Really Weird Precision Instrument!

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi All,

Seems to be my month for oddball items!

I have absolutely no idea what this is from or for! Really nicely made with a custom box; looks like hand scraped parts in places.

Probably part of something else? Would love to know your thoughts please. Cheers, Martin

[parovozParticipant @parovoz]

Easy !

 

It’s  for measuring the gravitational interaction of eggs…. Even has the different tooling for small medium and large eggs, and can be adjusted for different chickens….

 

I’m an Egg-spert in this field….

 

Yep…. Not a clue  🙂

 

 

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Wild guess: I think it’s for manipulating tape, possibly for editing photographic film. Precision tape had many applications in the past.  Inspecting the reels of stereoscopic photos taken by aircraft for map making.   Or for making the punch tapes used by early automatic machine tools or looms.

Lifting the lever on the geared assembly looks as if it pulls the tape forward by a fixed amount, such as a frame.  Although I’d expect a photo editing mechanism to have sprockets, this device adapts to different widths, so maybe friction was more practical than a complicated multi-sized sprocket drive.  Or tape without sprockets, such as video tape.

Agree it’s part of something else.  Must have cost someone a fortune when new!

Dave

[parovoz]

On parovoz Said:

…

It’s  for measuring the gravitational interaction of eggs….

 

Are you sure? I think it’s an early version of the Orrery.

George

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

The three outer ball ends are ‘fixed’ to locate on the references / plane and the middle one can be touched off by the worm, there’s some other stuff going on but not clear what.

Another thing ‘shop made’ for setting or inspection of some specific assembly.

 

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Some form of electrical contact as there is a braded wire in the box and a spring e/l contact in the first picture ?

[Dave SParticipant @daves59043]

Has Sphereometer vibes.

3 fixed legs and a movable central probe

Dave

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Dave S, I thought about the tripod legs but parts project below them so it cannot sit on a flat surface.

George; re orrery, that was another initial thought but could not make it work in my head….

[Dave SParticipant @daves59043]

The three ball ended parts in clamps form the plane. What sits below them? The first photo is ‘upside down’ position.
the central ball end probe would go lower to measure a concave surface

 

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

The twelve interchangeable differently-sized ball-ended shafts look like dapping tools used by silversmiths. Not saying this was for silversmithing, mind.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

It does look like you might have 3 different items

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Intriguing!

 

I suspect here, a site-made “special”, for some particularly abtruse task or a prototype version of whatever-it-is:

Incomplete – either itself or it was an attachment for something; which could be of any from manufacturing or inspecting articles, or laboratory equipment.

No maker’s name, numbers, etc.

The slightly inelegant gears, which look as if stock gears used as bought, in a locally-fabricated frame.

Odd that they use grub-screws of about-right length, rather mis-matching the very neat fasteners generally – albeit that the screws are in over-deep counterbores.

A shaft held in a split-clamp, but not to the full depth of the clamp.

And what are those larger Round Things of curious colour, one on the device, the other in the box? Tuits apart, at first glance they look like felt rollers, which could accord with feeding photographic film, recording-tape or paper-tape.

…..

 

BTW did anyone ever discover the identity of that very strange circular “calculator” posted on here a few years ago? Leads I followed – the slide-rule manufacturer Blundell-Harling, and the organ-builders Harrison & Harrison – drew a blank.

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

This isn’t the answer, but if you found a part of the item in this video (linear dividing engine) would you have any idea? Hence it cold be part of something once commonly used but not in quantity and rather limited knowledge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea1sKIVE584

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Lovely to see that Dividing Engine restored!

Not sure that what we have here though, is part of one such.

However, looking at the photos, could those two pillars at the extremities of the major axis, be operating handles, and in complete form, or on whatever it was on, this assembly was slid back and forth to complete each cycle of whatever it did?   If so it is the right way up in the third photograph.

I’m inclinded to think something fabric here… part of some sort of knitting-machine perhaps, for something specialised like glove or sock knitting? Or part of a lace-weaving loom? Those had very complicated mechanisms to create the patterns.

 

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