Help Identify Some Old Bar Clamps - "Aldrich"

[Rodger Kanis]

Greetings all!

I recently bought a small pile of tools and stuff from some from an estate. They said he was a woodworker and machinist/metalworker, but there were way more metal working tools, end mills, more drill bits than you can shake a stick at, micrometers, etc. than wood working tools. But that's another post for another time.

Anyway, I can't find anything online about these neat looking bar clamps. They look like swords when closed up for storage. They are by a company called Aldrich.

Can anyone tell me more about them? The clamp blocks are very interesting in shape, and both can be repositioned. The two flat sides meet to clamp like any other bar clamp, but what are the articulating ball-and-socket bronze portions for? Also, what about the "hook" portion and serrations? Was something looped over them to help hold things together?

The handles are only for holding, they don't tighten anything. There are no model number stamps, year or patent markings, etc.

Any idea on value? I've never seen anything like them before.

Thanks! Three images attached below:

-Rodger
clamp3.jpgclamp1.jpgclamp2.jpg

[Pat Barry]

Very interesting. They seem to be reversible to push apart or pull together and they look to have a variety of contact methods to boot, but how exactly do you tighten the clamps?

[Rodger Kanis]

Very interesting. They seem to be reversible to push apart or pull together and they look to have a variety of contact methods to boot, but how exactly do you tighten the clamps?

Exactly! That's why I'm guessing the "horn" part of the block must have something tied or wrapped around it to pull things together and apply pressure. It's just a guess, though.

Also, why is one part of the "horn" longer than the other, with serrations only on one side?

[Jim Koepke]

Searching the name > Aldrich < brings up a lab equipment supply company.

Maybe these are meant for laboratory work and somehow found their way into the person's estate.

There are a couple of odd things that have found their way into my shop.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Hi Rodger, I found the following on the net. However, I don't know if either company listed made the clamps you show.

http://null.theclampguy.info/hist_al.htm

Stew

[John Stankus]

http://www.theclampguy.info/hist_al.htm
There is an Aldrich clamp company from Lowell

(Dang somehow I missed the other post with same info ...sorry about that)

[Rodger Kanis]

I stand corrected on tightening the clamps: The handles DO tighten up. I didn't realize it at first as the it didn't seem to be moving. I might not have had it engaged to the screw threads initially, so it didn't move and just spun when I initially tried it.


The hooks and serrations still puzzle me as well, but the ability to clamp sashes (see below) and other odd-shaped items makes sense.


They do seem awfully clean to be nearly 100 years old. I'm also wondering if they might be "Franken-clamps", using some Alrich clamp faces with some newer rectangular bar stock. They just don't "feel" 100 years old. They guy was a machinist, so it was completely within his capability to build or modify anything metal that he choose to. I'm starting to think that's what happened.


Here's an email from Milt, The Clamp guy. I wasn't able to contact him directly, but my email made it to him via Christ Schwarz through Rob Hartmann and Russ Allen of Midwest Tool Collectors Association (great resources, all of them!). Here was his take on it:


"I think I can shed some light on the ball and socket part; the hook and
serrations are still a puzzle to me.


First a question: The Aldrich company went out of business in 1918, a
big fire in Lowell - do these look too clean to be a century old? I
don't know of any other company that made clamps and marked them
Aldrich, but these do look new. Maybe they just cleaned up real nice.


I would guess that the ball and socket allows the clamp to grip sashes
that have a beveled edge. Most of my window sashes have a slope on the
part that contacts the sloping window sill, to provide a tighter seal.
As arranged, though, the force would not be a squeeze together, as I
would expect, but a pushing apart.


How much rotation does the ball and socket allow? more than 30 degrees
from the direction of the bar? It seems like a lot, which adds to the
puzzle.


I'll keep thinking on this.


Thanks for sending this my way; sorry about the bad email address the
message mentions.


Milt, the Clamp Guy
"


Thanks to all who weighed in!