Two more ideas.
I forgot to mention that this beast has only 10 teeth. Clank clank.
Another idea: Did WW ever make an automobile jack? Could this fit an old screw-type jack? This might explain the fact that neither end has detent balls.
Does anyone have access to patent 1452131? from April 17, 1923?
Me thinks this is so for two reasons - totally anecdotal.
1) Being for vintage car work (which then didn't know about compactness) a fine tooth ratchet wasn't necessary. You had plenty of room underneath the hood and all for a 36 deg swing
2) Metallurgy in it's infancy needed bigger teeth to stand the stresses.
3) Cost of machining smaller teeth with accuracy wasn't warranted on mass produced tools