Need help with Plumb patent...the hammer & axe Plumb

[mikeswrenches]

Around 1955 or so, Plumb introduced the Perma-Bond method of securing the handle to the tool.  That is the dark red colored plastic you see in the top of their tools where you would normally see the wedges stuck in the end of the handle.

Prior to this they used what has been variously called a screw wedge or cone screw.  I believe the former is correct, but the latter describes it perfectly.  It is indeed a cone shaped screw with a rather gradual taper.  The screw is about 1/4 in. in diameter at the head with a slot for a screwdriver.  It is about 1 1/4 in. long and tapers to a point.

The idea was that as the wood in the handle shrank over time and caused the head to loosen you would get out your trusty screwdriver and give the screw a turn or two to tighten things up again.

Most people don' t recognize this design since it is not intuitive, it pretty much looks like any other hammer or hatchet that has had a screw stuck in the end.  The easiest way to recognize this design is that they will be centered directly in the center of the wooden wedge that is also present, and not offset in different directions like you would expect had an inexperienced person done it.

Sorry for the long blurb above.  My real question, if you've made it this far, is what was the patent number for this device, if there was one?  Jim Gehring at the Fine Tool Journal intimated that one existed but didn't mention it.  I checked DATAMP but didn't find it and then spent an hour or two on Google Patents with no luck.  Lots of handle attachment patents just not this one.

If anyone has a copy of The Hammer Book it may be in there.  I forgot to bring mine with me.

Mike

[lbgradwell]

I can tell you it was called the "Take-Up Wedge" and many of their ads from the 1920s depict a hammer with a sticker on the handle claiming it was patented on August 15, 1922.





One might think that would make finding the patent number straightforward, but a search at DATAMP doesn't show it on that date...

[mikeswrenches]

Thanks for the patent date info.  That should get me pointed in the in the right direction.

Mike

[rusty]

FAYETTE R. PLUMB, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
METHOD AND MEANS FOR SECURING WOODEN HANDLES.
1,426,316.   Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

http://www.google.com/patents/US1426316

(Not in datamp)

[mikeswrenches]

Thanks Rusty!!  I'm not sure why I couldn't find it.  I looked thru google patents several different times.  I was beginning to think it was a " ghost" patent.  I am a little surprised that it is not in DATAMP.

Thanks again,
Mike

[Branson]

Any guess how long these were in production?  I've got one I saved when I re-handled something years ago.

[mikeswrenches]

Branson,
   I'm pretty sure that around 1955 was the end of the take up wedge.  Then the Perma- bond system was used.  Tom LaMond on his very good site yesteryears tools, does not give a start date but does list 1955 as the end.

The Saturday Evening Post of August 26, 1922 shows an ad for this wedge system so that it would appear that it was put into production as soon as the patent was issued.

A hammer with this wedge was $1.50 except on the West coast and Canada.

Mike

[Branson]

Thanks, Mike!

Another Mike