There is some speculation about the difference between the Pat Pend and Pat Pen versions, but the likely answer is the Pat Pend came with acorn nuts to lock the swivel base, and the Pat Pen with a notch and gap came with swivel locks that had handles. The second version will have “Pat Pen USA” with a notch in the body and a large space between Pen and USA in the middle of the bottom of the loop.
The right side logo on one version will also have the line looping from the first to last letters, but will have “Pat Pend Made in USA” in the middle of the bottom of the loop. The left side will say “Wilton Vise No X” with X being a number like 3 or 4 that coincides with the jaw width. The earlier two versions of vises will have “Wilton Tool Corp” on the right side with a line that loops underneath from the first to last letters. What is fairly certain is that if it has “GUAR EXP” the actual date of manufacture was five years prior to the date stamped on the slide key.įor the unstamped 1941 to 1944 Wilton vises, there are four variations I’m aware of. In short, it now appears that the date stamp on Wilton vises is the release date unless the slide also has “GUAR EXP” on it. This created some confusion, and enforcing/honoring the guarantee would have been challenging, since it added a qualifier that the vise wasn’t subjected to abuse, so Wilton ended the practice in 1960. They added “GUAR EXP” to the month and year date stamp on the slide key to indicate the change.
Current data suggests that starting in late 1954 Wilton decided to stamp the date when the 5-year guarantee would expire, rather than when the vise was released for sale. A few years later, Wilton changed the date stamp, as well as how they advertised their product guarantee. Starting in January 1945 the slide key would have a release date stamped into the key that generally coincides with when it was sold. What seems to be certain is that from 1941 through 1944 Wilton vises didn’t have a date stamp on the slide key.
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