When I started to post this Type Study on the website, I was fairly confident that I had all the basic 1/2" drive, 3/8" drive and 1/4" drive, raised panel Sears/Craftsman ratchets produced between 1956 and 1993. Like so many times before when assembling this information, I was wrong. After I had published the whole thing on this website, all 14 Types, I learned that the Type 1, 3/8" drive was originally offered with a 32 tooth gear. You may recall that the Type 1, 1/2" drive was initially offered with a 40 tooth gear that was later reduced to 32 teeth. Well, the 3/8" drive was later reduced from 32 teeth to 24 teeth. When I originally wrote the Type 1 post, I did not include the 3/8" drive, 32 tooth iteration because I didn't know it existed. Anyway, if you go back to page 1 of the thread, I updated the post and pictures to include my newly acquired 3/8" drive, 32 tooth Type 1 ratchet. The updated photos now depict the 40 tooth and 32 tooth 1/2" drives, the 32 tooth and 24 tooth 3/8" drives and the 24 tooth 1/4" drive. To date, I'm not aware of another Type 1, 1/4" drive ratchet with a higher (or lower) tooth count than 24. Still, it's not impossible, with 30 or 32 teeth, or maybe 18 teeth not being out of the question. If I find one like that, I'll be sure to update the Type Study.
As for acquiring that tough to find Type 1, 3/8" drive, 32 tooth ratchet, well, I turned to a guy I met on eBay. He goes by "needmorewrenches." His auctions are top notch and during the last few years, I've purchased more than a couple ratchets from him that are featured in this Type Study. He was familiar with the Type Study prior to me finding out I was missing a ratchet. When I finally discovered I was in fact missing one, I reached out to him for help, offering to pay for the ratchet if he had it in his collection. In response, he said he had what I was looking for and volunteered to donate the ratchet to me for purposes of updating my project. A few days later, a package arrived in the mail that not only had the Type 1, 3/8" drive, 32 tooth ratchet I was looking for, but also another 24 tooth version as well. It was more than generous and greatly appreciated! Thanks again to "needmorewrenches."
Upon receiving the two ratchets, I took them apart for purposes of cleaning them and checking out the 32 tooth gear in a side-by-side comparison to the 24 tooth gear. Recall that I already had a Type 1, 3/8" drive, 24 tooth gear iteration. After getting the ratchets disassembled, what I noticed was that the pawls are slightly different, specifically in terms of their teeth. As one would expect, the teeth on the pawl that came out of the 32 tooth ratchet are slightly smaller to mesh better with the finer teeth on the gear. Unless one is comparing a 24 tooth pawl to a 32 tooth pawl, side-by-side, it might be easy to mistake one for the other. That being said, this is what I really found to be interesting. If you take a close look at the first photo below, you will see three sets of gears and pawls taken out of three Type 1, 3/8" drive ratchets, The set on the left is from the 24 tooth version I had when I started the Type Study. The set in the middle came from the 24 tooth ratchet I received from "needmorewrenches" and the set on the right is from the 32 tooth ratchet I also received from "needmorewrenches." Look at that pawl in the middle set. See it? Stamped right there on the pawl is the number "24." I'm surmising that refers to the 24 tooth gear. Notice how the pawl on the left has no such stamp, yet it is also a 24 tooth gear version. Why is one 24 tooth pawl stamped and one is not? Here's my guess. What if the pawl stamped with the "24" is from a repair kit? Back in the day ratchets broke, just like now. If there were Type 1, 3/8" drive ratchets out in the world with 32 teeth and later with 24 teeth, repair gears and pawls would have to exist for obvious reasons. Going back to what I said earlier, without a side-by-side comparison, one could easily mistake a 24 tooth pawl for a 32 pawl and visa versa. Perhaps stamping the number of teeth on replacement pawls made sense in an effort to avoid confusion. Anyone else want to venture a guess?
In an effort to test my theory, I turned to my little collection of Type 1, 1/2" drive ratchets. I have five that are outfitted with a later offered 32 tooth gear, and one with the earlier offered 40 tooth gear. So, six ratchets in total. (See second photo below.) After taking all six 1/2" drive ratchets apart, my expectation/hope was to see perhaps one or two of the 32 tooth pawls stamped with a "32" and possibly the 40 tooth pawl stamped with a "40." What I found was that one of the five 32 tooth pawls was stamped with a number "32" (See third photo middle pawl and gear set) AND one of the five 32 tooth gears was also stamped with a number "32." (See last photo) These two stamps were on different ratchets and not found in the same example. As for the 40 tooth ratchet, neither the pawl nor the gear was stamped with a number "40" tooth count. (Looking at the second photo below, the 32 tooth pawl and gear sets go from left to right. The pawl and gear set to the far right is the 40 tooth version.) Again, do stamped pawls and gears indicate parts from repair kits? Again, who knows? The trouble is that these Type 1 ratchets are hard to come by and I've never seen a repair kit so I don’t know if the parts were stamped with a tooth count or not. In particular, I've found that the 3/8" versions seem to be the most scarce. I'll probably never look at enough examples to conclusively make any determinations. For now, at least know that pawls and gears inside Type 1, 1/2" drive and 3/8" drive ratchets have the possibility of bearing stamped tooth counts on them. Why? Well, maybe they’re repair kit parts.
Jim C.
