"anorton" wrote in message
m...

snip


I found two similar US patents: US3147003 and US078781, but not
exactly like the one you have.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=LfZ...page&q&f=false
http://www.google.com/patents?id=9JU...page&q&f=false

at www.uspto.gov 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

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.

Now I see a reference to the Quikcet vise just after the war in what is
also a very interesting Scientific American
http://tinyurl.com/2ebdn72
good - thanks for finding that - I actually did search on Quikcet and didn't
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.