[Healeys] bolt identification

Thu Nov 22 21:26:27 MST 2018

Kees,  I have a different perspective. I revel in the diversity of fasteners and thread systems that the British have produced, many originally designed for a different application, which may or may not have been necessary, but I applaud those engineers for thinking out of the box.  The metric system is, well, “boring” comes to mind. I have enjoyed this thread as I have over the years marvelled not only at the diversity of thread systems but the diversity of manufacturers, and find it quaint but historically stimulating that they ornamented the bolt heads with their corporate names and symbols.  It creates a picture the many little, and not so little, companies in the Midlands churning out fasteners (and a lot of the other sundry fittings on our cars) and driving (literally) the local and national economy.  (BTW, no need to note “except the British”, we never considered ourselves part of Europe – it reminds me of an English phrase, wrongly attributed to a headline in the Times, “Fog over channel, Continent cut off” J)

Yours in mirth,  Mirek

From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Kees Oudesluijs
Sent: November-22-18 4:59 AM
To: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] bolt identification

Curtis, that is a very enlightening article. For us Europeans (exept the British) the UK denominations of material strength (and not to mention the total incomprehensible collection of all different sorts of threads in the UK) are an absolute nightmare. I also never knew the meaning of the lines on the heads of SEA/UNF/UNC bolts.

Concerning the metric bolts, before ca. 1970 the kgf/mm² (kilogram force per square mm) was used, equal to 9,8N/mm², in practice 10N/mm². All my study books used the kgf/mm²!

Kees Oudesluijs

Op 22-11-2018 om 09:32 schreef Curtis Arndt:

John, 

Like most British bolts of the earlier part of last century, the Vendor name was printed on the bolt, e.g. Rubery-Owen or RO, Bees, Wiley, Woden and about 30+ others.  So to answer your question... BEES was the vendor.  The bolt you refer to with an actual Bee on the head is a very early bolt, and is one that I have in my collection.  It most likely is a Whitworth bolt, either BSF (fine) or BSW (coarse).

The  "Rubery Owen B28-35" that you refer to is a "Mild" steel bolt, similar to an SAE Grade "2" US bolt.  The strength rating is "B" and the measurement is 28 to 35 tons per square inch or tons tensile.  The range refers to "yield" strength and "ultimate tensile" strength as described in my attached article.  FYI, multiply 28 or 35 times a ton and you'll get the strength in pounds, or psi... HOWEVER  we're talking British here, so it's not 2,000 pounds as in a US ton but 2,240 pounds as in a British Long Ton!

Along with the vendor name was the strength rating expressed as a letter which for hi tensile bolts was D, E, F and G prior to 1950 and changed to R, S, T,  U,  V,  W,  and X after 1950.  I have included (attached) my draft on British Strength rating codes decoded which I hope to officially publish on my blog site once it's up and running.

Also, the bolt heads were marked to differentiate Whitworth (BSW, BSF, etc...) from UNF and UNC once this new thread form system was phased in during the early 1950s.  For bolts, that was a "circular" depression on the head of the bolt which meant the bolt was a "Unified" versus a "Whitworth" thread form bolt.

I hope this helps and email me directly if you have any further questions.

Cheers,

Curt

On Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 9:01 PM Michael Oritt <michael.oritt at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi John--

Check this out:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2zllShyvv34/UQLGj7XqZjI/AAAAAAAAPUg/e1--MCxAPKY/s1600/Bee:1.jpg

Happy Thanksgiving to you and Cindi.

Best--Michael Oritt

On Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 10:19 PM John Vrugtman <javrugtman at htcnet.org> wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubery_Owen

Bees bolts seem to be very obscure, saw a picture of one, but no reference to the manufacturer  

On 11/21/2018 6:58 PM, warthodson at aol.com wrote:

I was sorting thru a box of hardware & found two bolts that I cannot identify. They both are approx. 1/4" diameter. They both have the same thread per inch. According to my thread gage they are between 24 & 26 TPI. So call it 25 TPI. I do not have a metric thread gage to check them against.

One is marked "Rubery Owen B28-35" on the head & measures about 5/8" long. The other is marked "BEES" & has a embossed emblem of a bee on the head & measures about 3/4" long. The lengths do not include the head, of course. No other markings on the heads.

They will not accept a BSF nut, UNF or UNC nut or any metric nuts that I have. 

Can anyone ID these for me?

Thanks,

Gary Hodson   

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