Please help ID measuring device

RCPDesigns · Sep 28, 2019

I saw this in a flea market. No glass on the top. Dial reads "1 DIV = .001" so it appears to be a measuring device of some type. Heavyish cast base that is machined on the bottom. Looks like it is probably finished for use on a surface plate. I assume it is missing something. That something might be somewhere else nearby in the flea market so any pics of a complete unit would be helpful. I'd like to rescue this guy but I would like to know what it is used for and what it is missing before I do.

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

RCPDesigns said:
I saw this in a flea market. No glass on the top. Dial reads "1 DIV = .001" so it appears to be a measuring device of some type. Heavyish cast base that is machined on the bottom. Looks like it is probably finished for use on a surface plate. I assume it is missing something. That something might be somewhere else nearby in the flea market so any pics of a complete unit would be helpful. I'd like to rescue this guy but I would like to know what it is used for and what it is missing before I do.

Nothing special as a class, Just specialized as to Day Job USE.

There are THOUSANDS of adaptations of dial-indicators to industry and material specific needs.

Think production of sheet elastomers, for one. Natural or synthetic rubbers can be soft and yielding, and of different "durometer" or stiffness. That's intentional, even useful.

Pressure per unit-area must be kept LOW, else the act of measuring distorts the material and makes QC/QA and in-process adjustment of the production line harder, not easier, let alone softer.

Only part as seems to be "missing" is just what goods the gadget was used to measure. Might be a single, specific part made of hard alloy, not rubber at all.

Just re-purpose the DI - if still working - to whatever use YOU need one for.... and call it good.

RCPDesigns · Sep 28, 2019

Thanks for the quick response. I tried turning/pushing/etc but couldn't find a way to move the DI. How is it supposed to be used? The zero adjustment worked so it doesn't appear to be frozen.

reggie_obe · Sep 28, 2019

No makers name anywhere on the casting?

RCPDesigns · Sep 28, 2019

I didn't see a makers name/mark. I'll probably go back tomorrow and take another look. I'm hoping someone has some more detail on it so I can test it or know what to look for.
My guess is that it had some sort of arm that turned the shaft with the slot in it. I'm guessing that runs through to the center and then turns another shaft that makes up the DI. I tried turning by hand but it didn't move. I didn't want to do much until I had a better idea of what it is and how it works.

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

RCPDesigns said:
Thanks for the quick response. I tried turning/pushing/etc but couldn't find a way to move the DI. How is it supposed to be used? The zero adjustment worked so it doesn't appear to be frozen.

Beats me. I've probably used fewer than a dozen "bespoke" gadgets of similar ilk in the last 60 years.

What you need is a 13 year old kid.

Got to catch them while they still know everything and haven't yet left home to rule the whole damned world.

By - sixteen is it? - that insanely vicious Swedish girl is on climate change? Too damned late.

They've ceased learning and gone rabid, trying out for a big-bucks role in a horror flick so they can retire by eighteen and spend the rest of their lives on reality-TV shows about their drug addiction and re-hab cycles for SERIOUS money.

World has gone so lazy folks wont even ruin their own lives, these days. They'd rather pay half the grocery bill on a media feed, sit their lard-arses on the couch, watch somebody ELSE ruin their overgrown arses and lives for pay.

L Vanice · Sep 28, 2019

Or, to put it another way, a dial indicator with the crystal AND the bezel (crystal mounting ring) missing is about worthless, even if it still works. A special purpose gaging device with unknown purpose is about worthless. So why drag it home, even if the price tag says $1.00?

Larry

RCPDesigns · Sep 28, 2019

L Vanice said:
Or, to put it another way, a dial indicator with the crystal AND the bezel (crystal mounting ring) missing is about worthless, even if it still works. A special purpose gaging device with unknown purpose is about worthless. So why drag it home, even if the price tag says $1.00?

Larry

Because I have a problem.

I'll let this one stay where it is.

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

L Vanice said:
Or, to put it another way, a dial indicator with the crystal AND the bezel (crystal mounting ring) missing is about worthless, even if it still works. A special purpose gaging device with unknown purpose is about worthless. So why drag it home, even if the price tag says $1.00?

Larry

How soon we forget.

That knows-everything 13-year-old might patiently explain that the cast base could make a neat holder for a recycled 2-wheeler stalk-mount mirror enabling improved accuracy of zit-picking?

L Vanice · Sep 28, 2019

RCPDesigns said:
Because I have a problem. I'll let this one stay where it is.

I have the same problem. But advancing experience (age) has taught some degree of restraint and improved my ability to foresee possible use or profit when deciding whether to drag stuff home.

I just drove 2500 miles and all I brought home is a very fine wall mirror that was just too cheap to leave behind in the antique mall. I have already hung it and it looks great.

