Inside a ratchet: How they work

[bonneyman]

Never seen one of those either, but, sometimes the trick is pushing the release button in all the way with the reverse lever held in the middle.....

+1 on that. I've not seen this style of ratchet before either, but I'm figuring it's a dual movement removal trick.

[bonneyman]

Thanks for the 1500 hits, folks! Guess this thread is really helping people.
I'll be trying to post some more ratchet pics of recent acquisitions to make it more interesting.

[bonneyman]

I've had to delete my photobucket account due to my disagreement with their new terms of use policy. That will probably drop off all of my ratchet pictures. I'm looking into other options at this time, but I wanted you all to know in advance so you're not caught unawares.
They say my account will be deleted within 48 hours. If you print the thread before then, you will at least have a hard copy of my pics. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Papaw]

I downloaded every photo in your Photobucket Album, but I could only get the 640x480 size. I saved them in a zip file, and also extracted them and saved them on a thumb drive.

[bonneyman]

Wow! Impressive! I'm really a low tech guy at heart.
I have all the photos on my hard drive. If I can figure a way to get them from my computer back to the forum, I'll reload them that way. Just a bit busy on this end right now.

[lauver]

hofferwood,

Thanks for post #13 re: Sparta CS-45 1/2" drive round head.  Your photos of the ratchet core saved my bacon and my sanity today. 

I picked up a nice vintage Husky CS-45 this weekend that was not working smoothly at all.  I took the core out to clean and lube it.  Reassembled it and it was still not working 100%.  So I did a complete disassembly and flattenened both top plates and deburred several pieces.  When I went to reassemble it I had trouble remembering how it came apart.  Then I remembered this thread.  Bingo! Your photos helped me get it back together.  Now all is well with my newly acquired Husky.

For the record, my ratchet has patent 2,291,389 stamped on it.  This is the patent for this Kilness ratchet mechanism.  This patent was applied for in 1957 and issued in 1961.  This patent was assigned to the New Britain Machine Company, where Kilness worked.  There are some really nice illustrations of this ratchet mechanism attached to the patent.

Thanks again...

[johnsironsanctuary]

Now for the T-Rex of ratchets. A Williams 'SUPERECTOR'  E1-24 standard duty. If you look at my 'Williams, Herbrand, Armstrong catalogs' post in Catalog forum, you can see the 1939 catalog page for this piece.  My 24 inch is the baby of the family. It only weighs a little under 11 pounds. The made them as an E1-24" standard duty, an E1-36" standard duty, an E2-36 heavy duty, an E2-48 heavy duty and an E3-48 extra heavy duty. This is a 4 pawl design as you can see.  The unusual part is that the sockets are forgings with the ratchet teeth milled into the socket. You simply backed out the two set screws in the hole and the set the shifter lever in neutral and the socket/ratchet slides out to change the wrench size. The set screws are a little chewed from being used, but the rest of this wrench shows absolutely no signs of wear. The little rat in the photo is a Craftsman 1/4". If anyone has any sockets, I would be interested in buying them.

Here is one on Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-J-H-WILLIAMS-THE-SUPERECTOR-e3-48-RATCHET-3-7-8-SOCKET-/110760924070?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c9dd93a6

He says it weighs 59 pounds. Obviously, not a wrench for wimps.

Bonneyman, thanks for the post. I NEVER would have learned all of this if it weren't for this post.

[kxxr]

I get it. Do you think those are the original type screws?

[johnsironsanctuary]

Yes, I think that the screws are original. They show a little wear from being tightened, but not much and the wrench itself is in such remarkable shape.

[Uncle Buck]

This thread is a smashing resource guys! Very well done for the folks needing to crack some of these old timers open!

[KeepinOldBolts]

Here is a S-K slide type reversing 3/8 drive ratchet. No part number. It's a pretty coarse sounding 32 tooth mechanism as the cylindrical slide performs the ratchet action.

Arrows reflect the detents for the spring loaded ball.

[bonneyman]

I am so gratified that our little stickey here has surpassed 2000 views. And I'm glad you all are getting so much out of it!
With Papaws help, I've figured out how to post pics from my PC to the forum, so will be adding some new photos as I get the ratchets.

And that is a great exploded view of the S-K frankenstein ratchet! Angled spring and all!

[bonneyman]

Old Craftsman Moore Drop Forge ratchet.
Prior to the LLTD, MDF rats were the standard ratchet offered by Sears. They used a batman pawl setup. A  friend had a pair he inherited form his dad, and he was kind enough to let me take them apart and take pics. Thanks RG!

We have a 1/2" and a 1/4" MDF, with interior views. Then there are two pics of the MDF compared to an LLTD for comparison.

[bonneyman]

Picked up a "new" ratchet yesterday. A Williams M-52A. Couldn't wait to post pics.
Uses dual see-saw pawls, but they're offset from one another. Bottom pic has it next to a Bonney 1/4" with dual see-saw pawls, and the offset is clearly visible. 40 teeth in gear head.

[bonneyman]

Been on the lookout for an ergonomic ratchet since ruining my Matco. While I had it apart for cleaning and lube, I snapped a few pics. Single see-saw pawl, like the S-K and Thorsen roundheads. Very smooth, and comfortable to hold. And very small head diameter. Great for tight places. Wonder how the durability is on these?