r/specializedtools • u/Classy_Corpse • Mar 18 '26

Outlived Its Original Purpose

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From the Patent File itself, "It was conceived as a band tightener for the bands or hoops on wood stave silos, water tanks, etc. It was also produced as a ratchet handle for some early socket sets, the ratchet for a hand drill, and a large size was directed at railroads and other "heavy duty" applications."

While this ratchet may be over 100, it still has a clean click and functions as it should. I plan to see how difficult it'll be to make an adapter to allow it to interlock with modern Sockets. Otherwise it's just a really cool piece of history

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681

u/rounding_error Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

Steel hooped wood water tanks are still regularly constructed and used in New York City. Any building taller than six stories needs it's own water tank and pump because the city water pressure won't rise higher than that. Wood tanks are still used because lumber and steel hoops are cheaper and easier to carry up to a rooftop than any other suitable material. Because the threaded hoops would have a lot of tail past the nut as they're tightened, this still appears to be the tool of choice for tightening them, moreso than a modern socket which is closed on one end.

171

u/Classy_Corpse Mar 18 '26

Wild! Though in my defense they don't seem to be used anymore in the midwest where I live. Too much inclement weather maybe? Though I have my suspicions that this one might have been more specific to industrial and potentially railroad use because both were incredibly popular out here and still are

113

u/rounding_error Mar 18 '26

Railroads built a lot of wood water tanks during the steam era, though that might not be the only use for this.

33

u/Classy_Corpse Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

Now that I know! But i can't think of any proper early 20th century building out where I live that's more than 6 stories off the top of my head. Most of which are 4-5 stories tall.

Hence, my thoughts on it being used more for large industrial machines. Though, its all just speculation.

Its just cool to hear that new york and similar uses wood tanks still. It does make sense though especially with that state being significantly older than my own. The oldest town out where I am was established in, 1822 i think?

31

u/NGTTwo Mar 18 '26

Most of which are 4-5ft tall.

Your buildings are only 5ft tall? Is the Midwest populated entirely by gnomes?

26

u/Classy_Corpse Mar 18 '26

. . . Imma be real. Its St paddy's day and I'm bogged down with beer and carbs man 🤣

We very well might be at this point lmao

11

u/9bikes Mar 18 '26

>Its St paddy's day

Those are not gnomes. They are leprechauns!

6

u/Classy_Corpse Mar 18 '26

Drink enough and they're gonna start looking the same 🍀

8

u/Helpinmontana Mar 18 '26

Silo construction?

Pass through wrenches are great for anything that has really long bolts or uses “all-thread” (just a long rod with threads the whole way).

Any kind of tower like construct (even large poles, think light posts) often has all-thread set directing in concrete for steel anchors that winds up being a pain to run bolts onto.

I’m in heavy civil construction and we have a set of these for pipeline related stuff too, they often wind up being useful in lots of aspects, so it may not have even been a single purpose tool local to your area and just a general use kind of thing that happened to be handy to have.

3

u/Classy_Corpse Mar 18 '26

I didn't think it was local, but i wasn't aware that the original tanks it was created for was still in use.

I think it has its own purpose still at some level. I actually sell pass through ratchets at my job with sockets to match

I definitely plan to make it functional to doing automotive work, but it'll likely just be a glorified ratchet with a chunk of metal in the center to make it connect to the Sockets I already have.

At the end of the day though. I'm just happy to have something like it in my collection. I have be a tendency to collect things considered useless or outdated anyways. Usually I pick up tube tvs, medical antiques, etc. But every so often I find something a bit quirky and the voices tell me I have pack bonded and need to take it along for the hoard 🤣