Husky Wrench No. 1 Ratchet
The 1920s saw much development work on ratchets, as better ratchets were needed now that stronger sockets were available. One of the new ratchet designs was patented by Sigmund Mandl, a Czech national, and assigned to the Husky Wrench Corporation of Kenosha, WI. The photograph below shows an example of the Husky 1/2-Drive No. 1 ratchet, a rare tool but with a very familiar name. The overall length is 10.4 inches.
The design of the ratchet is externally similar to the Snap-On ratchets of the late 1920s, with a female drive and a push-through plug in a deeply-forged handle, but uses a different arrangement for the pawl. In the Husky design the pawl moves linearly instead of pivoting, and the asymmetrical gear teeth are designed so that the force on the pawl is tranverse to the movement. The force is transmitted to the ratchet handle at a point close to the gear, providing the improvement in strength sought by the inventor.
![[Husky 1/2-Drive No. 1 Ratchet]](Photos/tools/husky_12dr_ratchet_no1_f_cropped_inset.jpg)
The front is marked "Husky Ratchet No. 1", "Patent No. 1,614,089", and "Patent No. 1,628,467", with "Husky Corporation Kenosha Wis" and "Made in USA" on the reverse. However, the first patent number listed is incorrect, as the actual number is 1,614,039. This shows the perils of copying patent numbers from tools; mistakes are rather common, though it's unusual to see an incorrect number forged (as opposed to stamped) in a tool. Both patents were filed by Sigmund Mandl in 1924, and were issued on Jan. 11, 1927 and May 10, 1927, respectively.
But what about the Husky name -- wasn't that a New Britain trademark? It turns out that the first Husky trademark was issued to Sigmund Mandl in 1924, who used it on the Husky Wrench Corporation ratchets and sockets in the mid to late 1920s. New Britain acquired the company (or at least the trademark) a short time later; the details aren't known, but perhaps the Husky Wrench Corporation failed during the Depression, when many other tools companies folded. In any event, Husky became a well-known brand of tools for New Britain, and Sigmund Mandl apparently moved on to Blackhawk Manufacturing, where his name appears on several patent applications in the early 1930s.