What is it? Set 279

1586 looks like a wiggler, for truing up stock in a lathe.

Is there an "American standard wire gauge"?

I tried AWG first but the ratios were all wrong. We know from the photo that 1/3 of 00 gauge should be about 10.7 gauge, but that doesn't even come close to AWG.

British or Imperial Standard Wire Gauge does have the right ratios, as does Birmingham and Stubbs, but AWG can't be right. In the middle range a lot of gauges were fairly close to BSWG and I can't really rule them out either.

Tim.

It is a silly thought, but it would be amusing to contemplate this door-knocker coupled to a delay/amplifier so that if it were struck it would produce the ting-Clang of a blacksmith/apprentice strike.

1585: A clutch for part of a block and tackle rig. 1586: For transferring a dimension of some sort, not sure what. 1587: Perhaps for installing an escutchen plate over a lock handle. 1588: A hammer and anvil. If the hammer is attached to the horn I imagine this is some sort of modified piece, as it would make the horn useless. Or it is possibly intended as a musical instrument rather than a metalworking tool (in which case the horn shape is merely decorative) 1589: Possibly a fancy plumb bob... 1590: some sort of specialized thickness gauge.

Hard to say if there is a part missing but I'll ask the owner your second question.

I'm still not sure about two of them this week, the rest of the answers can be found at this address:

Rob

1585: The rope clamps I've seen are spring loaded with two cams. With only one movable jaw, this one would chafe a rope. With no spring, a sailor might need both hands.

It seems to me that for stretching leather, springless cam clamps would be a hassle.

I think it's a hanger for mops and brooms. With either tool, you want the head off the floor and you don't want it to fall over. This hanger would work with no hands, and you could suspend a mop at the height you chose, for example to drip into a bucket.

Sounds reasonable, I added your suggestion to the answer page. I also added Matthew's idea for the number 1587.

Rob

I disagree. The orientation of the jaws is off 90 degrees to be effective.

I think 1585 looks much more like it is up side down. I'm betting it is for picking up something of fairly uniform thickness like heavy plate that only holds while the load is in tension. I know it is not the typical ice tong type and I would worry about picking something as slick as steel plate. bit I don't see its use in rigging or rope work of any type.

Do you mean 1585? It would hang from a screw or a nail with a washer. The jaws would point down. The edge of the straight jaw would be against the wall.

There have been lots of inventions for hanging mops and brooms. This one looks as if it could take heavy tools like sledge hammers, too. It would take only one nail to install and could last centuries.

I'll ask the owner to test how well it works on fabric, rope, metal plates, and a broom. I will report back when I get his reply.

Rob

Rob, can you ask the owner about the words on the device?

Good idea, I just sent him another email. I can read just a couple of them now, the words near the hole say "Syracuse N.Y.", and the other visible text should be a company name since the last letters are obviously CO.

Rob

I just heard back about your second question, the metal part does unscrew from the handle.

Rob

Also the observable fact that the larger numbers come with the smaller gap, which is common with wire and sheet metal gauges, which are smaller the more times they have passed through drawing dies or between rollers. To measure in "Oz" (unless you mean in Australia :-) you would need the numbers to increase as the gap increases.

Also -- if it were reading in 64ths of an inch, the numbers would be equally spaced, instead of getting more widely spaced as the numbers get smaller.

Enjoy, DoN.

Aside form that, given the rather steep observable angle of the threads, we would need to know how many "starts" (parallel interleaved threads).

Enjoy, DoN.

How about "jam cleat"?

Yes -- but the material is wrong for sailboat use. It is drop forged steel -- and would rust like mad in such an environment. For a sailboat, the materials should be either bronze or a tough plastic like Delrin -- perhaps with internal parts of stainless steel, if there were springs which are common in actual jam cleats.

Yep.

Nope -- not given the thin anvil, the material, and the mounting holes. It petty much *has* to be a blacksmith's door knocker.

[ ... ]

I *think* sheet metal, but I'm not positive.

Enjoy, DoN.

I agree that is is wrong for lines on a sailboat. But there are two simple work-arounds for the lack of a spring on the jaw.

a) Suspend it by the eye which is shown at the bottom in the photo and the jaw would close by gravity.

b) Pull the webbing to be clamped (not rope, I think, with those jaws) sideways against the movable jaw, and then allow a little draw-back of the webbing which will drag the jaw closed.

Again -- the same could solve it -- but those jaws would leave a serious imprint on the leather -- especially assuming wet leather to start with to allow the stretching.

Poor shape for gripping a round handle, though that would have the eye up and the jaws down. I would expect it to rapidly wear the paint off the handle, followed by removing wood every time it is used.

Enjoy, DoN.

Wouldn't the shear between the fixed and the moving jaw damage webbing?

Suppose you have a bucket in one hand and want to use the other hand to take the mop from the clamp. The way the jaws are shaped, you should be able to slide the handle out sideways if you pull slightly upward to loosen the clamp. You might similarly be able to insert a handle from the side.

The ridges look rounded. I think similar ridges on metal decking would not damage my shoes. The jaws wouldn't close very hard on a two-pound mop.