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Bernard Pliers

Kevin D

Aluminum
Joined
Feb 8, 2005
Location
Morrow, OH, USA
Stopped by a yard sale last week and found these little pliers/cutters. Thought they were most curious, with the cutters on the side, and compound levered as they are.

Around the center screw, on the nut side is stamped "Bernard-No 102- 4 1/2"

On the slotted screw side "New Haven Conn USA- ****Horn Co"

The jaws have cross hatching on the mating surface, the left one has a groove slightly off center, down the length. The wire cutters on the outside curve of the right jaw are cammed off the center pivot screw coming against the backside dike of the right jaw. Both jaws pivot off of their respective screws with slotted legs that slide through pins on the respective handles.

Thought you might enjoy these.

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Fisherman's pliers.... that's what we've always called them.

I have a set similar, and a set of cutters-only like them. They are Bernard also.

Design details vary, but the pliers all have the cutter in the "hogback".
 
J,

Thanks for the info. Fishermans Pliers would explain their small size, as it hardly seemed practical for linemans pliers, and the jaws are too big for small circuits, not to mention there's no indication of insulation on the handles. But they'd fit in the tackle box handy
 
I once had a pair of these pliers, about 6" long. The cleverly designed mechanism ensured that the jaws remained Parallel at all times, whether open or closed. This can be seen in Kevin's pictures.
 
At Flea Markets, I see a lot of those parallel-jaw pliers marked "Sargent & Co. New Haven Conn." Sargent was once a full-line toolmaker, competition to Stanley.

There is a variant whose purpose is to cut and splice the round leather belts used on old sewing machines and light machine tools. They splice the belt with a staple-like arrangement.

I've got one I can't figure out, with a mechanism to limit how wide the jaws open. Never have been able to identify its intended purpose.

John Ruth
 
I am a sucker for those and have several in different sizes, and jaw shapes. They are good for small nuts, decent wire cutters and the needle nose variety seem to grip better than regular ones.

Bob
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts
 
Hey! that's a great idea for forge tongs... there must be a blue million (OK, a dozen) different tong sizes for flat stock, round and square stock. It'd work for any of them, really. I'll have to put that towards the top of my roundtoit-list when the remodeling project from infinity finally gets done.

I wonder if their gripping power would stay the same over the widths of stock? I'll give a full report when it happens.
 
I have a similar pair - they are marked on one side "Bernard's Pat. May 6, 1890" and just below July 19, 1892. On the other side they are marked "W. Schollhorn Co., New Haven, Conn." Mine are in like new condition probably handed down from my grandfather who was a Chevrolet dealer in the 1920's. I recently used them while putting up a chain link fence, they were a great tool for that. Bernard must have been the inventer with others making them.
 
My dad had two pair of these type pliers, one pair he had gotten in the 1930's, and a new pair he got in the 1960's. He used them for restringing tennis rackets. I don't remember, but I don't think they had the cutters on them. They did have the groove in the jaws tho. I still use them when the parallel jaws are needed.
Steve
 
I have a 7" pair marked "Ahrem's Goodline - Germany". No idea of their age, but a lot of Ahrem's Goodline tools were sold here in the early 1950s. The handles on mine are hollow, and appear to be made from 1 mm steel bent to shape very neatly, and chromed.

franco
 
I have two of these and I use them very frequently. One is a Sargent an the other is a W. Schollhorn. I bought the Sargent from an Army surplus catalog. It was unused. I think it would be neat if there was a Visegrip version of these pliers. Yet another project for my list.
 
Fisherman’s pliers is as good a name as any name. My father in law used these to clamp on a hook or other item that needed knotted with mono filament or fly line.
Then wrap a good strong rubber band to hold handled closed.
 
Wow!!! Resurrected a 14 year old thread!!!

Yeah, Mr. Pete222 on YouTube has a video on these pliers several months ago. Just had to buy a pair to see what all of the flack was all about.

Oh, BTW- welcome to the forum!
 
it is pretty ancient...

Since then I recalled that the real fisherman's poiers had some extra grooves and recesses in the jaws to hold the hook shank, crimp on split lead sinkers, etc. Not all the plain Bernard's pliers have that as far as I know, but my old set of fisherman's pliers did, they may have been a special made by Bernard to spec.
 
I discovered the advantages of parallel jaw pliers around 1954 and have never passed up a chance to get one (at a good price) ever since. I gathered up my Bernard-type pliers just now and was a little surprised that I only found 21. Note that the Bernard patent multiplies grip force, which also makes for good wire cutters. The design has been used for a variety of specialized jaws over the years. Oddly enough, I never bought one of the special fisherman model.

Picture 1 far right shows a combination punch and eyelet setter. Next to it has a combination punch, cutter and wire ring closing jaws for industrial round leather sewing machine belts. This one does not, but I think I have seen one stamped SIMANCO, for Singer Machine Co. The round jaw pliers are great for forming wire.

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Picture 2 shows some wire cutters, including two with plier jaws that are not the fisherman model.

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Picture 3 shows mostly wide flat jaws, but one has needle-nose jaws. The one with the spring has one wide and one needle-nose jaw and is marked VIGOR, a watch and jewelry supply brand.

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Then there are my several dozen "Eifel Flash Plierenches" and the "Knipex Pliers Wrenches,' but I don't want to stray any farther from the Bernard patent.

Larry
 








 
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