1950's New Britain NB50 Multi Function Ratchet 3/8 Drive with Pictures

[UncleBill]

I was doing some plumbing today and couldn't find my regular ratchet and quickly looked into my misc. box pile of estate bought tools.  I saw this fat headed ratchet and it looked perfect for the space I needed to use it in.  After looking at this odd ratchet it did more than I expected and then I thought 'Wow this thing is pretty cool'. How it work is if you put the 3/8" square head directly up you can use it for a locked drive, if you pull it down the mechanism then works like a regular mechanical drive ratchet, then if you twist the big dome head you can reverse the mechanical action.  I hope that all makes sense ;)

Now this is going in my toolbox.

[Northwoods]

Wow!  I like old New Britain, None Better, Husky stuff.  Got a nice NB22 extension today.  3/8" drive.  11 inches long.

But that NB50 is something else.  Would large scale production have squelched sales of their regular rats?  Or does the NB50 have a fatal flaw that doomed its production?

Any thoughts?

[UncleBill]

I personally think it works great.  The flaw may be the exposed gears.