R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

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R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:26 pm

/// The PHOTOS in this post were lost in an inadvertent folder delete last year. I posted replacement photos below. ///


At the tail end of this thread late last year... viewtopic.php?p=1552220#p1552220 ...I reported finding a pair of ignition wrenches, with non-GMTK opening sizes and traditional 15* angled heads, marked "R.T.E.C.", wondering what it might have stood for.

I've made a fortuitous discovery.

These three ignition wrenches and a pair of mini-pliers, all marked "R.T.E.C."...

…were inside this nifty OD green midget socket set box…

with a decal on the lid marked, Randolph Tool Equipment (...and I’m guessing an implicit Company).

Unfortunately, two of the wrenches are duplicates of the pair I already have. Here they are nestled among the more recent finds.

Then again, who knows which wrenches and how many were in the set, which is more like the set Williams and others provided, with a mix of DOE electrical wrenches and sockets.

For you Stevens-Walden eagle eyes, yes those are Walden-Worcester 31XX series 1/4-inch drive sockets. Five (5) 6-point sockets – 3/16 (3106), 7/32 (3107), 9/32 (3109), 5/16 (3110), and 11/32 (3111), plus a 12-point 3/8 (3112).

The sockets, the wrenches, and the pliers all have a black oxide finish, all coated in cosmolene. I have never seen R.T.E.C. sockets, so I am guessing this is possibly how the set came, with R.T.E.C being both a supplier (of the electrical wrenches and pliers) and an integrator (of the WW sockets). Or not. The guy I got it from said his grandfather was in the US Army Corps of Engineers in WWII and this was part of the stuff he brought home. I have a PM to Greg Hines to see if he has ever noticed any references to R.T.E.C. in his Corps of Engineers documents. I have also added it to my list of mfgrs to look up in the CPA War Supply Contracts books.
Last edited by Wingnutt on Mon May 22, 2017 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:22 am

That's interesting Greg. I assumed that Randolph just made boxes for other companies.

I have 2 boxes like that with craftsman sets in. One has no label and the other has a label inside.
Craftsman socket.jpg
Craftsman socket.jpg (70.7 KiB) Viewed 2129 times
Hartofoak and Mudbox also have New Britain boxes which are the same.
New_Britain_1-4_Socket_Set.jpg
New_Britain_1-4_Socket_Set.jpg (225.24 KiB) Viewed 2129 times

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-1-4-soc ... 7675.l2557

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Randolp ... 7675.l2557
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:19 am

I see one of the Ebay sellers was even using this handy guide ;
41-w-2615 sheet.jpg
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:02 am

That's where I got the set, Roger. I was going to have some fun following up to your first post and tell you and Cliff that you and your Duro 4XXX and New Britain sets were famous! :lol:

Meanwhile, I, as the measly unidentified creator of the chart, and owner of the Duro black oxide ("DI"), 2XXX, Cadmium-plated, and SK, and SW sockets articulated by part number on the chart, remain ever so humble and anonymous! :P

You can imagine the supreme irony I felt when I opened the box and saw that the eBay seller had included a print-out of my own danged chart! That was definitely a first and probably a last, too!

Anyway, you guys know that I don’t shop on eBay, so trust me when I say that this story gets waaaaaay better.

The guy who tipped me off to this set had no idea that I was trying to identify “R.T.E.C.” marked ignition wrenches. He thought I would be interested in......wait for it.... the spec sheet!

Here is his PM to me in full:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I found an Ebay post last night that I found rather interesting.

It's not the tools themselves that are the most interesting to me, but rather the "spec sheet" that is included in the photos - take a look: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331809390877...xe=exe,ext=ext

I've communicated with the seller via Private Messages through Ebay, and suggested he register on GarageJournal.com and make contact with YOU, as you seem to be far more knowledgeable about WWII vintage tools than anyone else here.

Take a look at the kit he's got posted on Ebay and keep an eye out for him - I directed him to the "Vintage" forum.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So how funny and cool (and weirdly synchronous/coincidental) is that?!

Not only did the eBay seller not know that it was my spec sheet, neither did the guy who tipped me off to the set – because of my own spec sheet!!!! :D
Last edited by Wingnutt on Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:05 am

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:12 am

:D Definitely one of the more interesting things to happen to me in tool collecting.

