Looking for info on this 5C positioner by R. Yarosz

[BugRobotics]

Looking for any info on this nice fixture. Did the manufacturer sell this to other companies for resale? Did they make other stuff? Haven't seen any info on the web. Was hoping the collective here could share some history.

Bought this from a retiring toolmaker in Portland years ago. Finally getting around to making a drawbar for the collets. I've used it numerous times for fixturing odd shapes. It's an absolute beast and beautifully made. Anvils for gauge blocks used in conjunction with ground pins every 90° allow you to dial in your angles and index. Brakes allow you to lock the spindle. Ground all around.

 

[L Vanice]

Patent Images

Rotatable Work Table, Roman S. Yarosz, 725 Dutton Ave., San Leandro, CA, US Pat. No. 3,040,434 granted June 26, 1962

He had four patents.
Google Patents

Larry

 

[Bill D]

Wonder what is so special it got a patent?

 

[BugRobotics]

Thanks, yea I've looked at the patent before and was hoping that would lead me to their other works and maybe some history but I hit a dead end.

 

[L Vanice]

Wonder what is so special it got a patent?

You have to read the patent specifications, but that text is all in patent lawyer language, so it may not be understandable to people not skilled in the art (of patent lawyer).

And Google can find a number of later patents that reference this one in order to claim that the newer one has some new feature not in the previous patent, even if it looks very similar.

Larry

 

[BugRobotics]

Wonder what is so special it got a patent?

The patent mentions locating between two points. I've never seen another table like this (I'm sure there are plenty) so maybe it was the first in this form factor?

 

[L Vanice]

Thanks, yea I've looked at the patent before and was hoping that would lead me to their other works and maybe some history but I hit a dead end.

Your public library may have a genealogy department with computers that let you take a free look at US Census records, city directories, birth and death records, military/draft records, newspapers and such. The 1950 census will go online this April, but the 1940 and earlier census records and later records of other types are available now. Old San Leandro yellow pages might have interesting ads for Yarosz's business.

Circa 1962 issues of American Machinist and Machinery may have stories or ads on the tool.

Larry

 

[BugRobotics]

Your public library may have a genealogy department with computers that let you take a free look at US Census records, city directories, birth and death records, military/draft records, newspapers and such. The 1950 census will go online this April, but the 1940 and earlier census records and later records of other types are available now.

1962 issues of American Machinist and Machinery may have stories or ads on the tool.

Larry

Great idea. I think I found his date of death and family members years ago. If I ever have some time to look that could be fun.

 

[Pete Deal]

Beautiful tool. Nice catch!

 

[L Vanice]

Roman does not live there anymore, but his 2015 sq. ft. 1941 house is now worth around $1,400,000. Glad I live in Indiana. Presently, sat view shows a fairly big building in the back yard, which could be a workshop.

Google Maps

725 DUTTON Ave, San Leandro, CA 94577-2061 | MLS# 11175908 | Redfin

Larry

 

[reggie_obe]

Thanks, yea I've looked at the patent before and was hoping that would lead me to their other works and maybe some history but I hit a dead end.

Check with the city Chamber of Commerce, might have some ancient records on paper.

 

[gbent]

Serial number 101 suggests to me that you have the first. Possibly last?

 

[BugRobotics]

Serial number 101 suggests to me that you have the first. Possibly last?

I've thought about that. Would be pretty cool but I'm still hoping someone has a story.

 

[IKnowNothing]

I don't know anything about the tool, but I know a fair amount about Roman, as he was my wife's grandfather and I've been to that house in San Leandro. He passed away in the 1990s. I'll see if I can find out anything about that tool from her uncle.

He had a tool shed behind the house where he made and kept tools.

 

[Thunderjet]

I don't know anything about the tool, but I know a fair amount about Roman, as he was my wife's grandfather and I've been to that house in San Leandro. He passed away in the 1990s. I'll see if I can find out anything about that tool from her uncle.

He had a tool shed behind the house where he made and kept tools.

Wow!
That swerved into something really cool right there^^^^^^^^
Thanks for sharing.
Got any pics (I.E. tooling porn)?

 

[eKretz]

Cool. Would be neat to find out more. Looks like he was a first class toolmaker. I remember when this first came up; was hoping we'd hear more from someone.

 

[BugRobotics]

I don't know anything about the tool, but I know a fair amount about Roman, as he was my wife's grandfather and I've been to that house in San Leandro. He passed away in the 1990s. I'll see if I can find out anything about that tool from her uncle.

He had a tool shed behind the house where he made and kept tools.

Whoa!!! Yes that would be so cool. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks for posting.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

The "novelty" is by law specified in the Claims, at the end of the patent. You need the actual patent (not the application) for this: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/87/9e/6a/1be57599775e60/US3040434.pdf

The way to read claims is as a set of rules describing the properties present in covered implementations, where covered means that the patent owner can sue anybody making something that fits. In other words, a claim is a kind of filter that separates covered from not covered.

And it looks like a very nice bit of kit.

 

[stephen thomas]

Serial number 101 suggests to me that you have the first. Possibly last?

In the early days of eBay i used to watch dividing and grinding equipment.
Pretty sure i saw more than one of those, unless it was the same one several x.
Or, as might have sort of been alluded to, a clone or later "development".
But certainly distinctive enough to remember.
I never pulled the trigger, as fundamentally, could not rationalize that it offered more facility than a 10" H/V rotab. Though probably easier to move, and to precisely dial an angle with gage blocks.

smt

 

[IKnowNothing]

Okay, I talked to Roman's son to get more background on this tool. Roman was a second-generation tool-and-die maker who worked for Friden, Inc in San Leandro. His father emigrated from what is now Poland to Chicago around 1910 and then moved shortly thereafter to California. Roman had a detached tool shop behind the house on Dutton Ave where he had a large lathe, a milling machine, drill presses, surface grinders and other things. Roman sold multiple of these particular positioners to his tool-and-die colleagues at Friden, each one exactly the same. He eventually sold the patent as well. When I mentioned that there was discussion about one of his tools on the internet, the first question back was "the two-person chainsaw?" (I have no further information about the two-person chainsaw)

Roman's son didn't have any photos of the tool shop in its heyday. After he sold off the tools and equipment, he converted the tool shop into a rec room with a pool table. We do have photos of Roman with family relaxing in the former tool shop. This was Roman and his wife Ann from 1988 in the former tool shop where the positioner had been designed and manufactured. I think that I counted 72 little drawers in the back right there, and there were still various smaller tools around the room.
If you look at the 725 Dutton Ave property on Google, you can still see the former tool shop to the rear of the house on the left.