First New Years Mystery Item!

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi all,

A tool dealer pal came round this morning to offer me his first batch of items that he had put aside for me and in amongst it was this oddity:

Made of brass over a hardwood backing. Seems to be part of something else but no idea what? Has strange ridges in the top half:

Rear is like this:

Has makers nicely engraved initials of HS or SH

Any thoughts anyone?

Cheers, Martin

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

A leather work widget?

[egaParticipant @ega]

The bisected screw head suggests that it may be a (nicely) shop-made item and SH its maker – or is that Uncle Sam's dollar?

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Looks like initials not a dollar sign to me.

Martin

[MichaelRParticipant @michaelr]

A throat plate for a very very large sewing machine

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Notice –

– it seems not have definite holding-down arrangements such as screw-holes – it might have clipped onto or slotted into something.

– the scale is engraved in an unusual way as if to provide a successively finer adjustment for…. something.

– the steps are tapered inwards like a ratchet, perhaps to maintain a fairly low level across them. They don't have sharply vertical or in-cut risers though, reducing any intended locating ability – but that may be an effect of wear.

Brass on hardwood…. suggesting the material being worked on, if that was the case, was wood, leather, paper/card or cloth. Not metal, unless precious-metals perhaps. It might have been some special type of bench-block.

Any chance the dealer would know something of its previous owner's work? Or what tools it had been bundled with: they might provide clues?

I have one possible lead to follow, if only to eliminate it from enquiries…..

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by ega on 02/01/2023 17:13:35:

The bisected screw head suggests that it may be a (nicely) shop-made item and SH its maker – or is that Uncle Sam's dollar?

I think you may be looking at it upside down. I don’t think it is a H. More like a combination of F, J and S.

The screw fitted accross the groove is certainly surprising – unless added by the eventual user.

Edited By not done it yet on 03/01/2023 09:25:36

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Curious scale engraved on it too. Starts out in eighths, then 16ths then 32nds.

Looks more like a woodworker's tool than an engineer's. intriguing.

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

Are you sure it is a tool?

Could it be a decorative item – it is somewhat Art-Deco in appearance, and the screw heads that have been machined away do not suggest tooling to me, since they would be awkward to remove and replace for maintenance.

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

Not that it helps a lot but I think as shown in the first photograph it is upside down , ie as used the angled grooves

would be nearest to the operator.

Because the letter S would have been impressed with the larger diameter of the S at the bottom ?

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

If you look carefully at the back there is evidence of circular impressions in the T slots from some kind of clamp bolt suggesting that an adjustable fence or suchlike could be attached to the front.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

There is no evidence of tool damage so it is for measuring something after it has been made not for cutting to length. The material is thin or soft enough to flex into the alignment grooves and the T slots for end stops implies multiple items in production. Why round as it would be more natural for a stand alone jig to be square? Perhaps to fit into some larger device and need to be rotated?

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

I wonder if the groove that cuts the screw was added later. I can't imagine it would have been deliberate as original.

The faint scar on the underside, spotted by Martin, might alternatively have been for a G-clamp or similar holding the workpiece. It's it is not heavily marked though, so perhaps it was unusual to clamp anything to it – or the clamp had a soft foot, maybe of hardwood.

I think more likely, an adjustable stop that is basic to its use would use the Tee-slots.

I have sent the link to a friend who does a bit of silver-smithing as a hobby, to see if he recognises it as anything related to that craft.

====

(Incidentally, I sent enquiries about that Strange Round Number Thing that had us all foxed a couple of years ago, to a slide-rule manufacturer and pipe-organ builder; but neither of them could recognise it.)

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Well, we can discount jewellery making, but my friend suggested another line of enquiry:

His reply:

Hi Nigel,

It’s nothing to do with silver or metalsmithing as far as I am aware. My thoughts would be a mount for a scientific/ maritime instrument?

Cheers

Adrian

If scientific, possibly a school laboratory instrument, by its simple but rugged construction?

