Author Topic: Plomb Los Angeles date code question  (Read 1797 times)

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Offline moparthug

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Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« on: July 03, 2017, 05:32:12 PM »
I just picked up a Plomb #1145, 1x15/16th box. It's marked Los Angeles which I think is pre-1939? But it has a date code of 7C which should be 1947.

Examples on Alloy Artifacts show 5A as 1935, 8B as 1938, and 1C as 1941.

Am I reading the date codes all wrong? If so, what year is a Los Angeles stamped wrench with 7C?

If it's from 1937, shouldn't the date code be 7B?????
Rogue River, OR.

Offline mrbill

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Re: Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2017, 08:00:00 PM »
I think the 7 is the year and C is the month (i.e., March).  During WWII it seems they changed their scheme to the second character being A,B,C,D,E for 1941-1945, and the first letter the month.  I have a fair number of B's and C's but have not seen any D's or E's myself.  toolarchives.com has some research:  http://toolarchives.com/node/232

Bill

Offline Northwoods

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Re: Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2017, 09:58:09 PM »
D's and E's might be scarce, having been replaced by WF's during the later war years.
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Offline moparthug

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Re: Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2017, 10:22:26 PM »
Thanks MrBill, that's the link I needed to see, I'm good with it being March 1937.
Rogue River, OR.

Offline Twertsy

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Re: Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2017, 03:49:05 AM »
D's and E's might be scarce, having been replaced by WF's during the later war years.

The WF series was an entirely different contract than the one with the War Dept.  WF tools were for the Wright Field contract, whereas the A-E scheme was put on tools sold to the public or general War Dept.

Offline Northwoods

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Re: Plomb Los Angeles date code question
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2017, 08:59:41 AM »
D's and E's might be scarce, having been replaced by WF's during the later war years.

The WF series was an entirely different contract than the one with the War Dept.  WF tools were for the Wright Field contract, whereas the A-E scheme was put on tools sold to the public or general War Dept.

That is what I was (evidently ineffectively) trying to say.  Thanks for filling in all my missing words.
The ORIGINAL Northwoods.