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Ironman Grippers


Brett H

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Were there 3 or 4?

Richard Sorin would be the best to answer, as I suspect some of those grippers were similar to the first generation of IronMind grippers. He would have seen all of them, probably has a bunch as well.

But I thought there were only 3 of them, but could be wrong.

Joe Roark wrote an article on the history of those grippers, not sure where I saw it, other than knowing I read it on the Internet. It was dated right before IronMind released its line of grippers if my memory is accurate.

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Great article, I think this is the one you are referring too. However I don't believe it lists any spring sizes.

The only mention of spring sizes I could remember was a post by Richard Sorin here on the board no too long ago...I'll copy and paste it along with a link to that article.

The "prove it" gripper that was sent to me by warren Tetting to be sure my claim and secretary that ordered them for me to closing his correct super heavy duty in the late 80s (shortly he began building for IM )was a black spring knurled handled gripper that Warren painted a special red color and asked if while closed in my hand a picture could be taken. This was respectfully required by him to accept the validity of the feat.So ,that I guess was his up to the minute last gripper before he started with IM and represented the gripper by his word "no one could close".This gripper remember had .281 spring that had replaced the .277 he was no longer able to secure as in years before for the Super. The first grippers he made for IM were of the same configuration and wire size with the exception of being chromed on both spring and handle.

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/IGH/IGH0102/IGH0102j.pdf

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Were there 3 or 4?

Richard Sorin would be the best to answer, as I suspect some of those grippers were similar to the first generation of IronMind grippers. He would have seen all of them, probably has a bunch as well.

But I thought there were only 3 of them, but could be wrong.

Joe Roark wrote an article on the history of those grippers, not sure where I saw it, other than knowing I read it on the Internet. It was dated right before IronMind released its line of grippers if my memory is accurate.

Thanks Mike, you memory is quite accurate as that Joe Roark Iron Game History article is dated April 1990. Unfortunately, it does not offer any of the wire sizes. The article does mention that there were in fact, four grippers. The original was the Heavy Duty which was followed by the Extra Heavy Duty and the Super Duty. There was also a two-year period in which a Light Duty gripper was produced.

Edited by Brett H
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Great article, I think this is the one you are referring too. However I don't believe it lists any spring sizes.

The only mention of spring sizes I could remember was a post by Richard Sorin here on the board no too long ago...I'll copy and paste it along with a link to that article.

The "prove it" gripper that was sent to me by warren Tetting to be sure my claim and secretary that ordered them for me to closing his correct super heavy duty in the late 80s (shortly he began building for IM )was a black spring knurled handled gripper that Warren painted a special red color and asked if while closed in my hand a picture could be taken. This was respectfully required by him to accept the validity of the feat.So ,that I guess was his up to the minute last gripper before he started with IM and represented the gripper by his word "no one could close".This gripper remember had .281 spring that had replaced the .277 he was no longer able to secure as in years before for the Super. The first grippers he made for IM were of the same configuration and wire size with the exception of being chromed on both spring and handle.

http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/IGH/IGH0102/IGH0102j.pdf

Thanks for your post. This article is the same one I have and as you stated, it does not offer wire sizes. I also had seen the post you provided which gives the wire size of the Super Duty only, but even that is confusing because I saw a picture of a letter from Warren Tetting to a Tom Page which states the wire size of that particular gripper was .264.

Edited by Brett H
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I didn't think it did mention wire sizes, and yes, absolutely, the same article. Good archive procurement. And, yes, I didn't remember there being 4, always thought it was only 3 of the original Tetting grippers.

The article, though it does not mention wire size, at least "defines" the names of the grippers. At least you know what you are looking for!

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I didn't think it did mention wire sizes, and yes, absolutely, the same article. Good archive procurement. And, yes, I didn't remember there being 4, always thought it was only 3 of the original Tetting grippers.

The article, though it does not mention wire size, at least "defines" the names of the grippers. At least you know what you are looking for!

Actually my problem is that I located 3 of these grippers and I don't know what they are :) I think they are the 3 weakest ones but I am not sure. The smallest wire size looks to be identical to my Tetting Beginner, but I need to pick a set of calipers to be sure.

Edited by Brett H
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  • 1 month later...

I can check it tomorrow or the day after with my IronMan gripper.

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My IronMan gripper has a spring size of .265

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Thanks Bader, I am looking for a reasonably priced set of calipers. I will let you know when I get some measurements. I would think that you have the Super Duty. Is that what you had thought?

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These grippers are very cool! Last week I was allowed to take a shot at an old Ironman gripper. It was pretty cool. That's my first time getting to try one of them and it was fun.

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Thanks Bader, I am looking for a reasonably priced set of calipers. I will let you know when I get some measurements. I would think that you have the Super Duty. Is that what you had thought?

Yes i thought that too. It's around 2.7 in strength and very wide. Pic is in my gallery

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