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Thread: Help - Tool Id?

  1. #1
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    Default Help - Tool Id?

    G'day
    I was asked yesterday if I knew what this tool/gauge is. I have no idea. Apparently the owner has had it for about 40 years and it looked old when he got it. The 2 pics are both sides of the tool. As can be seen in the pics, it has a series of holes down the middle. these holes are the same id but each one has a very shallow counter bore. These are different od's and are numbered from 1 -16 with 1 being the largest. There is a series of different width slots down each long side. Ones side has the word "lever" under the slots and the other side has "geneva's" under the slots.
    The gauge is approx 180mm long X approx 30 mm wide X approx 2mm thick.
    If anyone can provide any more info I'd appreciate it. I can also e-mail higher res pics if required.
    Stamped on the end of the gauge is "Martin" under that is "reg trade mark" under that is the number "54377" and under that is "Swiss Made"


    Can anyone Id it ?
    thanks
    bollie7

  2. #2
    Andy Mac Guest

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    Interesting tool, and I have no idea! To state the bleedin' obvious, the counterbores and the side slots go together for use on the same equipment or task!
    The side slots are some sort of gauge for thickness, like sheetmetal, but the counterbores have me. They won't be for measuring rods or round stock, but rather discs or small wheels. The hole through the plate is probably to ensure you can get whatever is fitted in, back out again.
    The Geneva's may refer to an indexing or intermittent action mechanism, but in what context?
    When I punched the Martin brand and part number in to Google I came up with a model train site, so that maybe a start.
    I love these odd tools and unknown old fixtures...

    Good luck

  3. #3
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    Andy
    Thats pretty much what we were thinking. I didn't get a train site when I searched, but got lots of other stuff totally unrelated. As usual.
    I'm finding that over the last couple of years its getting harder to find useful info on the net. Its mostly advertising these days.

    regards
    bollie7

  4. #4
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    I think he's got it!
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  5. #5
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    I think the clue is where it's made.
    My guess would be a gauge to measure watch and clock movement gears and cogs.
    You can acurately measure the diameter of the cog and the pitch of the teeth.
    Edit: Lever is a type of escapement, Geneva s is possibly a sub type or just where it was made .

  6. #6
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    Did you follow that Wikipedia link?

    The Geneva drive or Maltese cross is a mechanism that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion.

    ...

    The name derives from the device's earliest application in mechanical watches, Switzerland and Geneva being an important center of watchmaking.
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  7. #7
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    Hey! What happened to that post that was there before my last one?

    He linked to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_wheel
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  8. #8
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    Martin are a Sproket company (http://www.martinsprocket.com/) so maybe it's related gears and cogs in that way.

  9. #9
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    Lever could refer to the escape wheel in a Lever escapement.

    Apparently, a variation of the geneva wheel is the geneva stop, in which the driven wheel has a missing slot so that it can only be turned so far and they used it to stop the mainspring from being over wound in a clockwork watch.

    I reckon we've nailed it
    "I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."

  10. #10
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    These two items are listed on a watchmakers tool sales site as
    A wheel gauge

    And a Main Spring Gauge


    This had me intrigued so i did a search.

  11. #11
    Andy Mac Guest

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    I definitely think its a watchmaking tool. The notches on the side are the same as the tool T1.69 on this page, apparently used for measuring main springs, but I'm sure it has wider uses. Despite a wide web searching I can't anything exactly the same, but it seems a lot of older tools have made way for verniers and more advanced measuring devices.

    Cheers

  12. #12
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    Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I think the watch/clock gauge is correct. I have passed this info on to the person who asked me about it.

    thanks
    regards
    bollie7

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by bollie7 View Post
    Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I think the watch/clock gauge is correct. I have passed this info on to the person who asked me about it.

    thanks
    regards
    bollie7
    bollie7
    That is a Martin Gauge, for watch mainsprings...I sort of collect watch and clock maker's tools.
    Here is a copy of a page from a book DeCarle's Watch & Clock Encyclopedia. The disk depressions are to gauge the spring as shown on the page. And a link to a page on my website with some of my watch and clock tools.

    Regards,
    Peter

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by lightwood
    Wow, that is quite a collection. I notice you have a couple of identical (or very close) gauges to the OP's.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by NCArcher View Post
    Wow, that is quite a collection. I notice you have a couple of identical (or very close) gauges to the OP's.
    Yes I have some of Martin's gauges and a couple more that are similar. I've been a Jeweller for more than 30 years, and the collections of watchmaker's tools seem to find their way here. I also know a couple of pretty good watchmakers that have good knowledge, and great libraries, so when I find something they help out. Sometimes they are a complete mystery though.
    The lathes are especially nice...one that I got 25 years ago still gets used pretty regularly to make wedding rings
    Watch tools are the easiest whatsits to stump people with, they are so small and weird looking.
    These ones are used to polish / burnish screw heads. Clamped in a bench vice, the brass collet chuck holds the screw, and with the palm of your hand running back and forth across the shaft, or a bow on the pulley next to the wheel, you use a burnisher on the screw head. The bottom one has a rest for the burnisher...nice eh?

    Regards,
    Peter
    Last edited by lightwood; 18th Oct 2008 at 09:29 PM. Reason: clarification

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