Jim,
TCR list the dates as 1944-1950s. I have seen 1946-1954 and also closing in 1956. Someone may be able to give an exact date (Gene?). But the fact is that it closed in the mid 1950s and the HHR mold was first used in 1966, according to the authors of TCR.

There has been debate about this chip since the mid 90s. TCR actually has NOTE 007 on page 430 of TCR #9, devoted to this chip. Unless someone can show that this mold was being manufactured in the 1950s, I think that is compelling evidence that N1478 was made after the Ranch closed. Unless of course the closing dates are off by at least 10 years! Which I strongly doubt.