Interesting Indicating Inside Calipers.....

Now say that three times real fast........ here are two pairs of calipers with indicators built in..... the bottom one is by J. M. Waterson of Detroit, Mi..... these were first made by Thomas E. Grove under his patent of 1-18-1921..... but it is the top pair that is more interesting.... when I first saw one of these I thought maybe it was shop made.... but then I have seen a few more.... all with an unmarked Ideal indicator and marked Starrett!!!..... now why would Starrett use someone else's indicator in their own product... NOT... but if someone was buying plain calipers from Starrett how did the stamp out the special leg, it has a wide spot and big hole punched to mount the indicator...... and yet they got Ideal to sell them unmarked indicators....... maybe it was a special from Starrett that the Gov. or someone specked this indicator.... I don't know. Anybody else have or seen one? Thanks

bump..........

I'm no collector, and have no idea where or how they came about. But I WILL say that it looks like a very interesting idea....

Takes the "feel" out of the calipers, and probably wasn't very popular with the old guys, but frankly looks like a good idea.

Since this post was done I have some other types.... I'll have to do some looking around for them....

Rivett608:

Starrett may not have "used someone else's indicator" as posited above.
In post #8 of this older thread about Ideal Indicators,

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...l-tool-co-double-scale-indicator-pics-168524/

PM user AppleScotty said he has an indicator made by Starrett which is similar to an Ideal. (Note that I am just parroting off what was said by another PM user; I have no firsthand knowledge of the existence of such a Starrett item.)

I have in hand an Ideal (marked) indicator with no scale. The fragile little pointer needle just sticks out the end, no scale to read it against. No scale on the body, either. It's set up on an arm which fits a standard surface gage snug. It came to me in a snug on a surface gage rod (with finial!) without the body of the surface gage. Paid five bucks for the whole thing because I wanted the snug!

John Ruth

Southbend quoted this:

"PM user AppleScotty said he has an indicator made by Starrett which is similar to an Ideal."

And then added, "I have no firsthand knowledge of the existence of such a Starrett item."

I'm not sure which Starrett tool AppleScotty meant. It is likely he was describing the Starrett #564 "Universal Junior" Indicator. Or, it could distantly be the Starrett #64 Universal Test Indicator?

I'm betting he meant the #564. Don't have one (and don't really want one) or I'd provide a pic. If you have a Starrett catalog 26A, see page 142.

indicating inside caliper

i cut a leg off a regular inside caliper and welded a 1/4" rod to allow putting a regular test dial indicator on the modified inside caliper.
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basically a dial indicator version of the picture. it is used to check the spacing between printing rollers for parallelism. adjustable parallels and a planar gage do same thing

Paging AppleScotty

AntiqueMac:

I hope AppleScotty chimes in on this. Looking at some not-too-good pictures on the web, the Starrett 564 looks VAGUELY like an Ideal.

John Ruth

Just found this thread looking for something else.

The Starrett indicator I referred to is indeed a 564. While it looks similar in form, it is certainly not the same as an ideal.



Scott