Inside a ratchet: How they work

[mrchuck]

Thanks for re-surrecting your old post on ratchet innards.
I have depended upon them many times as I venture into the "mine field" without experience.
I'm still alive with all limbs thanks to you,,,mrchuck.

[lzenglish]

Thanks for re-surrecting your old post on ratchet innards.

Yes, I agree. The long running ratchet post is an Excellent Educational Tool, and has saved me more than once! Thanks George, and Please keep up the Good Work!

Wayne

[snapmom]

A one inch drive No. 73 Snap on, from the 30s

[snapmom]

Snap on FR84

[bonneyman]

Thanks for the kind words, folks!

Be assured that I'm learning as much as you all. The thread is a community project. The more contributors we get, the better it will be.

[bonneyman]

"Semi-free" floating pawl design by New Britain. Used by Sparta, NAPA, Husky, Blackhawk, and others
UPDATE: I've seen a Craftsman Digi-torque rebuild kit on ebay, with enough detail to be able to tell it's this type of pawl system. FYI

With the semi-free floater, the coil spring under the pawl allows the up and down movement, while helping to keep the pawl in relative position. The close-pin spring switches the pawls direction, as well as providing the ratcheting action. With the total free floater, the coil spring performs all of these functions.
The shape of the selector ridge (a hyphen with a bulge in the center) is a dead give-away.

[bonneyman]

Ratcheting screwdrivers

They seem to be an ever-popular tool in most tool boxes, so I'll post the ones I've had. They do have some interesting actions in there!

70's SCREWBALL (yellow egg-shaped ball - mine is painted red) used stamped steel pawls - I count 38 teeth on the stamped steel gear.
A great tool history on it here: https://harveycountyvoices.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-tool-with-all-features-missing-in.html

70's EASYDRIVER (half red/half black ball) used three plastic step pawls, with 7 teeth on each. The inside of the ball has 180 teeth. With so many teeth, even though it's plastic, there's plenty of engagement- and it doesn't slip even under heavy load.
http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?number=3742787&typeCode=0
https://patents.google.com/patent/US3742787

I have a palm ratchet made in Mexico that uses two tic-toc pawls and a 24 teeth stamped gear.

YANKEE screwdrivers utilized a pair of stamped steel "L" pawls.

Snap-On ratcheting screwdrivers used a pair of what I call them "bleacher" pawls, because they look like the bleachers at the local high school.
If someone has pics of the assembly, please post them. Thanks!

[rusty]

This is what's in the rivited together Blackhawk 9811 ratchet.
Essentially a winch type mechanism.

[bonneyman]

This is what's in the rivited together Blackhawk 9811 ratchet.
Essentially a winch type mechanism.

Cool!
Looks like an easy mechanism to fix. A replacement pawl could easily be cut and ground out of shop stock.
Is the gear reversible by removal and flipping it over? As is, all the wear will concentrate on one side of the teeth. If it's reversible - when it gets worn -  you can flip the gear, and have fresh teeth surface.

[bonneyman]

Some more rat pictures.

Here's a New Britain NM40 in 3/8"
Two-step tic-toc pawls, shared-spring design, 20 tooth gear:

And a None Better (N.B. = New Britain) design S40. Same type of pawls, slightly different shared spring and selector pivot design, 26 teeth:  http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=52590
You may have noticed that some of the older "BE" Craftsman ratchets are the same. This is because New Britain had a Craftsman contract for many years.

A Diamalloy reefer wrench, using a triangular pawl, instead of the more typical tic-toc, waterwheel gear, or winch-type rocker pawl setups. 24 teeth

[bonneyman]

What kind of Craftsman rat do I have?
Some folks may be unfamiliar with the minor differences between the two very similar Craftsman round head rats. Here they are in 1/4" versions, side by side.

The top rat is what's commonly known as a "Tri-Wing" - the selector has 3 panels on it.
The lower rat is a "Tri-Prop" - the selector has a center screw and three projections like a propeller.

The Tri-Wing is an 80's era round head using a single see-saw pawl. Made in Taiwan by Stanley for Sears. My example is not QR, though later rebuild kits were QR.
The Tri-Prop is a sliding pawl design, intro'd in 2009 or so, cannot be QR, and is USA made as far as I know.

[bonneyman]

Ratcheting open end wrench: Bonney Cam-Loc

Here are a pair of double Cam-Loc wrench, used in the automotive industry.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2550010

It used a series of spring-loaded pins and steel ramps to simulate a ratcheting action. Non-reversible, you flipped the wrench over to ratchet in the opposite direction.
While tightening, the hex points of the fastener moved the pins against the ramps, which let the pins slide only so far forward before jamming them. In ratcheting direction, the hex points pushed the pins backwards against the spring, which allowed enough movement for the pins to skip over the hex point. My example has 5 pins (for 6-point fasteners), but others I've seen have 10 pins (12-point action). Most Cam-Loc wrenches were a single size, but mine is a shorty double, probably for tight work on automotive hydraulics or refrigeration fittings.
Found the next size DFE today (8-12-13) and added a pic.

[bonneyman]

Here's some more ratchets out of my picture archives.

A pair of Indestro pear-head 3/8". One with a genuine Batman pawl, the other with a Nighthawk pawl. As far as I could tell, either set of guts would fit in either head.
The bottom pic is a Duro 672 in 1/2" drive. The Nighthawk pawl is clearly visible.

[rusty]

The 1/4 drive Sparta is like it's big brothers,  but a with spring clip instead of a C-clip.
Getting the tiny spring clip out is an interesting challenge...
I didn't take the guts apart, they worked fine, and I can barely see the parts...
So all it got was cleaned and lubed...

[bonneyman]

Nice Sparta rat!
For some reason, I started thinking NAPA while looking at this ratchet. Did Sparta make tools for NAPA auto parts stores?

And, I'm learning about the "too small to see" thing. Seems to have hit with a vengeance since turning 50. :(