*A LOWELL WRENCH* U maybe ain't seen before. ONE BIG ratchet.

[wrenchguy]

Its 41" long, weighs 25 lbs, cast body/handle, machined 2 5/8" hex and internals. Marks include; I-2, B.B. WRENCH, No.3 (the N is partially ground off for lever operation).
Anyone know anything about this ones use, I'm thinking early refinery/pipeline big industrial.  I don't think its connected to the lowell/walden manufacturer.  Please comment, thanks for any help.

[strik9]

A certain alien in SoCal has a smaller version of that.  The company is still making stuff to those old patterns for industrial apps. 

A google search will bring up the company website.  The one I had was taken off the screed of an asphalt layer built in 1980.

[Papaw]

Lowell Wrench Co.was founded in 1868, making a ratchet drill and wrench from D M Moore's patent of 1864. The pictures I see in Cope's "American Wrench Makers" Second edition show very similar wrenches to yours.

[rusty]

What you have is a Lowell 'Bridge Builders' Ratchet, thus the BB marking.

They were available in different sizes for different bolts, as the socket part is built into the ratchet so it doesn't fall off and clonk the fellow working below you on the head.
Not to mention how embarresing it is to tell the boss you dropped the 2" last socket into the river...

[wrenchguy]

Thanks rusty.  U got any idea of age and was there a walden connection during this time frame.

[rusty]

The catalog cut is from 1942, but I have no idea when they started making them or stopped. They are listed various places as makers of ratchets as far back as 1880's.  I don't know of any connection to Walden offhand , beyond the fact they were both in Worcester

[J.A.F.E.]

I have two Lowell ratchets. One is a large ratchet with a fixed socket but different than the one in the OP and smaller. The other is a gem sent to me from a friend in Mexico and will be the subject of a thread covering it and a modification scheduled for it.

[Rory Dempsey]

I have this particular wrench, Patent No. 1798194. 1,1/2 in. No. 3 B.B. Wrench. You are right. It was used to build Bridges over the Welland Canal. We found it while diving in the canal, under one of the Bridges in Welland Ontario.
demps@cogeco.ca
rdempsey@seaway.ca
PS. I work at the canal. 36 Years and counting.

[OilyRascal]

Hi Rory - Appreciate your comments.  You should join up in the fun here.  That's a great testament.  I don't guess even 36 years on the job would have had you with a similar ratchet in your hand at some point?  Give us the details, and some pictures, PLEASE!

[Rory Dempsey]

Send me your E:Mail address and I will send you a pic., of the wrench in question. It's a beauty.

[leg17]

Rory
My grandfather was a blacksmith, and then a foreman, when the canal was re-done about a hundred years ago.
A neat connection.
Tom

[Rory Dempsey]

Tom
Send me your E:Mail and I can send other pics you might like. We just abolished the Blacksmith position here a couple of years ago. We have had some fantastic Blacksmiths at the canal. They could forge many of the replacement parts that we could never buy. The canal was pretty well built as, "As Built", and the drawings would come after. Truly a "Jewel of Canada".
demps@cogeco.ca
rdempsey@seaway.ca

[wrenchguy]

The "wrench", is the lower 1 in this group.  i don't know what happened to the other photos.