Square tool box

[starhub]

Hi, How can you identify an original square tool box from a repo? I was told the originals have a brass lock.

[jwl]

2 things I noticed were: Radius on 4 corners of cover don't match the radius on the box itself and the part of the lock that turns is recessed on an original and flush with the stationary part on a repop.

[Chris Haynes]

There are four different versions of the rectangular toolbox. The easiest way to spot a repop is by the lock. Some originals do not have the hinge lock, some do. But no repop has the hinge lock.

[knuckjunky]

I am looking for a correct 39' square tool box. There was one on ebay that advertised it at original. However, the lock was steel, not brass. Any of you guys have an info on the 39 box?

[Chris Haynes]

First off lets get the name right. They are rectangular, not square. I have several original rectangular boxes and they all have steel locks. The tumbler part of the lock is recessed from the top edge of the lock. Reproductions have the tumbler area close to the top edge of the lock. Older reproductions are marked RBE inside the box on the back wall. Newer re pops are not marked but have the visibly re pop lock in them. Re pops never have the hinge lock to hold the lid open but then not all originals have this lock either. See the difference between the lock on the chrome repop and the original black box below.

[longhorn]

Recently,I took a very nice cover off a original left side rectangular tool box and put it on a repo tool box.It took a master metal man to do it right as the corners and hinge from a repo tool box does not line up.I needed a tool box for the right side of my 39 knuckle. Took the original back box and fittted it to the repo door that was taked off the repo box. The original tool box had the upper right corner recessed,so that it would fit snug to the frame and I believe it was used on 1935-1940 45 models.That is a hard box to find and they do not repop it.The hinges on a original box are also different than a repop.I now have a very nice rectangular tool box for my 39.Once it is painted you will not be able to tell that it has been modified.

[Rubone]

First off lets get the name right. They are rectangular, not square.

Technically a rectangle is a square. Anything with 4 right angle corners is a square regardless of the length of the sides.
Robbie

[Erdos]

No, a square must have 4 equal sides and four equal angles.

[Rubone]

No, a square must have 4 equal sides and four equal angles.

A square is both a rhombus (equal sides) and a rectangle (equal angles) and therefore has all the properties of both these shapes, namely:

* The diagonals of a square bisect each other
* The diagonals of a square bisect its angles.
* The diagonals of a square are perpendicular.
* Opposite sides of a square are both parallel and equal.
* All four angles of a square are equal. (Each is 360/4 = 90 degrees, so every angle of a square is a right angle.)
* The diagonals of a square are equal.

Therefore it is perfectly fine to refer to it as a square toolbox! Besides the fact that everyone knows what he is talking about!

[Matt McManus]

I have a NOS 36-39 toolbox and it has a steel lock.

[Erdos]

A square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square. By definition a square must have 4 equal sides. I do agree that we all knew what starhub was talking about with the square toolbox. I just can't agree that a square and a rectangle are the same thing. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/square. Look at definition #2 or are you going to tell me webster's is wrong.

[MMasa]

A square is both a rhombus (equal sides) and a rectangle (equal angles) and therefore has all the properties of both these shapes, namely:

* The diagonals of a square bisect each other
* The diagonals of a square bisect its angles.
* The diagonals of a square are perpendicular.
* Opposite sides of a square are both parallel and equal.
* All four angles of a square are equal. (Each is 360/4 = 90 degrees, so every angle of a square is a right angle.)
* The diagonals of a square are equal.

Therefore it is perfectly fine to refer to it as a square toolbox! Besides the fact that everyone knows what he is talking about!

RUB
Sorry to burst your bubble but Erdos is right. A square fits all of the requirements of a rectangle but a rectangle falls short on two of your own deffinitions above.
"The diagonals of a square bisect its angles"
This isn't true with a rectangle. On a square, the 90 degree corner is bisected into two 45 degree angles. Bisect means to divide into two EQUAL sections or two EQUAL halves. On a rectangle (like the tool box in question) the diagonals divide the 90 degree corners unevenly. Imagine a rectangle that measures 1 inch x 1000 inches, the diagonal would split the 90 deg. corner into two angles where one is 89.9427 deg and the other is 0.0573 deg. (ARCTAN 1000/1 and ARCTAN 1/1000 respectivly) Not exactly bisection.

"The diagonals of a square are perpendicular"
This isn't true with a rectangle.
While the diagonals of a square are perpendicular (at 90 deg. angles to each other) the diagonals of a rectangle are NOT perpendicular to each other. Lets go back to our 1 x 1000 triangle above. Those two diagonals are anything but perpendicular. They are almost parallel. On that triangle they sit at 0.1146 deg and 179.8854 deg. to each other.

It's a RECTANGULAR tool box!

[Sargehere]

Rolling on floor, laughing my a$$ off! Heheheheheh! Just gotta laugh at the ongoing mathematical controversy. It just cracked me up!
A square is not a rectangle, but a rectangle 'is' square, tho not "A square." I love it!

I'll just continue to enjoy the R.B.S. repro toolbox on my '37. I found that the repro lock will NOT function with an unmodified OEM Harley key. It needs the RBS key. And the hinge pin fell out of it after some twenty years on the road. I keep some rags in it, to keep it from rattling. The lock kept the top from falling off and being lost.
I fixt that: got a steel rod of appropriated diameter at my Ace Hardware store and flattened one end of the new hinge pin about ˝" on the following-in end; enuf that I had to drive it that last bit with a punch and hammer. It won't "migrate" out again! Other than that, I'm perfectly happy with my repro toolbox, held on by a ColonyŽ Toolbox Mounting hardware kit.!

[Eric MATHIEU]

Square, rectangle whatever. Guys, get a life ...

Back to the tool box: Eldon Brown in Canada modifies repro toolboxes by turning down the lock and by adding a hinge lock. Once he's done it's difficult to tell it's a repro. I got one until I could find a real original one and was very pleased with it. Here is his website:
http://www.milestonemotorcyclerestoration.com/

Eric

[Rubone]

Thank you for the math lesson Mark. Now I know that I am a rectangle and you are a square! I hate when my bubble bursts, it gets sticky goo all over my circles. Or is it an ellipse? Now I'm really confused. One thing I do know is that if someone asks for a square toolbox I still know what they mean!
Onward into the fog!
Robbie