Braces who made them

[Jack in omaha]

I would like to know if anyone knows about the makers of Sears Craftsman braces. The professional craftsman seems to have the Miller Fall famous Lion chuck. The 4240 Craftsman also has a solid chuck the Sears braces have a bb and /or F in circle mark. It looks like both as well as the Dunlap were made by Miller Falls. There were a lot of patents and brace makers but it looks like Miller falls made a majority under various brand. I am surprised so little info is out there. Another good brace is PEXTO. Peck and Stowe they made their own. In Europe many makers used expired us Patents.
Parsons Brace by Miller falls . The North and Fray companies were merged into Stanley who made the supreme Bell System 2101.
I really like the Craftsman Professional braces. The Craftsman 4240 is a very nice brace as well.
It seems that Sears marked the tools with small letter to tell the maker with the BB and F marks anyone know which was the latter iteration?
There are a lot of old braces to be found it seems prices are not sky high especially at garage and estate sales.

[Bill_Houghton]

Craftsman used a manufacturer's code as a prefix on the model number of their machines, and may have on some of their braces.  It's always a moving target with the department stores, because they contracted out their manufacturing, and, depending on the year, this company or that might win the contract for a particular product line, and would then build their standard tools (or modifications of them) and badge them for Sears.  See if the link below helps at all.

As to lots of braces around?  Yes, every home in which somebody did practical stuff had at least one, and when the parents died, Dad's/Mom's brace was added to the one already in the garage...and they add up.  Most people think they're an obsolete tool, so they're not hard to find.

scroll down some

[Greg Jones]

I’m a bit of a brace collector, and for a user brace the Craftsman models can be a steal. They are built just as nice as their MF cousins, don’t command as high a price as MF, and they are often found in near-new condition.

[Jack in omaha]

I’m a bit of a brace collector, and for a user brace the Craftsman models can be a steal. They are built just as nice as their MF cousins, don’t command as high a price as MF, and they are often found in near-new condition.

i found a craftsma9 4240 4 bf japan with tag on online auction with photos never used with paper wrapper it call this a medium duty first I found with Japan mark.
I also found professional craftsman with an ao mark another maker that makes three maker for the professional.
Stanley was cooperative in the history of the tools they made Craftsmen was not interested in sharing historical data that I could find.