Greene Tweed No. C Favorite Reversible Ratchet Wrench

[Wrenchmensch]

I retired from Greene Tweed a few years ago. but I keep my eye out for Greene Tweed (GT) wrenches.  This monstrosity, 27 inches long, and weighing 10 pounds, followed me home today. It is currently frozen up and has a light coating of rust where the paint has rubbed off.  It's the biggest GT wrench I've seen so far.  Guess I'll clean it up, and lube it, over the next several days.

ps.  It took me an hour and a half to clean this baby up today. It was in better shape than I thought.

[international3414]

i did a quick Google,but still not sure what green tweed is,is it oil field business?...thanks

[rusty]

http://www.gtweed.com/news/a-history-of-innovation-greene-tweed-celebrates-150-years/

They are now sorta like GE, doing quite a few different things..

(From their company history page I get the distinct impression they have forgotten much of their own history :(

[Papaw]

I sold a large one of those several years ago to a Green Tweed retiree.

[Wrenchmensch]

At the time I left Greene, Tweed they offered products and materials for use in a number of business groups worldwide, including:  Aerospace & Defense, Fluid Handling, Industrial, Medical & Biotechnology, Oilfield, and Semiconductor. The Company was established in 1863, and was still privately held at the time I retired.   Most of the world's aircraft have Greene Tweed's Chemraz PTFE seals in their landing gear. Greene Tweed tool lines from the early 20th century included basa hammers and defense hammers and a series of large and larger ratchet wrenches with interchangeable sockets.  At one time, I owned a furnace clock made by Greene Tweed!

[bird]

I have a couple of ratchets,  maybe a boiler ratchet????  that are green.tweed.and co.  "favorite reversable ratchet wrench no. 1   I think it measures 5/8  and 3/4.  I thought I had another couple of ratchets....  but, they seem to all be from the Chicago mfg distributing co
I must have more green  tweed wrenches somewhere. 
     I'd love to hear any history persons have to offer about the Green.....       and the Chicago...
cheers,
bird.

[Wrenchmensch]

In my job, I routinely visited every site Greene, Tweed had in the the U. S., Europe and Asia. They area a leading edge technological firm today. In the 19th century, the Company made cast brass hinges, drawer pulls, and door knobs according to an old Company catalog .

Bird, your No. 1 Favorite Reversible Ratchet Wrench manufactured by Greene Tweed has a slew of alternative sockets that come in different sizes and in different hex and square double combinations.  The sizing bosses on the double sockets is somewhat mysterious, using 3/4 C and 5/8 on one socket for example. I bought a No. 1 several years ago that came with 4 different double sockets. The seller also gave me 2 double sockets for a larger Greene Tweed ratchet (but one smaller than the C  wrench that came in yesterday).

[mvwcnews]

I have a 1942 wholesaler's catalog that lists which heads fit the A (15 inch) , B (24 inch), & C (27 inch) handles.   If I can get my scanner ( which is hooked to the ancient Dell "upgraded" from Win98 to XP ) to cooperate, I may be able to post an image of the listing.  It is a half page.  The #34 head for C handle weighs 4 1/2 lbs; the "C" handle weighs 6 1/4  lbs.

[I got a scan into FLICKR -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvwcnews/12127366324/ . You may have to enlarge the image to make out the details. ]

Also take a look at the DATAMP entry for the original 1891 patent ( http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/advance.php?pn=461603&id=41312&set=4 ).

[Wrenchmensch]

Stan:

Thanks for information. I read it fine! 

This wrench appears to have had a long life in Greene Tweed's product line. No wonder. It was made of steel, overbuilt, and virtually indestructible as a result. It is easily disassembled by backing off the set screw and setting the pawl selector on neutral. Once disassembled, the socket can be extracted using a rubber mallet to get it started. Once disassembled, the socket can be cleaned and greased, and put back in, or a previously cleaned, and new lubed socket of a different size can be put in. The set screw should be cleaned and re-inserted in a way that coincides with the socket's groove.

[mvwcnews]

Some pieces of 19th Century technology are hard to better.  Could anyone ever build a better Brooklyn Bridge?  And I don't hear anyone lobbying to replace the U.S. Capitol's cast iron dome.  It is true that Bartholdi & Eifel did not know about electrolysis corrosion when they assembled the Statue of Liberty, but the shell and frame have held up remarkably well even so.