNovember 19, 2023 at 6:33 PM

    Thanks! I've added the catalog picture to the post. Those tools are expensive, the 95 piece set is probably about a weeks wages for the average guy...

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