Dateing record vice

[nabs]

thanks memzey - there are two oddities there, the first and the third vice. Are you sure the screw and nut covers have not fallen off and got lost under your bench?!

Seriously, you must be right that at some point the makers offered a 'square boss' version without the cover.

I do think it was a reintroduction though, based on the B&H catalogue below (1971). Unfortunately this is the latest catalogue I can find - perhaps the 53 (no prefix) was introduced after the Record/Ridgway merger (1972) ? Does anyone have a catalogue from this era?


I can't explain the 53A - all the catalogues pre 1963 agree that 'A' = with screw and nut cover. Is there a small hole on the inside of the front jaw above the screw where a cover might have been attached?

 

[memzey]

Hi nabs,

Getting to the front jaws on those vices will be difficult as they have wooden jaws installed on them. Is there any mark on the rear jaw that identifies the presence of a screw cover?

 

[nabs]

in the only "E" model I have seen in person the cover was held on by a screw at the front and a washer was welded on the other end to fit over the far end of the screw, so assuming this is how they were all made I think the only way to tell is by looking at the inside of the front jaw. Sorry!

edit: having looked again at your pic the screw does seem like quite a tight fit for he hole in the rear jaw - would there even have been room for a cover?

 

[memzey]

Definitely not unless the cover was paper thin - that was my first thought. It seems as though the 53 came from the factory in its current configuration.

 

[nabs]

yes, I am sure that is the case for the 53 - it seems there was a new version released (in the 70s? replacing the 'E' model?) that was sold with no screw cover and a redesigned face jaw ('made in England' moved to above the handle).

My comment was about the 52A, which according to the catalogues should have had a screw cover. Presumably either the catalogues are wrong or yours has lost the cover.

 

[memzey]

I plan to swap the 52 with the 52 1/2 as the tail vice in my bench so when I start that process I’ll remove the wooden jaw and have a look for evidence of a cover.

 

[Nigel Burden]

On my square boss 521/2 the dust cover is screwed into a recess in the front jaw, the other end is drilled and bent over to form a washer which is slid over the screw. The round boss 52 is similar , but the rear end of the screw cover is fixed with a screw to the top of the end bracket.

Nigel.