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The Patterson Tool & Supply Co. Dayton Ohio ~ Machinist Tools Inquiry

Trish

Plastic
Joined
Oct 19, 2004
Greetings~
My G-Grampa was a machinist and we recently located this item.
I'm assuming he used this at his job. Found little about the company.
What were these tools for & is there any market for them now?
Thank you.

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Thanks Richard.
Whoops! I see I am in the wrong place!
When I researched the company, the very brief info I found said they made machinist tools.
Will change course ;-))
 
You're in the right place. Machinists used to use these things, many still do, but there's not much market for them now that most things are designed on the computer.

The "compass" is still useful, and the other things look a lot like precision tweezers :)
 
I'm thinking those "Tweezers" are dividers.:D


Actually, the tweezer things with width adjusters are ink pens, one line drawing pen with a straight handle and one small ink compass.

The set was probably made in Germany for the Dayton store to sell. It was not an expensive set when new and now has missing parts.

Larry
 
The Patterson Tool & Supply Co of Dayton Ohio wasn't the maker they were a tool & shop supply house. The drafting tool were most likely made in Germany and may be marked as such.
 
What is shown is a basic set of mechanical drawing instruments. The 'tool' with the straight black handle is known as a 'ruling pen'. These used "India Ink" to draw or trace lines on drawings. In the days prior to photocopying and printers, engineering drawings were made initally by drawing in pencil. The completed drawing was then 'traced' or 'inked' using India Ink, on a 'tracing film or cloth. Prints were then run using the inked tracing placed against photosensitive paper with a strong light source. Plenty of us are old enough to remember the choking fumes of the ammonia used as a developer for the prints.

The 'tweezer' section adjusts to set the width of a line being traced or inked. A similar ruling pen is attached to one of the compasses. The compasses are 'bow' or 'spring' compasses used to make smaller diameter circles. The 'plain leg' device is a pair of dividers, and can be fitted wit a pencil lead holder, ruling pen, or point for transferring distances.

Not too many of us left who had to learn to letter and trace drawings using these sorts of instruments and India Ink. Sets of drawing instruments are now pretty much obsolete, and not worth a whole lot.
 
In 20 years, someone might start a thread like this asking:
"Who is Reid Supply? My what-not is marked Reid Supply and
I was looking for information on then..."
Or even... Ralmike's Tool-O-Rama.

--Doozer
 
Having lived in the Dayton area for most of my life I'd always assumed that Patterson Tool & Supply was a side business of John H. Patterson who owned National Cash Register. Based on how things work these days I figured he'd make even more money selling supplies to his own company from another company he owned.

I was surprised when reading the history that it had nothing to do with him. I've already seen threads asking about Ralmike's, prepare for more of those type of questions.
 








 
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