I caught me a fish today, but it wasn't the biggin' I was hoping for. Actually, the only reason I am even posting this "throw-back" is to report in and let you know I spent about three hours today looking at patent designs for every type of jack you can imagine. There were ...
Tractor Jacks
Automobile Jacks
Bumper Jacks
Lifting Jacks
Etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
(This is supposed to look like a jack)
And this is just to mention a few. All total I looked at approximately 150 different patents, with about 600 to go. And this time I can say with absolute certainty that 99% of them either had a "Threaded Shaft" or a "Toothed Shaft," or some form of deep slots/groves of some type. Not a single one had a totally smooth main shaft! (Except maybe the hydraulic jacks that I didn't even look at).
And of the 150 I looked at, the one shown below is "the only one" that used a small chain of any kind. And it ain't even close to what we're looking for. Nor do I fully understand what purpose the chain serves on this particular example. The main reason I'm posting it is to show what type of stuff I've been looking at for the past three hours. The earliest patent for a car jack I saw was 1919. I can't remember the earliest tractor jack date, but it was super early, maybe in the teens.
The search continues.
I can't wait to hear what Antman has to say!
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[ 1940 w/weird chain ]