Got  this little honey at an estate sale during the half off Saturday run.  No markings that I can see or feel, but it did have an old BE Craftsman 1/2" deep wall socket attached to it's 3/8" drive chassis.  It's like 9" long.  Very fine ratchet action especially after the PB blaster spritzing.  Doeson't look like anything I've looked at in Alloy Artifacts for sure.

TIA

DM&FS

Maybe it's marked on the other side of the cover. Dissassemble and check.

Damn.  What tool maker wants to be that covert???  I'll try it out though.

DM&FS

Dim,

It looks like it might have been made by Plomb/Penens and the finish makes me think WWII era.  Check out Alloy Artifacts,  Plomb: A Gallery of Tools.  I think you'll see the similarities.  Check out the WF series ratchets in particular.

Your last picture is at odds with your discription (i.e. 3/8 drive and 9" long). It looks to be a 1/4" or 9/32" drive.  Can you help clear up the confusion.

NO markings on the innards, but I did photograph the insides and that might lead to a clue or at least a internal design clue from the gurus.  Meanwhile, I'll take the advice and check the Plomb and Pennens articles.

Thanks

DM&FS

I forgot;  the drive is 3/8" and yes, it's only 7 1/2" long.

DM&FS

Quote from: dimwittedmose51 on May 11, 2011, 05:12:51 PM
Damn.  What tool maker wants to be that covert???  I'll try it out though.

DM&FS

Sometimes previous owners will take it apart and reverse the cover. It happens.

Toolpants or Bonneyman showed one like that recently, but might have been on the old forum.

Well, my Plomb saved search on ebay  turned up a Plomb Wright Field or something like that on ebay and it's en exact twin except their 3/8" drive has a hole at the end of it for hanging and of course, the PLOMB logo and the WF-37 or somesuch underneath the drive square.  I think we've solved everything except how old this is and that's close enough for me I guess.

Thanks

DM&FS

If it is Plomb Wright Field, it was for war production (WWII) , and is probably cadmium plated. Do not wire wheel it! Cadmium is poisonous.
http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/plomb-gallery-p3.html

It looks like a Plomb / Penens ratchet to me. I have seen unmarked ones like that before. Plomb, Penens, P&C, Proto were all related and made more types of ratchets than can be counted. I am trying to put together a collection of all the different types.

EvilDr235

Yeah, this one doesn't really even need wire wheeling, but thanks for the headsup.  Wonder how much lead paint I've ground off in the past year or so.....

DM&FS

It is a Plomb WF-21. I have two unmarked like yours and two or three marked. Have some in other drive sizes as well that are unmarked. I have no idea why they left them unmarked but it is common.

Plomb did some strange things sometimes. It seems virtually every ratchet I come across has some difference. Sometimes the markings, sometimes the size of the logo, sometimes the plomb bobs directions, sometimes differences in the forging dies. The selector switch sometimes are different too. Sometimes they face the drive lug sometimes they face the handle.

Here's a 3/8 dr I picked up a couple weeks ago.  The only marking is the small 'O' in the recessed area of the handle.  I also have a 9/32 dr that only has the 'O'.

I have one like that with the O in a different spot, on the other side and the other end.