Thumb Screw Styles

[G$]

Take a look at the picture of these two thumb screw styles.  I always assumed the style on the left was original, with the large single hump.  If you go to the HW store, the kind you will generally  find is the "three lines" style pictured on the right.

These specimens came off different "eras" of kettles, and I don't have a great way of knowing if there was a consistent style Weber used, if it changed, etc.

I was suprsied to find the older kettle had the three lines styleand assumed they were simply replaced at soem point.  Now, not so sure.  Thoughts? 

[harris92]

Several of my thumbscrew kettles (including the Weber Bros) have what are believed to be the original screws.  They are similar to the one on the right.

[1buckie]

I have one & I'm sure everything except one rivet I put in the ashpan is original....you can just tell by looking at it.....one on the right, 3 lines.....

Those kind of things would have been from a bulk supplier back then as now, so it's however the current market one is made.....

[G$]

So, does nobody have thumbscrews that look like the one on the left?

[SixZeroFour]

Nope, mine are like the right as well

[harris92]

Ok,  I double checked and do have something different.  Not exactly like the thumb on the left though.  This thumbscrew is off the crazy Wood Dale I bought from Don the  former accountant for Weber Bros Works. He picked it up off the assembly line in 1958 for $15.00.  Supposedly it had some imperfections.  The grill was all black.  Don was the owner until a couple years ago and said that is the way it came off the assembly line. The bowl tabs are square which makes it pretty early in the Wood dale era. I do need to get the original legs back on the grill (LOL).

[Craig]

Here's one of the three thumbscrews that was originally on my grandfathers 18.5 red. (It's like the one on the left side of G$'s photo) The original set has since been moved over  to my '63 Wood Dale and it's this design. (The 18.5 is from 1966-67 era) these are impossible to find now as they all come like the one on the right.

[jcnaz]

My Wood Dale matches the one on the left.

[G$]

Thanks guys!  I thought I was going nuts.   Seems like the kind on the left was definitely an original style, at least for some period of time.  I have one other confirmed instance of early Wood Dales having the kind on the left that I heard about yesterday.

I sort of think the three line style is what people replaced them with, but it is also possible Weber shipped them that way too.

[jcnaz]

Perhaps there were two (or more) hardware manufacturers providing thumbscrews to Weber.
This week we go through a case of screws from supplier A, next week from supplier B.

[1buckie]

Thanks guys!  I thought I was going nuts.   Seems like the kind on the left was definitely an original style, at least for some period of time.  I have one other confirmed instance of early Wood Dales having the kind on the left that I heard about yesterday.

I sort of think the three line style is what people replaced them with, but it is also possible Weber shipped them that way too.

Nope....Thumbscrews............

[G$]

Perhaps there were two (or more) hardware manufacturers providing thumbscrews to Weber.
This week we go through a case of screws from supplier A, next week from supplier B.

Definitely possible, but I think more likely that scenario  plays out in years not weeks, if it does at all.  I also think we over play the "Weber used whatever the random supplier gave them" card on some of these things. 

Thumb screws rust.  I think a lot of people replaced them over the span of 50 years ......
 

[Bbqmiller]

60's 18.5 in - the three line variety