What is it? CXXVII

739. A gauge to measure the foot width of the foot for sizing shoes? Good set this week. Karl

R.H. wrote:

739. A gauge to measure the foot width of the foot for sizing shoes? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ That seems plausible, but why would you have a double scale, with an offset? Also, did you notice that the offset changes as you move down the scale?

738 appears to be a tool for spreading piston rings for installation.

740 looks like it would be for grating or hulling some agricultural product.

Mens and womens sized. A womans C width is not as wide as a mans C width.

Men's sizes and women's sizes would account for it. When I was younger, and wore a 7 womens, I could wear a 5 mens. Now that I wear an 11 women's, I have to wear 9 1/2 or 10 in men's.

"R.H." wrote in news:OICCg.64623$Eh1.7002 @tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:

743 is a valve spring compressor, and seeing the date, I'd guess for a flat-head engine.

The gauge was not made to measure feet or shoes, though it was used on something common. Most people reading this probably own some of the objects it was meant to measure.

Rob

According to R.H. :

As usual -- posting from rec.crafts.metalworking:

I think that you've outdone yourself coming up with weird tools this time. :-)

738) Strange one. It looks a little like an electronics wire stripper which I used to use fairly often.

However, it looks to me as though this one is intended to grip two parts of something and then apply tension to it.

I presume that the cycle is that the pairs of jaws close first, then they spread apart -- somewhat like the wire stripper, except that this seems to have no blades for the purpose.

739) My first thought is that it is a caliper version of a "shrink rule" used in making patterns for castings, where the material being cast shrinks while cooling, so the pattern needs to be made oversized to have the final product come out the desired size.

However, the close-up of the scales shows it marked in letters instead of numbers -- and the two scales are joined by diagonal lines. So -- my guess is that it is a scale which can take readings at two extremes of temperature to compensate for thermal expansion.

740) A manually powered cotton gin? Or a wool card for short production runs? 741) O.K. I'll guess that this one is at least in part a glass-cutting tool. The square notches at the top are for applying stress to scribed glass to break it.

The roller to crush glass to make the scribe line is in the tip of the "horn" to the right.

The missing piece may be used for scraping out old putty prior to replacing the broken windowpane.

The more massive part at the end of the handle is a "knocker" to shock the glass along the scribed line, to start it breaking.

The blade shaped projection beyond the knocker may be for guiding the glass into place -- perhaps for smoothing the putty after it is in place.

Or -- it could be for breaking the paint sealing an old window in place, and prying it clear.

The missing piece carries another crushing wheel, and with the aid of the projections on either side may be for scribing a line around glass tubing -- or even an old bottle to make it into a beaker of some sort.

I've probably missed some functions -- but the above are my guesses.

742) Perhaps an adze for shaping wood?

743) For lifing something -- and it looks sort of like a device for compressing an automotive valve spring by lifting the lower end, instead of pushing down on one end while lifting the other. I guess that this could allow tying wire around the spring to hold it compressed while disassembling the valve keepers and such.

Now to see what others have said -- starting with the comments link on the web site.

Enjoy, DoN.

Head/Hat sizing tool?

Nope, it's not for measuring any body parts nor is it clothing related.

Rob

Partial credit for this one, and also for Rich and DoN for their similar answers. It was used for processing an agricultural product, though a specific one that hasn't been guessed yet.

Rob

741a. an early glaziers tool,the cutting wheel at the end gives it away. ;-)

742. a pick for stripping the bark from large tree trunks.

According to R.H. :

[ ... ]

How about tire widths? IIRC, they used to be coded with letters for the width, before the switch to mm for the width.

Enjoy, DoN.

HATS ?

R.H. wrote:

This answer is correct. The top line is marked "size scale of tire", the lower line "load scale on ground".

Rob

New guess

740. shuck> 739. A gauge to measure the foot width of the foot for sizing shoes?

How Bizarre. I was in the tire business in the 70's and in particular during the time when the tire was being switched over to the Letter and aspect ratio sizing and later to the Metric and aspect ration sizing.. I never saw or heard of that tool. Very interesting, I could easily see how it would work.

Correct, it's a corn sheller.

Rob

It's a Goodrich Tire Caliper Gauge, so maybe it was something that only Goodrich used. I've also never seen any others like it.

Rob