Brands of American Calipers and Micrometers?

Brian Albin · Mar 13, 2018

I would like to look up information on American made measuring instruments of the past. Mostly Hinge Frame Registering Calipers, Slide Gauge Calipers, and Micrometers.
The only brands I know of are Starret, Brown & Sharpe, and the Ames Dial Indicators.
　
Could you fellas tell me some more brand names that I might have a name to put into the computer search?
　
Thank You
　

P.S. I tried to post this in the General forum and it told me I could not start a new thread. Is that only an archive of old posts?

MattiJ · Mar 14, 2018

Victor
Scherr- tumico
Fowler?
Federal
Central tools

Adwcali · Mar 14, 2018

Lufkin is an old favorite.

mindbent · Mar 14, 2018

Millers Falls Co.

athack · Mar 14, 2018

Probably the best American Gage Co. is Mahr. Formally known as Federal or Mahr Federal. They make most of their stuff in Providence RI.

Leg17 · Mar 14, 2018

J.T. Slocomb had many important micrometer patents.

rivett608 · Mar 14, 2018

If you want real old track down Ken Cope’s books on machinists tools. He did one on patents and 2 on makers, there are hundreds of small makers listed.

It’s fun stuff to collect.

SouthBendModel34 · Mar 14, 2018

Cope Books on Machinist Tools

Brian,

Welcome to the forum! It's good to hear from someone just beginning a study and possibly a collection of American machinist tools.

Track Ken Cope's books down? They are still in print! Astragal Press was purchased by / merged with Chester Book Co., but their books are still on the website:

American Machinist's Tools Patents

More Makers of American Machinist's Tools

There are other books on that site which would be of interest to the OP, such as a Brown & Sharpe Catalog Collection reprint.

Brown & Sharpe Catalogue Collection

Why buy the book ? I figure that if nobody buys the kind of books I find interesting, then no one will publish them.

My other advice is to buy the book sooner rather than later. These are fairly small press runs; they will sell out. I can't count how many books I would like to have now which could have been purchased for MSRP years ago if I wasn't so tight with money back then. Those now-out-of-print books are selling used for far more than their original prices.

The late author Ken Cope posted on this forum a few times.

John Ruth

L Vanice · Mar 14, 2018

Another path to finding brand names is to search eBay for micrometer or caliper or whatever. You can scroll through hundreds or more listings and see nearly every brand ever made, outside of the super rare stuff like Victor Sewing Machine.

One advantage of the eBay approach is that it will reveal private branded tools made by the second tier American makers, but with a retailer's brand name like Craftsman.

Cope's books are well worth having in any case.

Some Brown & Sharpe tools were made in Switzerland, so there is more to know than the name on the tool.

Larry

projectnut · Mar 14, 2018

This thread jogged my memory a bit, so this morning I went to the shop and looked through the drawers to see what different brands of calipers and micrometers I had. I was a bit shocked when I did a count. I'm probably showing my age, but here's what I found.

I have 28 sets of inside and outside calipers. The brands are:

Starrett or (LSS Co)
Sandow
Stevens & Co.
Sawyer
No Name (but identical to those with the Starrett or LSS markings)

As for inside and outside micrometers I have quite a varied collection as well. The names are:

Starrett
Lufkin
Slocomb
Central Tool
Blackhawk
Fowler

I believe they are all American Made. I bought several new in the 1970's and early 1980's. The rest came from family members that were machinists from the early 1900's to the early 1950's. I doubt any of them bought anything made outside this country.

The good part about the micrometers is that they all came with standards. I use them to this day and check them against the standards about once a year. I have no idea when the first ones were purchased, but they all stay within calibration, and work just fine

Jim Christie · Mar 14, 2018

If you try using the search engine near the top of this forum’s main page and search for micrometer you will find quite a few threads on old micrometers .
Here are some that have links to more information that you may find useful.
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...econd-micrometer-221236/?highlight=Micrometer

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-john-bertam-son-308559/?highlight=Micrometer

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...pt-1904-l-monrad-245804/?highlight=Micrometer

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...2-a-231826/?highlight=Brown+Sharpe+Micrometer

Also look for posts and threads by the late Antique Mac , Rivett608 , Honrick, and Pete M who have many great posts on the topic.

Jim

Brian Albin · Mar 14, 2018

Wonderful replies! This will give me an excellent start in looking into which instruments I want for my own use. Thank you.
　
On a side note:
Are Registering Calipers ever made with a vernier scale? It would seem a natural addition to enable reading to half 64ths or to thousandths, but I have not yet seen it.

Brian

mindbent · Mar 18, 2018

International Tool co. Is another one. I have a couple different rod mics and one is Millers Falls which if I'm not mistaken became Starrett and one is an International Tool company rod mic. I still use both and they're accurate even though I have 2 other Starrett rod mics. I even have a Starrett last word indicator so old that where it tells you what each increment is is written in fractional form, not decimal like todays tools. I even have some sort of Johnson rule company protractor thingy made out of German silver. I believe that would date it around WWII. It's a unique tool.

rivett608 · Mar 18, 2018

Mindbent, your Johnson protractor thingy is much older than WWII, I think they are before WWI.

mindbent · Mar 19, 2018

rivett608 said:
Mindbent, your Johnson protractor thingy is much older than WWII, I think they are before WWI.

Yup, 1907 was way before WWI. I didn't know there were so many US tool company's back in the day.

James H Clark · Mar 21, 2018

I have an old "Last Word" indicator made by H.A. Lowe of Cleveland, O. I think it was made before Starrett began marketing them. It is pat. dated June 29-15, which I take to mean 1915. It is graduated with 1/1000ths and only 25 thousandths per revolution. The box is marked Henry A. Lowe, 1874 East 66th, Cleveland, Ohio. If you Google it, you will find an old thread from PracticalMachinist where Ray Behner describes an identical tool. I suspect it is the same tool. I bought it a few years ago at a Swap Meet at Portland, In.
JH

Ray CJ · Mar 21, 2018

Don't forget Scherr Tumiko. I love their mics. They're still in business making great products.

SouthBendModel34 · Mar 22, 2018

In Post #13, Mindbent wrote:

"I have a couple different rod mics and one is Millers Falls which if I'm not mistaken became Starrett..."

Ah......I humbly wish to say that I think you are incorrect. AFAIK, Starrett never bought out Millers Falls.

There is, however, a relationship between Goodell-Pratt and Millers Falls: MF bought out G-P in 1931 and merged them into MF in 1932.

To your list of quality USA machinist tool makers, you can add Lowentraut of Newark NJ.

And, by all means, buy those Ken Cope books! They will inform your future machinist tool acquisitions!

John Ruth

fullyinstrumentd · Jul 19, 2019

Starret, Fowler, Igaging,
However, some of their products now are kind of produced in China. It's really easy to spot it in Alibaga. Sorry.

James H Clark · Jul 21, 2019

I don't think that Union brand has been mentioned. Not for sure, but i think they made stuff during WWII when the big push came.

JH

Brands of American Calipers and Micrometers?

Plastic

Titanium

Aluminum

Plastic

Stainless

Cast Iron

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Titanium

Plastic

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Stainless

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

Stainless

Similar threads