Tool Talk
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Plyerman on January 20, 2018, 02:48:22 PM
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There pliers looked kind of unusual, so I couldn't resist getting them. They have a set of special jaws for lifting automotive battery terminals off from the battery post. They also have an open end wrench at the end of each handle, 11/16" and 9/16".
I was not able to locate any info about the Konker company though, other than they "may" have been located in Marion, Ohio.
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Two things about the tool I can't figure out:
1) What are the "hooks" on the ends of the wrenches supposed to be used for?
2) What are the "teeth" on the end of the upper plier jaw supposed to be used for?
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Hello, Bob. Nice find. That seems to be one of the better designs for function. Regards, Lou
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Two things about the tool I can't figure out:
1) What are the "hooks" on the ends of the wrenches supposed to be used for?
2) What are the "teeth" on the end of the upper plier jaw supposed to be used for?
Can the pliers be flipped so the handle hooks face inward? Maybe used to carry batteries?
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Two things about the tool I can't figure out:
1) What are the "hooks" on the ends of the wrenches supposed to be used for?
2) What are the "teeth" on the end of the upper plier jaw supposed to be used for?
Can the pliers be flipped so the handle hooks face inward? Maybe used to carry batteries?
Nope, there is a raised "stop" that prevents the handles from flipping all the way around. Good idea though.
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Do they open wide enough that the hooks could grip the battery posts from the inside? Keep in mind that (a) the posts used to be the highest thing on a battery, before the maintenance free batteries came along, which required more headroom for the cells, and (b) the posts are closer together on a six-volt battery, and, even on a vintage 12-volt battery, the posts are closer together than you often find on modern batteries. Cars didn't require quite as much battery back when radios and even heaters were optional!
Just had to replace the battery on one of our cars, and am grateful that they're building handles into modern batteries; I could not, for the life of me, find the battery-carrying strap, and the battery was in a box in the engine compartment, where it would have been a very devil to remove by gripping the sides.
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Aha, you may be on to something there. They open to just over 12 inches between the "claws." Photo below.
So you would have to leave the terminals attached in order to lift the battery, if I am following you correctly? (Were posts usually located along the centerline on old batteries? If not it doesn't seem like the lift would be balanced.)
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Looks dangerous!!! Wouldn't that cause a short, if the pliers are not insulated at the pivot???
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I would say that those "teeth" on the end would be for reaming/cleaning off the inside of the batttery terminal (many still made out of lead and get covered in white lead oxide...scrape it down to bare metal).
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Hello, Bob. Herbrand made a No. 177 Battery Pliers. They show a link to a Patent #1,678,313. The handles on that tool are used for lifting a battery, and if I have read it correctly, you would be lifting the battery case from the sides, not the terminals. Just my two cents, Lou
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Maybe think wedges, if you use the wrench ends to loosen the battery cable bolt then use the end wedges to pry the cable end up. Either with the points down as a fulcrum point or the points up and the heal as the fulcrum point.
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Lots of good ideas here. Lou I did take a look at 1,678,313 which is close in a lot of ways to the Konker. It does show lifting the battery by the case, but it seems to me that the case would be bolted down at the bottom, and then the battery strapped into it, so it doesn't make sense to me how you could lift the whole case..?
Unfortunately I don't think we'll know for sure what the intention was without finding the patent.
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...but it seems to me that the case would be bolted down at the bottom
I think the battery being bolted down at the bottom is a fairly modern thing.
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Hmmm. Screenshots of patent 1,678,313 below, showing the handles spread apart and being used to lift the battery. Also the part talking about lifting it by the case. I just assumed the "case" was a separate metal box mounted to the car itself, and that the battery sat inside of it.
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Ad from 1928 Beckley-Ralston catalog on pg. 11 of the June 2009 MVWC Newsletter : " terminal remover - terminal cleaner - post scraper - battery carrier - hammer - two screw drivers - four wrenches " Trade name used by MARION MFG. CORP, MARION OH.
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Ad from 1928 Beckley-Ralston catalog on pg. 11 of the June 2009 MVWC Newsletter : " terminal remover - terminal cleaner - post scraper - battery carrier - hammer - two screw drivers - four wrenches " Trade name used by MARION MFG. CORP, MARION OH.
Boy that sure sounds like it, thanks Stan!
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Here's an Indestro battery clamp lifter that I think is along the same lines as the OP's plier-tool.
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that's one that I havn't seen before.
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Auto batteries in the 20s had two finger holes cast into each end of the case, standing proud, 1.5-2 inches above the case. These hooks would have fit nicely into them to lift, as per the photo.
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You mean like this John? I don't think I've seen one with the ears like that , at least that I can remember.
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I have seen one case outside a magazine. Should have picked it up, was laying in an iron pile, hard rubber. They used tar to seal over the top of the cells. This one was long since empty.
