“The Unique”

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“The Unique”

This topic has 42 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 18 September 2020 at 11:06 by Peter G. Shaw.

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30 May 2019 at 13:47 #411695
AdrianR
Participant
@adrianr18614
Going through more of my inheritance I discovered an odd looking little tool called "The Unique" Pat No 234947/11. I could not find the original patent but found a related one that mentioned it and what it was for.

Came as a great surprise that it was a 0 – 15 thou DTI to fit on a scriber block.
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30 May 2019 at 13:47 #35489
AdrianR
Participant
@adrianr18614
30 May 2019 at 14:50 #411708
Michael Gilligan
Participant
@michaelgilligan61133
One here, sold on ebay, with some useful photos, but no reference to the patent:

**LINK**

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-J-H-Grant-The-Unique-test-indicator-1-other-Unique-Made-in-England-/173854392693

MichaelG.
30 May 2019 at 15:53 #411712
Clive Foster
Participant
@clivefoster55965
Considering that these devices were right at the bottom of the economy end of the indicator market mine is unreasonably accurate. As near as can be judged from the scale it is spot on through the whole range. Although I pretty much never used it in anger it was clearly a useful and, within its limits, a very capable tool.

Came in a box of bits spanning the whole range from total rubbish to treasure obtained with my first lathe. A Portass S wildly overpriced at two pints and a packet of Players. 45 years on the treasures were more than worth the asking price. Especially as I made a whole £2 profit on the lathe after refurbishment and assembly onto a base with countershaft & motor.

Clive
30 May 2019 at 16:30 #411720
BC Prof
Participant
@bcprof
Purchased mine for 2 shillings more than 50 yrs ago . The shop was closing down and the owner had found a box of them as he sorted out his "treasures" . Used it on my Granville lathe until I could afford a DTI .

Brian C
30 May 2019 at 18:39 #411742
AdrianR
Participant
@adrianr18614
I checked mine, it is accurate within 1/2 thou which is impressive as it has been in the bottom of a bits box for ages.

Wish I knew how it worked, an indicator like that would be great for setting lathe tool height.
30 May 2019 at 20:04 #411763
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi, my one was my fathers, he had two of them but the other one has got lost many years ago. This one has J H G on one side and you can just make out that it was made in England.

Buck & Hickman, Ltd. sold them in 1958.

Regards Nick.
30 May 2019 at 20:10 #411764
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Here's the front view, if anyone is interested **LINK**

Regards Nick.
31 May 2019 at 01:29 #411826
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
Harley-Davidson sold a similar – but even cruder – tool for truing up flywheel crankshaft assemblies in vintage days. Countless thousands of cranks must have been set up within the specified total runout of .001" or less using them, so they must work better than they look.

Used in a truing stand with the small right-angle tang rubbing on the crank mainshaft, so the long end of the pointer amplifies the movement to a readable level. Crude but effective!

The Unique looks downright sophisticated by comparison. I also vaguely remember seeing gauges like the Unique with with a small finger like a DTI sticking out the end rather than the button, and the body was made of brass with fine graduations on it. Can't remember where though. Some machine shop in a previous millenium!

Edited By Hopper on 31/05/2019 01:34:58
31 May 2019 at 05:59 #411834
thaiguzzi
Participant
@thaiguzzi
Posted by Hopper on 31/05/2019 01:29:37:

Harley-Davidson sold a similar – but even cruder – tool for truing up flywheel crankshaft assemblies in vintage days. Countless thousands of cranks must have been set up within the specified total runout of .001" or less using them, so they must work better than they look.

Used in a truing stand with the small right-angle tang rubbing on the crank mainshaft, so the long end of the pointer amplifies the movement to a readable level. Crude but effective!

The Unique looks downright sophisticated by comparison. I also vaguely remember seeing gauges like the Unique with with a small finger like a DTI sticking out the end rather than the button, and the body was made of brass with fine graduations on it. Can't remember where though. Some machine shop in a previous millenium!

Edited By Hopper on 31/05/2019 01:34:58

Hi Hopper,

i thought most of those HD type truing stands just used centres, but in that pic of yours above, it has small rollers or bearings adjacent.

What gives?
2 June 2019 at 17:22 #412254
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
Ah, yes, I have just taken mine out of the tool-chest to examine it… No the PC's not in the workshop. It's in the lounge. The tools are in the hall.

Mine is the same as Adrian's, with its indicator needle and scale exposed at the end, not in a small window as on Nicholas' version.

'

Adrian: it's probably intended to be used as a height comparator on the surface-plate, so the scriber you've clamped yours to would act only as its support arm. Same as any DTI. Similarly for centring work on a lathe or rotary-table, from a turned surface on the work-piece.

'

I'd always thought my Unique's neat little tin-plate box, just the right size, was original to it; until I looked closely. It reads "By Appointment Tobacconists to the King" on the lid, and embossed in the bottom, is "Duty-Free H.M. Ships Only". By which I conclude, it was a snuff-tin, it being only of Unique DTI size. As for which King….

I must admit I've never used it, but it's there in case. In its case. By vicarious Royal Appointment at that.
2 June 2019 at 23:17 #412309
Hopper
Participant
@hopper
Posted by thaiguzzi on 31/05/2019 05:59:44:

Hi Hopper,

i thought most of those HD type truing stands just used centres, but in that pic of yours above, it has small rollers or bearings adjacent.

What gives?

