Picked up this home made tool recently because it was so well made. No idea what it's use may be so any ideas welcome. The two slotted members move parallel to each other and they can be raised or lowered above the height of the table. It's spring loaded so that the jaws open under spring pressure.
Could this be a vice? The mechanism reminded me of a vice for thin parts, but if the height of the jaws is adjustable, that would allow it to grip a greater range of thicknesses.
Yes, it's a thinpiece vise, designed to hold thin pieces in a vice for filing the thickness. There is one described in Tubal Cain's book, "Simple Workshop Devices".
This was part of the course I did at Arborfield, it is placed in the vice jaws and tightened on the thin section so you can work on it. I used it for graining brass parts before varnishing.
This would appear to be an indicator , much used when dial gauges were too expensive for the average mortal , was used where a dial gauge would be used today , the most popular one was made by Verdict .
Frances, I remember making an indicator along the same lines when in my teens, it was one of the tools featured in the book "Unimat lathe projects" as I was still at school I could not have afforded a proper dti.
I have two of those Unique indicators (but sadly no attachment). They look anything but precision but are suprisingly accurate. John Mills showed one on one of his Youtube videos a few months ago.