What’s in the box?

[Geoffrey HYDE FYNNParticipant @geoffreyhydefynn45631]

My father, an avid model engineer, died last year at 94 years. I am clearing his workshop and am finding many weird and interesting things. For example I have found some brass fittings for holding a coffin in place in a hearse!

But I also found a box of gears. I take it to be a tool for engineers to design and try out gear layouts. There are some pictures attached. There is a main box in mahogany with nice brass handles. There are two layout plates one of which was hidden in a secret drawer below the main box. The plates are both hand stamped with "UNIVERSAL GEAR BOX: DRG NO. ARM. 19910 ISSUE D."

Can anyone help with the background of this box and contents.

Geoffrey

[Geoffrey HYDE FYNNParticipant @geoffreyhydefynn45631]

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Very nice! Some sort of prototyping kit by the look of it. I doubt it was cheap in its day.

I have seen an old advert for something similar, but just the gears not the shafts and mounting plates.

Neil

[alan-lloydParticipant @alan-lloyd]

Hi, You could try contacting the Tool Box in Colyton in Devon, they seem to have a knowledge of old engineering and woodwork tools, good luck, Alan

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Spent a while on google this PM, the best I could find was Armfield Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Aparatus co, but could only find their modern equipment. You might have to try something like "The Antique Road Show", or some dealer in that sort of 'gear', not that I always trust some of them to know what they are talking about. Ian S C

[Geoffrey HYDE FYNNParticipant @geoffreyhydefynn45631]

Thanks for your help.

I will follow up the suggestions one of which is "just down the road".

I am back in the Alladin's Cave again this week. I will no doubt find other treasures to test our investigative skills.

Thanks again.

Geoffrey

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

A picture in ME and MEW would reach a different audience and probably would intrigue the readers.

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Hi Geoffrey

Quite a While back I remember seeing Boxed sets for protyping gear from from A US company. PIC Design

I did not find a boxed set but they still sell a system similar to yours.

Link Follows:

**LINK**

Found another from Berg

http://www.wmberg.com/catalog/pdf/b00d2-5.pdf

I want one for christmas!

Cheers
John

Edited By John McNamara on 03/06/2013 16:38:13

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

I think I got figure 11

[Geoffrey HYDE FYNNParticipant @geoffreyhydefynn45631]

Oddly my Dad used to "feed" me Meccano – until he realised I was selling it on to get better gears for my bike!

At least I now know the name for it: "Breadboard" – again a term I can remember my Dad using but more usually he used it to do with electrical or electronic layouts. He was in at the start of RDF (Radar) and I'm sure he used to use the same term for the layouts they used at the start of WW2 for their efforts – that and his complaints about trying to do up 4BA nuts in with this two thumbs in the freezing temperatures in Co. Durham in the winter of 39-40 while they were testing and re-testing their "breadboards."

Thanks once again for your efforts.

Geoffrey.

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