actually on topic - an interesting C clamp - anyone else seen one?

I picked up an interesting C clamp today, on one side of the main casting it says GRAND DualGrip REG US PAT OFF, on the other side it says 40A and 40 (presumably casting numbers), and QUIKCET Pat Pend. max opening is 4 inches. The copper colored parts were probably nickle plated, I polished them and there is a little silver still visible.

to operate, squeeze, slide the clamp bar down, release (spring force pushes it together) and tighten the screw. to release, loosen screw and rotate clamp bar 90 deg to disengage ratchet.

I tried to post to the dropbox but it seems that the metalworking.com site is inoperative right now - and I always go there first to get the address du jour.

so meanwhile - anyone recognize it from the above description? I can't find anything on line about it, the company, or anything - the heavy copper plating with nickel suggests to me that it's probably pre WWII, but that's all I've got to go on

if you would like a photo, get my email from my web site (below) and send me a request and I'll send you the photo I was intending to put into the drop box

Reply to
Bill Noble
Loading thread data ...

wouldn't you know it - as soon as I whine about the site being down, it's up - so the photo of the odd c-clamp is posted (see below) - the file name is: "Quikcet - Grand DualGrip C-clamp.JPG" - it should be in the drop box about the time this note makes it to the NG

Reply to
Bill Noble

Hey Bill,

Thanks for persevering, 'cause I was lost with the written description!!

Never seen one like that, but it sure looks pretty neat. I bet it does away with some of the damage caused by twisting the C frame of standard clamps too, and it places the working part in a better place for many jobs.

Take care.

Brian Laws>wouldn't you know it - as soon as I whine about the site being down, it's

Reply to
Brian Lawson

I found two similar US patents: US3147003 and US078781, but not exactly like the one you have.

formatting link
?id=3D9JUrAAAAEBAJ&printsec=3Ddrawing&zoom=3D4=#v=3Donepage&q&f=3Dfalse

Reply to
Denis G.

No ideas on it but you know how I hate not having direct links ;)

formatting link
formatting link
Wes

Reply to
Wes

Me too. I was waiting for someone to post them, but finally went ahead to the DropBox. It's much better, even OK. It used to be that displaying the list took FOREVER (maybe 30 - 45 secs), which the immediate-gratification me couldn't handle. Now it loads lickedy-split, as they used to say .

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

formatting link

formatting link
at
formatting link
it's a bit easier to read - following the ref in the johnson patent, 2755681 seems relevant (dated 1954) but it isn't the same - I would swear that this was pre WWII from the looks of it - what do you guys think? It just can't be 1961

Reply to
Bill Noble

formatting link
>

formatting link

I have to disagree. It is just too fancy. It definitely looks post-WWII consumer age. The fact that the ratchet part was plated, but the plating was thin enough to wear away indicates it was made to look fancy but not designed to wear like a professional tool. Then there is that somewhat unnecessary spring to make it just a little more convenient. If you search on Quikcet, it seems they made a similar acting vise in the mid 50's.

Reply to
anorton

formatting link
>>

formatting link
>

Now I see a reference to the Quikcet vise just after the war in what is also a very interesting Scientific American

formatting link

Reply to
anorton

formatting link
>>>

formatting link
>>

find anything useful - now that you found it, it turns up on the first page of search results - how odd is that? So, the SA advertisement is 1945, which I think still supports my feeling that this is pre war - the other reason I think it is pre war is that the parts that show in copper have VERY heavy copper plating with nickel over the copper - what wore away is the nickel - it's pretty soft, this is typical of stuff that is from the teens through the 30s. in fact, I may be at fault for removing the plating when I polished it - there was probably more remaining but I figured "shiny is good" -

still it must be somewhat rare or one of us would have found out more - I found nothing on the company at all. But now we know that they made both a vise (from the SA advert) and a C clamp.

Reply to
Bill Noble

formatting link
>>>>

formatting link
>>>

The 1945 ad is actually a new product announcement in the "New Products and Processes" column. The patent for this vice was filed in 1945

formatting link
, so the vise was probably not produced before the war.

So the question is which came first, the clamp or the vise? Grand Specialties (maker of the Quikcet vise) also has a design patent for a ratcheting C-clamp from 1945 but it lacks the extra tightening screw and hinge:

formatting link
. The fact it is a design patent means they probably actually manufactured something that looked just like that. The same inventor has a utility patent from 1943 for a ratcheting C-clamp with with hinge, but a lever instead of the additional screw, and no spring:
formatting link
This makes me think that your C-clamp with all its refinements came a little later.

The same inventor who filed patent # 3147003 in 1961 also had a slightly earlier version

formatting link
that looks even more like your clamp. It was assigned to another individual, so someone must have bought it.

Too bad I am not patenting a clamp. I have already done all the searching.

Reply to
anorton

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.