Identifying Moore and Wright Notched Calipers

[Thomas WilshawParticipant @thomaswilshaw89415]

I just picked up a few old calipers at a second hand place and there was this pair which I don’t recognise. Does anyone have any idea what they’re for? The notch in the legs makes me wonder if it’s for grooves or something.

 

Thanks

[PeteParticipant @pete41194]

It’s not a feature I can recall seeing on a set of calipers like that before. At best this is just guessing. With the angle cut on each of those notches, it seems likely that either a previous owner or if original, M & W made or produced inserts of various shapes to suit some fairly unique requirements.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

What identification do you want?

To me, they are a standard set of calipers that have been bought by a company and modified for a specialised use within their production or inspection process.

The stickers on them would indicate they are part of some documented quality regime.

M&W might not finish the ends of their products in such a rough manner.

Consider the maximal opening permitted by the chamfers at the top of the legs (inside the bow) compared to the tiny, unidirectional (or even non-) adjustability offered by the screw.

Possible speculated use: if you had a circlip groove on the end of a shaft, when opened to their maximum (knob against ball stop) they could be used as a no go gauge for its diameter, and then adjusted inwards to be snug and then tried on a round rod representing minimum diameter.

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Standard tools were often modified in a Works Toolroom to perform some task on the shopfloor. The notch or undercut behind the angled faces I would hazard at a guess to be clearance in order to machine the angled faces, and maybe to clear some feature on the component.

The adjustment thread has also been reduced.

Parallel Jaw pliers used to be a favourite special purpose assembly tool configuration when I worked for Rank Xerox.

Regards

Gray,

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I concur with DC31k … and would suggest that the numbering on the Yellow sleeve is probably your best [faint] hope of identifying their origin/purpose.

MichaelG.

 

 

 

[Thomas WilshawParticipant @thomaswilshaw89415]

It hadn’t occurred to me it might be a users modification. I was presuming it was a specialist M&W tool I hadn’t come across before and was simply interested to find out what it might be for.

 

Thank you for all the insight and suggestions, as a hobbyist/amateur they’re really useful and interesting. I suppose it’s usually only worth while modifying measuring equipment like that if you are doing larger production runs.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I would plump for some special assembly tool, perhaps for holding a difficult nut or screw. I have made mods to enough tools in my time.

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