Thewes Pipe Wrench

[Danks]

A recent e-bay purchase has given rise to some confusion, the Wrench in question is a " TRADE  THEWES PYPE-FIT-ER  MARK  10" Pipe wrench  "PAT APLD FOR" on the reverse side of the handle is "THE ELYRIA WRENCH CO.  ELYRIA O." Looking at the Patent 1,552,091 - Sept. 1, 1925, the middle drawing appears to be a similar wrench, except for the size scale on the shank of the movable jaw. However the assignee for the patent is listed as "Ridge  Tool Co."  Is there any other information about The ELYRIA TOOL Co. or was there an association with the RIDGE TOOL Co.

[lptools]

Hello, Danks. I believe Ridge Tool Co, later became The Ridgid Tool Co., also located in Elyria Ohio. You might want to the the Ridgid website, and see if they have anything about their company history. Regards, Lou

[amecks]

Wow.  You should definitely go to the Ridgid website "About" page and scroll down to the List of Patents.  There's a photo of a patent by inventor Thewes who was from North Ridgeville OH.  So it looks like you have an example of a "Ridgid" pipe wrench that actually predates the company.  I would send your photos to the company and ask them to confirm.  They might even want to buy it from you and would no doubt pay well.
https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/about-ridgid

[d42jeep]

Looks like Al has has hit the nail on the head. The image looks spot on.
-Don

[amecks]

UH... Lou made the connection to Ridgid (Elyria Ohio) and suggested going to the website.  All I did was follow through on his lead.
That is a really cool wrench.

[mvwcnews]

A few years ago in my role as "absentee bidder agent" for auctions held in conjunction with the MVWC meets, I fielded bids for a gent who was collecting for the "historic / research" facet of Ridge Tool.  In the course of e-mail exchange he noted that THEWES had produced that version of the pipe wrench prior to his connection to Ridge Tool.  So now we see one of the examples of patent no. 1,552,091 produced before the patent was granted, and with markings that correlate to what the gent from Ridge Tool told me.  Now I can do an update to the DATAMP entry for the patent.  The same design also appears with RIDGE TOOL maker marks so this wrench dates to late 1924 / early 1925. (All these locations are part of greater Cleveland; some have named Interstate exits).

[Chillylulu]

I've always understood that Ridge Tool made Ridgid pipe wrenches.

Now that they make all kinds of tools, did they actually change the comoany name?

Chilly

[Danks]

I sent the original message off to Ridgid through their website and have just received the following reply from the company.

"Hello,

Ridge Tool Company was founded in 1923  by Carl Ingwer Sr. and William Thewes, in the city of Elyria, OH.  The original manufacturing plant was located in North Ridgeville, OH.

The first RIDGID wrenches were marked as “patent pending”.  All previous wrenches under the “Thewes” name were forerunners to this model.

Thank you,"

Thanks for all the replies. Cheers

[Bill Houghton]

Good that there are still companies that know their own history.  Imagine asking someone at Black and Decker about early Black and Decker stuff.

[d42jeep]

Here is a 10” Ridgid that I believe was made in 1931. It is fairly well established that last digit on the hook is a date code and this one doesn’t have the patent number.
-Don

[Danks]

Further to the Thewes PYPE-FIT-ER wrench story I have received a second reply from The Ridge Tool Co, it states in part:-

  "William Thewes, applied for the intital patent on his unique wrench design in May, 1922. His unitary handle offered a marked increase in strength over the at the time, commonly used Stillson wrenches, which incorporated two piece housings. As you may have found in your research, there were a number of patents issued to Mr. Thewes for improvements in his Heavy-Duty pipe wrench, notably later filings in 1923, 1924, and 1928.

  Mr. Thewes was joined by other investors in founding the Ridge Tool Machine Company of Elyria, Ohio, in February, 1922. The company purchased the building, land, and other assets of a defunct manufacturing company in the nearby community of North Ridgeville, Ohio. I have attempted to research the Elyria Wrench Company over the years, and have come to the conclusion that this short lived entity bridged the gap in the start-up of production under the RIDGID brand, which came later in 1923.   

  As you may know, Ridge Tool returned to Elyria in 1943, where we continue to this day producing our flagship wrench. The RIDGID pipe wrench has been joined by hundreds of additional products, all produced to the same demanding standards embodied in our wrenches.  The Elyria facility has also been joined by many other sites throughout the world, but remains home for our wrench production. This facility is over 700,00 square feet, and employs state of the art manufacturing capabilities. We are passionate about quality, so much so, we even produce our own ductile iron as used in our wrench handles and other products."

The patent referred to above (Filed May 26, 1922. Serial No. 563,801) and granted as US Patent 1,549,164 on August 11, 1925 - William G. Thewes, of Ridgeville, Ohio, Assignor to the Ridge Tool Company of North Ridgeville Ohio, A Corporation of Ohio. This patent does not appear on the DATAMP database.

Cheers