What is it? Set 540

[Rob H.]

Good job, that's the patent I was planning to post with the answer.

[Lew Hodgett]

Lew Hodgett

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"Rob H." wrote:

------------------------------------ They are a total PITA until you are shown the correct way to use it, then it is straight forward.

I was taught how on a trip thru NAPA a few years ago.

Lew

[Leon Fisk]

I messed around last fall trying to find/figure out what the chain it originally came with looked like. Mainly if it had any unique ends or terminations on it. Couldn't find anything... It seems that everyone else who has posted images don't have the chain either :)

I like how in the patent drawing it shows one end of a chain "tied" around the fence post. That seems so _wrong_ to me...

[DoN. Nichols]

Posting from the usenet newsgroup rec.crafts.metalworking as always.

3151) Do the cylinders with discs roll freely on the three axles?

If so, I think that it could be yet another pasta maker -- roll out the pasta dough and then roll this over it to cut into strips.

If there is an offest in the discs between rows, it could make narrower pasta by rolling all three over it, or wider by rolling a single one.

3152) A lever switch in a protective housing -- with the wires coming out the hole where the conduit would normally fit to protect the wiring.

At a guess, I would say that it could be for switching a telephone between two lines -- or perhaps for enabling/disabling an alarm system.

I don't recognize the logo molded into the cover.

Hmm ... a second view suggests that it maybe is a hand cranked ringer generator with a folding crank. Bolts to the side of a desk, at a guess.

3153) Hmmm ... nicely made of brass. If the right-hand end did not have a cap, I would think that it could be a compressed-air spitball gun. :-)

However, given various features, I think that perhaps it serves the function of spraying ionized air onto some surface -- perhaps to discharge oppositely charged surfaces, such as the things used to remove static from old vinyl record surfaces.

3154) A cork puller for wine bottles.

3155) Well ... it is an early example of a "sensitive drill press", that is one for using small or very small drill bits, and providing enough feel so you are less likely to push too hard and break them. It looks like it has a Jacobs chuck (missing the key) which will handle a maximum of a 3/16" shank on the drill bit.

And it looks like it is driven by the same kind of round leather belt used on jeweler's lathes, and on really old treadle powered sewing machines.

3156) Hmmm ... the lever rotates the sprocket wheel, but to what end is not clear. Both photos show the same side of the device, although it is rotated to give different views of the ratchet.

Presumably there is a small pulley on the other side, to allow it to pull something up -- or perhaps tension a fence, given the frequency of fence tools showing up here. :-)

Now to post and then see what others have suggested.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Stormin Mormon]

I was kidding. Did I really get it right? I'm astounded.

[Stormin Mormon]

If we ever meet up, I'll show you how. I don't drink alcohol, so you'll have to help with that aspect of things.

[Rob H.]

The metal cylinder and discs are all one solid piece, nothing moves on it at all.

No answer yet for the drill press but the rest of them for this week have been posted:

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The other day someone sent me this item that they were trying to identify:

It's a little hard to read, there is a letter R on the left, O at the top, and A at the right, and numbers 1-26 around the outer edge. I don't plan to post it on my site, I found the answer and thought I might as post it and see if anyone else can name it. It's from the 1930's.

Rob

[DoN. Nichols]

[ ... ]

O.K. The use by a watchmaker makes sense given the fitting for a round leather belt akin to that used by Jeweler's lathes -- both can be powered by a little desk-top motor with multiple steps on the pulley for different speeds.

A question occurs to me. The holes drilled in the table top are (with one exception) not where a careless operator could leave a drill mark. The column does not swivel -- it just relocates lateraly on a T-slot in the table. A round column allows the table to be swiveled, and a careless operator, over time, leaves an arc of partially drilled (or sometimes through-drilled) holes.

So -- are the majority of those holed tapped (threaded)? If so, they would be for mounting fixtures to hold a part (likely a plate from a watch or clock) in just the right place for the hole to be drilled properly.

And while others have suggested fitting the lever to a foot pedal for convenience, I feel that it is designed to be operated by fingertip pressure from the operator's index finger. This would make it easy to control the force, and thus avoid breaking the tiny drill bits likely to be used in the task. (And, in the process, spoiling the workpiece.

