WARD MASTER ratchet

[Northwoods]

I have an older round head female 1/2" Ward Master ratchet with what I would call a captured plug which is held in place by a small slot in the plug. 
The handle is a simple rod with a knurled end.
24 teeth.
Any thoughts?

[EVILDR235]

I can't comment on the ratchet, but I may have one in a Home Depot orange bucket that is buried at the moment. I do know I have a set of WM sockets in both 8 and 12 point in 1/2 inch drive. Bought my first set of metric tools at Wards for my new job in 1981. They were made by Thorsen. The most common Wards tools I see and Powr Kraft and Riverside. I believe Eclipse was another Wards brand of tool. I wonder why Alloy Artifacts does not have anything on their website about Wards ?

EvilDr235

[bonneyman]

I can't comment on the ratchet, but I may have one in a Home Depot orange bucket that is buried at the moment. I do know I have a set of WM sockets in both 8 and 12 point in 1/2 inch drive. Bought my first set of metric tools at Wards for my new job in 1981. They were made by Thorsen. The most common Wards tools I see and Powr Kraft and Riverside. I believe Eclipse was another Wards brand of tool. I wonder why Alloy Artifacts does not have anything on their website about Wards ?

EvilDr235

Could it be the Wards market was too small? Even in their heyday Wards was much smaller than say Sears.
When I worked for Sears I heard that they had the largest number of appliance service technicians - 15,000. The second largest was Wards - with 1,500!

[skipskip]

In our area Wards was the BIG store for years.

6 story stories and auto shop, it was  a 'destination' for  shoppers for miles around.

the only serious retailer thru the 50's

Sears opened a mall store in the late 60's and Wards faded away by the early 70's

So I find Wards tools in all the  different brand names quite often.

Newer tools , 60's and later are mostly Craftsman.

I find Wards bikes two  to one over Sears tho, not sure why. Maybe because I dont buy newer ones.

Skip

[amecks]

EVILDR, Alloy Artifacts has a lot on Wards but its not in its own heading.  Probably because it was always other companies that made their tools.  On AA you will see the search window on the top right.  Just type in Wards - 41 results.
Al

[d42jeep]

Here is a Ward Master set I found last November. I’ve since traded it to Twertsy. The ratchet looked just like you described.
-Don

[Northwoods]

Here is a Ward Master set I found last November. I’ve since traded it to Twertsy. The ratchet looked just like you described.
-Don

Boom!  That is it.  I'll ask Twertsy. 

Thanks.

[d42jeep]

I found a few more old pictures of the ratchet.
-Don