CollectingSnapOn.com

I am looking to put together a matching set of 1/2 drive sockets from the late 30s-40s
It seems they changed the font and logo style a number of times between 1938 and 1948.
Does anyone know which years they changed the logo font styles of the 1/2" sockets?

I've seen some with a tall "O" in the Snap-On logo
And some with a flattened wide "O"
I've also seen some with a slanted script.

Can anyone help in dating these?

I can identify at least 4 distinct types:
The short, flattened type:
(this type appears to by physically shorter, as well)


The tall type with 2 rings around the knurling:


The tall type with one ring around the top of the knurling:


and the italic type:


Here are 3 different types together

This may help. The italic type shows up in the late 40s, not sure exactly when.
http://www.collectingsnapon.com/forum/v ... p?f=1&t=66

Thanks!
That post is helpful.
I've been continuing to research by looking at ebay postings of individual sockets which show the date codes.

So far, I've found that some time in 1947 the font changed to italic.

These might be helpful. I've noticed some overlap, but it's always been carry over past the dates depicted on these wrenches, with the exception of metric, Whitworth and British Standard.

And one more attachment

here is the link to an earlier discussion on dating logos
http://collectingsnapon.com/forum/viewt ... =1056#p384

That's a beautiful set of commemorative wrenches, by the way.
The official company logos which are laser etched on those wrenches are the logos which you would see printed on the marketing materials such as catalogs, but the logos which were actually physically stamped on the tools themselves are by necessity not the same as those.
I was more concerned with the actual stampings and those may not be perfectly in step with the official company logos.
I am still researching it.

Sometimes the logo's just do not make sense. The one on the left is a 49 the one on the right is a 48

Wow! Is that socket on the left really from 1949? I thought the intermediate serif logo ended in 1941. Could it be that the date stamp is actually 1936 or 1939? Or maybe when they phased out the italic style in 1949, someone made a mistake and used a 1941 type logo stamp?( There was a short-lived intermediate style after the 47-49 italic style and before the new SW-xx1 style in 1950).

Anyway, here's what I've found up to now:

So far, from my looking at numerous pictures of sockets with date stamps is that the type which started in 1936 went to early 1941. On these, the "Snap-On" logo has curly intermediate serifs with the lower serif of the "p" segueing into the underline. And the knurling was bordered on both the top and bottom with a ring.

1940:


The ones from late 1941 have a new "Snap-On" logo without serifs. The underline is broken to clear the "p" There is still the double ring bordering the knurling.

1941:


The lower ring bordering the knurling disappears sometime after 1942. I haven't pinpointed it yet because I still haven't seen any 1943 sockets and the E stamped sockets usually don't have the lower ring. But I actually suspect that the single or double ring bordering the knurling may not have been standardized because I have seen a mix of single or double rings in 1944 and 45.

1944-E:


But this 1945-G has the lower ring!:


Generally, this one ring and sans-serif style continues through to early 1947.

Late 1947:


The italic logo style appears sometime in 1947. I am not sure when the italic style was phased out but I have a picture of an early 1950 socket and the logo is back to the non-italic.

Early 1950 SW-320-1/2:


The old knurled SW xx0 sockets are replaced by the new, non-knurled, SW xx1 series in early 1950.

Some collectors think the E code started in 43, makes sense, cause 43 codes are hard to find