Hey Guzzi

Good spot. I think the pic – just grabbed off the net – may in fact be a later model Rowe product. Rollers to do Brit and Jap bike cranks that either had no centre holes, or had a large hole down the mainshaft, or had centres but had been centreless ground to finish. But the stand and finger gauges are otherwise copied from the old HD product.
3 June 2019 at 13:27 #412385
Niloch
Participant
@niloch
YouTube creator David Richards in his 'Old Steam Powered Machine Shop' can be seen using a similar item fairly regularly. Having just returned from a Winter in Florida, episode 54 shows him getting his Upper New York state workshop up and running again. I can't point to a specific episode where the device can be seen in use but it is no hardship to watch a good few videos, all his equipment and most of his techniques are pre-1925. Fascinating.
3 June 2019 at 14:42 #412398
roy entwistle
Participant
@royentwistle24699
I have two similar indicators made by Verdict

Roy
3 June 2019 at 16:34 #412408
Martin Johnson 1
Participant
@martinjohnson1
I have one that I bought at a club sale for half a crown. That gives you some idea of when that was.

It has done sterling service over the years, setting up lathes and truing up work. With the arrival of a pucker dial gauge (for a lot more than 2/6), it is now still used on a crude stand for setting lathe tool height – on centre is centre of the scale, so easy to see if you are high or low. I ground the rounded "stylus" flat for this job.

Highly recommended for those on a tight budget.

Martin
15 September 2020 at 14:23 #495919
Roderick Jenkins
Participant
@roderickjenkins93242
Ricard Arwel is trying to identify one of these in "Scribe a line" in MEW 297

Rod
15 September 2020 at 14:37 #495922
Mick B1
Participant
@mickb1
Blimey. Well, if there were loads of them, 'Unique' was a false trade description then, wasn't it?
15 September 2020 at 14:57 #495928
Howard Lewis
Participant
@howardlewis46836
Precision, before we needed to change the battery every few weeks!

And to think that precision work was done using callipers; before graduated dials, just a pencil or chalk mark and a nudge.

These devices must have seemed a huge leap forward. To be kept and treasured.

Howard
15 September 2020 at 15:22 #495931
Ady1
Participant
@ady1
Posted by Martin Johnson 1 on 03/06/2019 16:34:45:

I have one that I bought at a club sale for half a crown. That gives you some idea of when that was.

Martin

Or "half a dollar" as it was known back in 'dem days when there were 4 dollars to the pound
15 September 2020 at 21:28 #496025
Nigel Graham 2
Participant
@nigelgraham2
The Crown (Five shillings) was called a "dollar"? Was it? I never heard that name -was it was something regional?
15 September 2020 at 22:12 #496031
Andrew Tinsley
Participant
@andrewtinsley63637
A "dollar" was definite 5 bob! Most people of my age used the term, definitely not a local or regional thing. I still use the term for 25p!

Andrew
16 September 2020 at 07:08 #496051
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi, I have never heard of 5 bob being called a dollar or a half crown being called a half dollar, so I guess it must be an old regional thing.

Regards Nick.
16 September 2020 at 07:26 #496058
clogs
Participant
@clogs
I have heard the doller +5 bob when I was young….me dad…..

just after the war…..lots of Dollars about I guess but esp American soldiers…..

and just remember a suit was priced in Guinea's……

I used the term Doller in Ref to the Euro when living in France……

just to annoy them…..I called it pay back….another storey…..

Besides the French hate the Americans almost as much as us Brits…..

funny tho, they like Levi's and old yank cars…..

when are we leaving again…..hahaha…..and I live in deepest Euroland….hahaha….
16 September 2020 at 08:32 #496070
robjon44
Participant
@robjon44
Hi all, I was given a Unique indicator by one of my setters during my apprenticeship some 60 years ago, doesn't time fly when your having fun? These days I keep all my measuring equipment in a dedicated section of a sliding wall wardrobe in the back bedroom in case I need to measure something, I tried to avoid measuring things throughout my working life after I discovered they expected me to do it all the time! With regard to the Unique I know I still have it however it has joined the growing number of items that if I want to look for it I stand on the pavement across the road & say "its in there somewhere", stop me if you've heard that one before.

BobH.
16 September 2020 at 10:32 #496094
SillyOldDuffer
Moderator
@sillyoldduffer
Posted by Nigel Graham 2 on 15/09/2020 21:28:57:

The Crown (Five shillings) was called a "dollar"? Was it? I never heard that name -was it was something regional?

National term and still heard occasionally. Story starts with particularly pure Silver from a mine in Joachinsthal, Germany which was made into coins much valued internationally for their consistency. At the time other 'silver' coins were less reliable.

Initially called Joachinsthalers, soon shortened to Thalers, and then mangled locally as they spread around the world. Low German, 'Daler' became 'Daaler' in Dutch, from which 'Dollar' became an English word in 1533.

Back then currency was much more international than today. Value depended more on a coin's metal content than whoever minted it. Value was determined by weighing and then allowing for debased gold and silver coinage. Didn't matter whose head was on the coin: it was the quality of the metal.

The word Dollar was associated with trustworthy coinage and many countries adopted it. Also, in the UK, 'dollar' was applied to several foreign coins like Pieces of Eight, again because they could be trusted.

In Scotland the Dollar was a silver coin worth 5 shillings, and well-known in England. After Union in 1707 the Scottish Dollar and English Crown, both worth 5 shillings, merged into the Crown, but it was often called a Dollar throughout the UK. Being large clumsy coins, Crowns gradually became unpopular for everyday use and since 1837 they've only been struck in small numbers commemoratively.

Although we know what a Crown is (quarter of a pound), the coin has been out of circulation for nearly 200 years and calling it a 'Dollar' is slipping away. 'Half-a-dollar' is remembered because the half-crown survived until decimalisation in 1971. (Feels like yesterday to me!) The association between 5 shillings and the Dollar was boosted around 1900-ish because for many years there were coincidentally 4 US Dollars to the Pound. Otherwise, I think 'Dollar' for 5 shillings would be long forgotten.

Dave

Edit: still can't get apostrophes right!

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 16/09/2020 10:36:37
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