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I have seen many a strange looking tools never one like this one. I do see where each part has its own function.
Awesome tool,
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...but it seems to me that the case would be bolted down at the bottom
I think the battery being bolted down at the bottom is a fairly modern thing.
Yep. Back when I was a gas pump jockey in the 60s - we refilled the gas pumps by going out back and milking the dinosaur herd - pretty well all batteries were held down by brackets that sat atop the batteries, held down by long bolts that went into the base of the battery tray. Two common patterns, as I recall: a bracket that surrounded the battery top (you had to be careful not to let the hot cable touch it) and one that went across the battery about in the middle. The first kind was more or less universal for six-volt batteries, because six-volt batteries had a cap for refilling the electrolyte in the center of the top; the second kind was more flexible as to battery size. Going back to the first kind, it wasn't uncommon to wind up with a top clamp that was larger than the battery, because the right size was out of stock when you had to replace one; for obvious reasons, you couldn't have one that was smaller than the battery.
They were easier to remove/install than some of the modern bottom-mounted clamps. On our newer Volvo (2008), I needed a spring removal tool to remove and reinstall the clamp. Volvo puts the battery in a plastic box, and thoughtfully provides a very long clamping bolt, but they seem to think mechanics have eight-inch-long fingers the dimensions of a feeler gauge for reaching the actual clamp. And they were also easier to field engineer/modify, when you couldn't get the right kind.
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and then there were the automobiles that had the battery under the drivers seat. back in the early 50's, I had a 1937 Graham, and
one day I had a hot seat with smoke, I pulled over and removed the seat, there was a broken seat spring that was touching the battery.
I made a wood cover for the opening. those were the days when sometimes we would bring the battery in the house at night on very
cold nights. auto's have come a long ways.
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and then there were the automobiles that had the battery under the drivers seat. back in the early 50's, I had a 1937 Graham, and one day I had a hot seat with smoke, I pulled over and removed the seat, there was a broken seat spring that was touching the battery.
That was a problem at times with the old VW bugs, too, which kept the battery under the back seat. As I remember it now, they were issued with a factory cover over everything, but the cover didn't always survive the first battery change. The buses were safer, but the battery was off to one side of the engine compartment, and you couldn't add electrolyte/water without a special low-clearance battery-water bottle, or a turkey baster and a mirror. Or removing the battery, which was a pain.
And then we have the Triumph TR2 (and maybe TR3, can't recall), on which the two six-volt batteries, connected in series to make a 12-volt system, were one on each side of the driveshaft. The cable went over the driveshaft, with a sheet metal shroud to keep it from rubbing; but if the u-joints cut loose, the driveshaft could beat the !@$%$&^ out of the batteries.
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I had an MGA and the battery was under the rear floorboard where you could't see the Lucas Smoke escaping !
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Ha ha... love the batteries. Years ago a friend had a Karmen Ghia and the battery was just loose in the trunk and i was out tooling around getting some practice on a stick since i hadn't driven one in a while. Sudden stop pulled the battery loose on the one side and i couldn't get started again (well, not at first). :tongue:
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Ha ha... love the batteries. Years ago a friend had a Karmen Ghia and the battery was just loose in the trunk and i was out tooling around getting some practice on a stick since i hadn't driven one in a while. Sudden stop pulled the battery loose on the one side and i couldn't get started again (well, not at first). :tongue:
There was, originally, a hold-down on those.
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Just found out Epstein has scans of old tool catalogs they have lying around. Was looking through their 1966 Herbrand catalog, and came across a "Battery lifter and scraper" plier that looks very close to the OP's tool. And they're claiming it's a design exclusive to them. Worth a look-see.
https://archive.org/stream/Herbrand1966ToolCatalog/herbrand1966catalog#page/n33/mode/2up
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Bonneyman, that's this one, bought 40 years ago on the Amsterdam flea market.
Regards,
Henri
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3714/12286127806_d0e087fed9_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/jHFBKL)Herbrand and New Britain Pliers, Made in U.S.A. (https://flic.kr/p/jHFBKL) by Henri Nasutus (https://www.flickr.com/photos/100761653@N07/), on Flickr
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Just found out Epstein has scans of old tool catalogs they have lying around. Was looking through their 1966 Herbrand catalog, and came across a "Battery lifter and scraper" plier that looks very close to the OP's tool. And they're claiming it's a design exclusive to them. Worth a look-see.
https://archive.org/stream/Herbrand1966ToolCatalog/herbrand1966catalog#page/n33/mode/2up
Ah-hah! It says in the catalog listing that the "teeth" on the end of the upper jaw are used to scrape the inside of the battery terminal. Obvious now, but I probably would not have guessed that.
(http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=23076.0;attach=48621;image)
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Yeah, it is a great looking little tool.