What is it?

I had the pleasure/ honor of being able to buy a 1940's Grestner tool box FULL of tools and instruments from the 40's, 50's, and 60's recently. I knew what everything was except for this:



Anyone have a clue what it is used for?

Wheeeee, in b4 the lock......

joaquin suave said:

I had the pleasure/ honor of being able to buy a 1940's Grestner tool box FULL of tools and instruments from the 40's, 50's, and 60's recently. I knew what everything was except for this:

View attachment 288977

Anyone have a clue what it is used for?

Click to expand...

They are for something taper related. It measures a taper diameter. They are called Camron balls.

The full diameter of the taper exactly where it begins to taper from the edge. You need a formula to use it based on the diameter of the camron balls and the taper. I have never met any QC man who knows what they are or how to use them properly. Commonly used in oilfield work. It moves to measure a diameter and when center is found the gage is locked and you measure across the balls to get diameter.

Generally the only place you find these are in a old timers toolbox. Lucky you.

I worked at a place and ran their lathes. I told them this was a good way to check so they invested a lot in items I told them they needed. They invested the money after a while and bought a nice one. I have noticed that after I left now no one understands what it does or how it does it.

That is what happens sometimes J.

It's an adjustable gage, like a snap gage but with a larger range of adjustment. With the tooling balls, I'd guess it was intended to test IDs or possibly shallow tapers. If the latter, the faces of the disks under the tooling balls would be pressed flat against the face of the part, then you'd see if both balls made contact with the surface of the taper. You can buy a very similar device today with a dial indicator as a shallow bore gage.