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 03/01/2023 20:11:17:

Well, we can discount jewellery making, but my friend suggested another line of enquiry:

His reply:

Hi Nigel,

It’s nothing to do with silver or metalsmithing as far as I am aware. My thoughts would be a mount for a scientific/ maritime instrument?

Cheers

Adrian

If scientific, possibly a school laboratory instrument, by its simple but rugged construction?

Over to you Michael?

I think the underside is certainly for some sort of tee slot…? The rule markings are extremely well don and precise?

Cheers Martin

PS Wait until you see the next item which has me completely stumped also…..

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Martin King 2 on 05/01/2023 11:50:44:

Over to you Michael?

.

Martin,

On the arrogant assumption that you mean me:I have remained silent because I have no better idea than anyone else … but I do have a question … The rulings are obviously eighths, sixteenths, and thirty-seconds but are they actually divisions of an Inch [of the 25.4mm size] ?

MichaelG.

[J HancockParticipant @jhancock95746]

Lastly, from me.

I think we are looking at it upside down.

ALL the markings are engraved,

Since it is very precise the little loop at the bottom of one I turns it into a delberate J

So , combinations of I J S

[vic neweyParticipant @vicnewey60017]

Posted by MichaelR on 02/01/2023 20:20:24:

A throat plate for a very very large sewing machine

————————–

or bandsaw

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

This is my wild guess … it’s a wood-engraver’s ‘vice’ [for want of a better term] and is made that oval shape so that it sits nicely on the leather sand-bag that they use, and could be easily turned-around for convenience [rather like the circular light-box that’s built into an Animator’s desk].

MichaelG.

.

Ref. __ **LINK** http://www.bewicksociety.org

Ref. __ **LINK** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_engraving

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Throwing my thoughts and observations into the pot

1_ Firstly, I have no idea what it is

2_ Picture might be upside down

3_ Engraved letters could be F, J and S

4_ Engraved scale looks to be slightly off centre, but in any event the graduations have no units or index.

5_ Cut away screw head has a couple of other 'notches' missing

6_ My wild speculation is that it may have something to do with the cigarette industry (I've seen wood/brass measuring instruments from the early 1900's).

Just food for thought… or maybe put that in your pipe and smoke it!

HNY to all

Ian P

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 03/01/2023 20:11:17:

Well, we can discount jewellery making, but my friend suggested another line of enquiry:

His reply:

Hi Nigel,

It’s nothing to do with silver or metalsmithing as far as I am aware. My thoughts would be a mount for a scientific/ maritime instrument?

Cheers

Adrian

If scientific, possibly a school laboratory instrument, by its simple but rugged construction?

I like the idea, but probably not scientific because the scale appears to be inches. Science was metric for more than a century before British industry.

I wonder if the three "inches" are all the same size. If different, they might be a form of vernier scale, where three pointers on a sliding item add up coarse, fine and extra-fine.

Dave

[Fowlers FuryParticipant @fowlersfury]

Tried my usual 1st tactic with these intriguing "what is it" queries – upload the image to Google's Reverse Image Look-up.
No pretence at all that this is the answer but an interesting trail resulted.

There was a bit of similarity to the basic shape of a tool I'd never heard of – a cooper's CROZE.
This was a curved plane used in barrel making for cutting the inside rebate where the lid would be hammered in. A further search on "coopers croze" produced dozens of images none of which exactly matched the OP's pictures but might indicate the article was part of such a plane. However unlikely, it's been a welcome education.

[Rob McSweeneyParticipant @robmcsweeney81205]

Could it be a special purpose compositors stick? To take three short lines of type for something like the message in a greetings card. The grooves being to take adjustable end stops to position the type relative to the dimensions of the card.

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

The compositor idea suggests to me that it was a holder for the type masters for a machine engraver. The slots could accommodate master letters of different sizes, or two or more rows, and the big slots (as Rob suggests above) could hold movable end stops to keep everything centred.

That seems much more likely than a hand-compositor's tool, as they need to be light for holding in one hand all day, and don't need the ability to set more than one line at once. But I'm guessing, like we all are.

Cheers, Tim

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