So -- I say that it is for factory use in production runs -- making watches or small clocks -- set up to drill one particular hole, with other fixture plates on other similar presses for drilling the other needed holes. (Or perhaps all of one hole drilled in the day's production or week's production or whatever, and then a different fixture is swapped in -- or even the same fixture attached to other of the multiple holes.

In particular, if there are a mix of tapped holes and smooth holes, the smooth ones would be for dowel pins to locate the fixture, and the threaded ones for the screws to secure the fixture to the table.

Enjoy, DoN.

[Rob H.]

Here is some further information from the owner of the drill press:

"Maybe your readers can identify this little gem I got at a Ham Radio show for $5. It is obviously a drill press, has a Jacobs "O" chuck. There are no markings except for that inventory tag. I am curious as to what the original purpose was.

When purchased there was a rusty steel plate bolted to the bed with a small pin just under the bit and the bit was v shaped. Sort of like a tiny pin router. The throat is only a little more than an inch. It may have been part of a watch or clock makers kit however the dozen or so tapped holes in the bed may mean it had other purposes. The drill casting does not move in the T track it is bolted fast. There is a single large tapped blind hole underneath where it was probably bolted to some larger machine. It came with a 1/4 inch round leather drive belt and I have since mounted it on a plywood stand with a small Bodine motor, it works well for drilling printed circuit boards. There is a very precise depth stop but I don't know the purpose of the moveable square block at the rear."

Some photos of it with a motor mounted:

[Rob H.]

fireplace/stove/cigar lighter.

the secondary brass tube and has been replaced by a wooden dowel, but you can get the idea from the length)

Thanks, I just updated my answer. I was glad to see the patent was listed at your link, I just read it and the inventor stated that it's for lighting furnaces, and near the end of the patent he says it's for lighting "oil burners and the like." I'll forward the link and the patent on to the owner of it. Thanks again!

Rob

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm curious to read the answers, when they are posted. I've been looking for the word answers in the subejct line, they're not yet posted.

[woodchucker]

I like what they did to mount it. makes perfect sense. After seeing the plate with the pin, I still believe it to be a watchmakers press.

[woodchucker]

Oh stop it, just look for Rob's post and get over it.

[DoN. Nichols]

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

[ ... ]

O.K. A hamfest item. I've gotten a lot of interesting tools from hamfests. (Or, given your reference to "watchmaker's kit", you are likely in the UK, so that would be a "radio rally" I believe. (But then the $5.00 price argues otherwise. :-)

Is that perhaps the one visible beside it in the 'b' photo?

The bit sounds like it was intended to counterbore around an already-drilled hole through which the pin fits to center the workpiece under the cutter.

Or is the bit pointed towards the bottom end? In that case, it may be an engraving cutter -- and the pin in the plate below could follow a template for whatever was to be engraved. Perhaps even serial numbers, built up from blocks of each digit to fit over the pin.

Or to a workbench, to keep it in the proper position for the belt to reach to the power source -- which in an *old* factory, could even have been overhead shafts powered by a single steam engine or later a single electric motor for the whole factory.

Just as I suggested. Watchmaker's tool is even more likely then.

Is the shaft on which the depth stop fits threaded? That would offer quite a bit of precision.

Hmm ... is there a group of letters cast into the frame just behind where the lower bearing mounts? That might give a clue who made it.

The one on the shaft which supports the pivot for the feed lever?

Is it possible that the shaft is two-part? Telescoping so the pivot end can be shifted, so the height of the operating lever end can ge tuned?

Nice belting you used. And did you make the pulleys, or did you luck into a source of them?

Anyway -- it looks as though this nice old tool with get to servo for a number more years.

Good for you!

Enjoy, DoN.

[Rob H.]

Thanks for the link, I'll pass it along to the owner of the drill press.

Rob

[Rob H.]

Here is the owner's reply to you after I sent the link to him:

"Good sleuthing, thanks. That's an interesting web page for sure. The press in the photo does look identical, the lever, depth adjuster, pulley are the same. The idea of template machining also agrees with the table plate with a pin that mine has."

He then sent me this after he contacted the guy at the web site:

"I emailed Hugh Sparks and he doesn't know who made his either but said it was a typical tool used in the watch/clock industry in the early 20th century."

Thanks again, Rob

[Stormin Mormon]

Waiting for the answers, if you know what any of the items are.

[John]

3161 is a bulb puller for removing recessed bulbs in lighted pushbutton switches. I used to have one of them.

John