36" Coes key lock

[Carl Wagner]

A trip to the swap meet today netted me a fairly rare 36" Coes key lock. Has one small repair that i can clean up nicely. Will wind up on ebay soon.

[jimwrench]

 Neat I've never found one in the wild.

[Carl Wagner]

Was laying on a tabe. $26 made it mine. Pretty good score.

[1930]

Why do they call it a key lock?

[Carl Wagner]

Cause of the key or wedge in the adjustment. You can see the well done repair in this photo. Itll look better when i clean it up a bit.

[mikeswrenches]

Very nice find!
  A guy who was set-up in the field at Donnelly's July auction this year had one for $250, and a friend of mine sold one this year at Flywheelers for $250.  Good luck on yours.

Now you need to look for one of the 72 inch ones.

Mike

[Carl Wagner]

Thats good to know. I know theyre hard to find.

[Lewill2]

I know of only one 72 inch Coes Key Wrench. Herb Page had it for a number of years in his collection and he is pictured with it in his book on Coes wrenches. He sold it with his collection a few years ago and it now resides in Maine.

[Carl Wagner]

Wrench is marked U.S.R.P. on lower jaw as well. Any ideas?

[Carl Wagner]

Heres a pic

[Lewill2]

Not sure on what the mark means but most of these that I have seen have some type of damage. I have a 32 inch that the main bar is bent near the upper jaw. I also have a 48 inch that has been welded all around the top jaw where it meets the main bar. They both still display I don't intend to use either one.

1930, the key lock, locks the adjustment and lower jaw assembly in place. There are 2 different positions on the main bar that are notched to set the adjustment assembly into, the key on the back side (wedge) locks the lower jaw and adjustment assembly into position.

[amecks]

U.S.R.P. ?  I googled it - How about United States Republic of Phillipines?  Apparently for a short period of time after the Spanish-American War the Phillipines were ceded to the U.S.  Possibly this would fit the time frame for this wrench?
Al. (Back to work)....