Thanks for the other info, by the way. It seems to confirm my hunch that R.T.E.C. was probably an integrator. And, given the fact that the Signal Corps bought a lot of Craftsman, and that the Signal Corps liked to use contractors to assemble their kits, probably for more than just the Corps of Engineers. I am now wondering if they even made the pliers and wrenches. They could've had those made for them by anyone (Wilde, for example, or Bonney, etc) and had them marked with their name. Regardless if they were a partial OEM or not, I am going to consider this whole R.T.E.C. thing a serious side-research effort now.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Silly's MB » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:27 am

The Craftsman set of mine came with the nice 12" Signal Corps rule in this grouping.
Chevrolet rule copy.jpg
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signal corps grouping.jpg
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by mudbox » Tue Apr 12, 2016 5:37 am

Wingnutt wrote:So how funny and cool (and weirdly synchronous/coincidental) is that?!
Not only did the eBay seller not know that it was my spec sheet, neither did the guy who tipped me off to the set – because of my own spec sheet!!!! :D
Hilarious! Looks like the seller was even making some notes. I wonder if they frequent the G?
Silly's MB wrote:Hartofoak and Mudbox also have New Britain boxes which are the same.
My box is the same dimensions and all, but it's got the NewBritain logo on the top and a black crinkle finish.
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=242281#p1417670
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Hartofoak » Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:22 am

Fame at last! I remember putting this together Greg, which I believe got incorporated into your chart and I'd forgotten how complicated it became. My question marks for the 12 point examples now have FSN's as shown in your chart for "GMTS1 Date: 7/44 - 9/44"
New Britain & Walden socket info.jpg
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MB 298781 DoD: est. 01-19-44 (ex British Army 1958)
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:50 am

Hartofoak wrote:I remember putting this together Greg, which I believe got incorporated into your chart and I'd forgotten how complicated it became.
I was definitely inspired by your S-W chart, Cliff! My objective was to expand it to many OEM's correlated to the two manual specs (July 44, July 45) we had at that time. And yes, it still makes my head spin to remember how complicated it was trying to figure it out, especially because the individual specs were not provided in the July 44 manual! I had to back into the sizes and number of points from examining specimens and the RAPD figure!
Hartofoak wrote:My question marks for the 12 point examples now have FSN's as shown in your chart for "GMTS1 Date: 7/44 - 9/44"
You're referring to this chart...

Image
viewtopic.php?p=1515176#p1515176

Right. It says "UNKNOWN" in that column for the 12-point 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, and 7/16 cells on the chart the eBay seller "appropriated", because at that time, even though we knew that many of the OEMs were making 12-pt sockets, and we could see a few 12-pt sockets in the RAPD figure, the July 1944 ORD 6 did not specify each socket. We could derive the FSN's for the 6- and 8-point sockets in the July 1044 ORD 6 set from the July 45 ORD 6, but we did not know what the FSN's for those 12 point sockets were until I acquired the ORD 5.

I am pretty sure I updated the OEM chart, which is handy for showing the correct part numbers to look for for each midget socket OEM, but I can't seem to find it.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Wed Aug 17, 2016 4:47 am

Wingnutt wrote:I am pretty sure I updated the OEM chart, which is handy for showing the correct part numbers to look for for each midget socket OEM, but I can't seem to find it.
I found it. It needs another update (thanks to the ORD 5 we now know the FSN's for the 12-pointers) and should be expanded to other mfgrs and their model numbers. But for now, here it is...

viewtopic.php?p=1363950#p1363950
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Wed Aug 17, 2016 5:45 am

Twertsy, who apparently has much better Google skills/techniques than I do, just told me that R.T.E.C. was incorporated March 29, 1943, in Delaware, HQ'd in Philly, then moved to Camden, NJ.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Wingnutt » Sun Sep 04, 2016 7:53 am

Adding some reference photos back to this thread…

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

The wrenches under the pliers, all with cosmoline still tarred on them, were original to the box, along with the WW sockets also still mucked up with hardended cosmo goo. The cleaner wrench under those I found. The cleaner wrenches to the side I also found as singles, but they are duplicates.

In the process of taking these pictures, I took more notice than I had before to the 7th socket in the set, also with hard cosmo goo on it, also original to the box, that was not a WW. It's an underline geometric Craftsman BE. I sort of ignored it before, but that lends even more credence to the mixed set put together by RTEC for Signal Corps theory.
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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by mudbox » Mon May 22, 2017 10:24 am

I've been intrigued by these Randolph Tool boxes and their contents for some time now.
Well, browsing the auction site last week and I stumbled across this. Of course, I had to have it! :lol:
Looks like they used Bonney for their supplier on this one. The RF-22 refrigeration ratchet is missing the 1/4" drive plug, which makes it close to useless. All of the sockets are of obvious Bonney manufacture, but are all stamped RTEC and the fractional size. The Sliding T-bar is unmarked.
Sockets consist of:
12pt. - 7/16"; 3/8"; 11/32"; 5/16"
6pt. - 1/4"; 7/32"; 3/16"

Image

Image

BUT, what's makes this set more interesting was the presence of the Bristol wrench which is unmarked in any way.

Image

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Re: R.T.E.C. wrenches - mystery solved

Post by Fred Coldwell » Mon May 22, 2017 10:54 am

Mud:

I'm stompin' delighted over that sharp Bristol wrench you found. :D What size is that beauty? Screwy friends set in their ways want to know. Great find!
Happy Jeep Trails,

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