When I restored m 67 T100C Triumph, I found out that I needed Witworth, metric, good ol' US of A and a cresent wrench to get it down to the bare frame. Bolts were all original to the bike, but not one set of wrenches worked. D
Back in '69 I worked with a guy named Mark Ryan who had a 750 Norton and told me all about Whitworth tools - and about the need to drag a bushel basket behind any Norton bike to catch the parts that fell off from all the vibration. Brits apparently never invested in Threadloc.
I worked in the tool department at Sears in 1960 and we sold a lot of Whitworth sockets and combination wrenches. You'd be surprised at the number of guys that tried to return them after R&R'ing an MG or Jag transmission. Now if you had a Whitworth screwdriver, you could score some big bucks.
quote of the day from Dave the brit after relaying the information i learned here: "well of course, shouldn't it be about the hole size, not the size of the tool?"
TB33.........I thought it was.......... "never mind the quality feel the width" ..........oops.......wrong thread.... lol.........thanks guys, have had a good chuckle with the morning coffee..............andyd
They are the same size as our wrenches just 3/4 bolt has a 1" 1/4 head so we grab inch and a quarter or a 3/4. It's still used over here today all my spud wrenches come that way Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
Well north America. I'm in Canada but I but some tools from states Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
Not to long ago I needed to make a lift eye for a Colchester lathe I sold. The hole for the lift eye was 5/8 if I remember correctly. I was able to use an American National Course bolt. Seems to me their is only one common size where the teeth per inch differs between the two systems, 1/2 I think.
We used to work on a fair bit of British cars at the shop I was at. My boss had all the British specific tools so I never had to buy them. Not something you can just walk onto the Snap-On truck and buy any more. I grew up on the metric system, but once you enter the trade, all the older guys use Imperial still. If i told my boss I needed a 0.21mm shim he would get pissy. "Just measure it properly so I can understand you!" LOL So I use Imperial. I don't even mention Whitworth stuff to my students, they have a hard enough time learning Imperial. They never use anything but metric in school here in Canada. I show they an imperial ruler and get a bunch of confused and blank stares LOL
OK, I`ve got a wrench that say 3/16 W 1/4 BSF on one end on the other is 1/4 W 5/16 BSF. Another wrench says 3/8 W 7/16 and the other end says 5/16 W 3/8. So is the first number the American size and the second would be British Standard.
BSW british standard whitworth course thread. Some are similar to metric under 10 mm. BSF british standard fine. Both are similar to the american UNC and UNF. The pitch is different. Easier to use. 1/2 in bolt has a 1/2 inch nut etc. Not like the mongrel metric sizes. We use all 3 systems in Australia. Fun times. Sent from my SM-G360G using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well I do in Math as I use some enrichment material from American publishers. Shhhh don't let the ministry know!
Just think how wonderful the world would be if Mr. Robertson deleoped a system as fine as his screw/screwdriver masterpiece!
Just to add to the confusion British motorcycles went to what they called Unified bolt sizes in 1969 meaning American. I think the car manufacturers did the same thing but not sure.
Reminds me of my newest favorite saying (for the last year or so) "If it weren't for double standards, they'd have no standards at all" I'll refrain from indicating about whom I refer.
I should mention that a popular Whitworth brand is King Dick. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14787
Hope I'm not going to be adding to any confusion here...... But that dual marking that appears on some spanners (wrenches) is because the very first Whitworth fasteners had large hexagon (or often square) heads. When BSF (British Standard Fine) came into being a bit later, all the bolts and nuts used the next smaller Whitworth hexagon size. So, a 1/4" Whitworth bolt or nut would have been .525" across the flats; but a 5/16" BSF bolt or nut would have used the same across flats dimension. Common sense broke out quite quickly after this, and Whitworth fasteners went over to using the same size of bolt and nut heads as BSF. You have to be working on something really old; + 100 years or so to find any of the the really chunky original Whitworth fasteners, so I don't know why some tool manufacturers keep this rather confusing dual marking on their stuff. BTW, Most of the Whitworth/BSF fasteners have apparently weird A/F measurements .445", .525", .600" etc. But the A/F size of bolt head can be calculated for any (even theoretical) bolt or nut size, as the actual AF size is a function of the length of the flat, which in turn is a function of the bolt diameter. I went to technical school, and in the senior year engineering drawing exam, a 'year in year out' regular question was something along the lines of 'calculate and draw the bolt head for a 15/64" Whitworth bolt' -It's just a shame that I left school and took up an engineering apprenticeship at the exact point that the UK went over to the metric system, making my imperial based schooling fairly useless
Here in Australia you can still buy low grade bolts from the hardware that are still whitworth usually coach screws as my metric and AF spanners don't fit but whitworth do, not sure why just a carryon from the old days. Old Whitworth tools are very common in Australia just go to a flea market or swapmeet you will find many. Ive got to say whatever people think of the metric system its actually a good system no confusing fractions a lot of it relates to water. 1kg of water = 1litre of water= 1000ml of water= 1000mm3, 1000mm= 1 metre 1000 metres = 1km boiling point of water 100 celcius freezing 0 degrees celcius, I was brought up a little on the imperial system but metric is just a simple system.
Aero Space is SAE, so I'll stick to that as the most superior, more options. Witworth , it must but be the size remaining hanging out when holding with two fingers while pissing. The only thing witworh did right was thread pitch, which came from a time when the empire was developing the ball press, a device used to press the Kings subjects ball's until he paid up his taxes. Kind of similar to our system but with contact on both sides. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
hmmm makes me wonder ..... maybe lucas electrics were done in witworth and needed special meters to work on ..
My brother had a 59 MGA..The car was metric but the engine was SAE..I had a 50's BSA and an adjustable wrench, three hex sizes for one thread size and so used which ever fit the space..
These wrenches look really old. They are made in England. Super Slim One has a B 2 marking and the other has a B 3 marking. The logo is a round circle with a line threw it with a T at the top half and a W in the bottom half.
Yes, But what about the law from Queen Victoria's time that prohibits ownership of either a Whitworth hammer or the rarer Whitworth screwdriver unless they are stored in an Ermine lined toolbox when not in use
Before you pay a bunch of money for Whitworth tools thinking they are hard to get. I just bought a socket set and a wrench set off Amazon about 2 months ago to take my Morris Minor apart. I paid about 60 bucks for both sets. Good enough quality for what I am doing.
most of the sockets he gave me are made by Elora and a couple of them are made by KingDick. the Elora ones look thinner and cheaply made. the KingDick ones look a lot like Craftsman sockets. the KingDick ones really stand out........
Stand out or stand up? King Dick brand should be good for at least another couple of thread pages..........
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