(Type) One is the Loneliest number

A unique characteristic of what we know as the Workmate 79-001 Type 1 is that it was never marked in any way as a "Type 1". In particular, the label on the jaws said only "#79-001 'WORKMATE'", and there was no ink stamp with the Type number underneath the jaw. This was unlike the preceding version, which was marked on both the label and the jaws as the "#79-001 Type E". It was also unlike the following version, which had "79-001 Type 2" on the label and "Type 2" under the jaws. (See the photos on the Markings page.)

So what happened to make the Type 1 different? I think this anomaly in the marking indicates that Black & Decker didn't originally intend to produce the Workmate under a series of different Type numbers.

In 1974, they imported the English-made WM325 Workmate with the mostly aluminum skeleton frame to North America as a test of consumer demand. They dubbed it the 79-001, a new model designation exclusive to the U.S. market. If the test was successful, they intended to retool their factory in Canada to manufacture a redesigned version of the Workmate for North America. In this sense, the first 79-001 was a temporary product, so they labeled it the Type E (for England) to differentiate it from the new-design, mostly steel 79-001 that they had planned to follow.

The market test was a huge success, production of the new mostly steel "real" 79-001 began, and Black & Decker dropped the "Type' nomenclature since it was no longer necessary. What we now know as the Type 1 was on the market as simply the Workmate 79-001, the planned model number from the beginning.

However, in less than a year they made a set of further changes to the 79-001. The most significant changes were a switch to metric sizing for the jaw holes and a new type of mount for the jaws, and the new parts were not interchangeable with those of the outgoing version.

To keep the versions distinct, they decided to return to the Type numbering system they had used for the Type E. Since the newest one was the second version made in Canada, it became the Type 2, and the one that it was replacing became, retroactively, the Type 1, even though it was never marked or referred to as such while it was in production.

The Type 1 has a second distinction worthy of note: It is the only 79-001 that Black & Decker ever referred to by Type number in any of their instruction manuals, advertisements, or catalogs. The single reference can be found in the original version of the Gripmate 79-011 manual on page 3.