Larry

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

RCPDesigns said:
Because I have a problem. I'll let this one stay where it is.

Good idea. I still have a Range-Rover "HSE" alloy wheel around somewhere as was MEANT to grow the missing bits for a complete Range Rover as OEM alloy matching spare..

Guess I shudda buried it in potting soil and loominum chips instead of the hunk of paperwork off a failed purchase contract?

It might by now have at least growed me half a BSA motorsickle I could peddle as a powered unicycle?

Hope stings eternal..

reggie_obe · Sep 28, 2019

No law that states that we must provide forever homes for the things we drag home.
Inability to part with a $1.00 flea market/tag sale find that is rusted beyond use or missing parts mean you have crossed over from collector to hoarder.

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

reggie_obe said:
No law that states that we must provide forever homes for the things we drag home.
Inability to part with a $1.00 flea market/tag sale find that is rusted beyond use or missing parts mean you have crossed over from collector to hoarder.

Hang on. Can't really say as I resemble that remark. No "crossdressing" involved.

I started OUT as a hoarder, salvaging bits of nuts and bolts I had no money for - plus one right-decent 3/4" combination wrench - whilst walking the gravel shoulder of a busy and bumpy Pennsyltucky two-lane alleged-blacktop road to and from middle school thru HS.

Damndest collection of 9/16" goods ensued.

Didn't Ford ever use any other size?

swarfless · Sep 28, 2019

Maybe .. puts 13 y o cap on .. you unscrew the top cap of the DI & press on the stem to open the jaw disc (like a vice jaw) pop the specimen in & allow to close .. measure?

CarbideBob · Sep 28, 2019

While I think the best use for this is a light downrigger weight I do have a question.
What is the finish on the base?
So it looks cast but the chip up front and just below the brass plunger makes it look like a coating.
Kind of a wrinkle paint but old and not like what you get out of rattle can.
You see this older tools, fixtures and mics and seems durable. How was this black and cast look done?
Bob

thermite · Sep 28, 2019

swarfless said:
Maybe .. puts 13 y o cap on .. you unscrew the top cap of the DI & press on the stem to open the jaw disc (like a vice jaw) pop the specimen in & allow to close .. measure?

Most of these goods had a lifting lever for bored min-wage housewives (or 15 yr old boys..) to sit and measure hundreds of pieces, hour after hour without a lot of fiddling about or risk of error.

Looks to be such a gadget on this one, too, even if froze-up. Screwing could be optional. I did say "bored", not "boring"?

"In praise of older women." and the amazing breadth of knowledge as used to be conveyed on the shop floor. Or at least "nearby", back in the day.

rivett608 · Sep 29, 2019

I tend to agree an indicator less bezel and glass is pretty much junk.... however! In this case you might take a closer look for fun and if it is cheap want to own it. Reason might just be it looks very similar to one I have that is chain drive, as in fusse chain. Try turning the knurled rod sticking out the top, in this case side next to the brass shaft cover. On mine that is what zeros it. So if for no other reason it could be fun to take apart and play with.

L Vanice · Sep 29, 2019

With regard to dial indicators with fusee chain, I have two 19th century dial calipers of that type, probably unknown outside the antique watch collectors' world. A fusee chain is an element of early watches and clocks that looks a little like tiny roller chain, but is thin and has no rollers. It was introduced shortly after thin gut (think violin strings) was found to be too short-lived for driving a fusee. The last use of fusee chain was in marine chronometers made during or shortly after WWII, done in by quartz clock movements and then by satellite signals.

I have a circa 1900 jeweler tool catalog that shows these calipers, priced then at $4.00, which is about $122 today by inflation adjustment.

One has the crystal missing, which did not in the least stop me from buying it. One has a date of 1860 and an owner name scratched on the back, along with later dates and owners.

Larry

RCPDesigns · Sep 29, 2019

rivett608 said:
I tend to agree an indicator less bezel and glass is pretty much junk.... however! In this case you might take a closer look for fun and if it is cheap want to own it. Reason might just be it looks very similar to one I have that is chain drive, as in fusse chain. Try turning the knurled rod sticking out the top, in this case side next to the brass shaft cover. On mine that is what zeros it. So if for no other reason it could be fun to take apart and play with.

All I needed was a reasonable excuse to spend $10 on it... and taking it apart to see how it works is just such an excuse.

The rod on the top, parallel to the brass shaft over does indeed adjust zero. The lower one that is perpendicular came out when I turned it.

fciron · Sep 29, 2019

Well, now you HAVE to take it apart to put that rod back in properly.

Please help ID measuring device

Hot Rolled

Attachments

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Cast Iron

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Stainless

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