What is this object?
March 1, 2024 1:08 AM Subscribe
Helping a friend clear out her garage, which contains decades of family stuff, and we've found this. Possible scribing tool or measuring equipment? (And subsidiary desk function question.)
More pictures here, here, here and here. The plaque says Brown and Sharpe Mfg Co. JBS. Providence, Rhode Island. CH. Friend's family worked in engineering, shipbuilding, aircraft design, so some connexion with those skills is likely.
Subsidiary question. She has also unearthed a desk, and we're wondering what the purpose of its double-hinged lid is. Photographs here and here. It is hinged at its far end, where it joins the desk, and also parallel to that halfway along its depth. It lifts up (and is stable in that position, on the bracket showing on left) and folds in half back on itself. You can see two pieces of wood look like they have been added in later, probably so the folded lid can rest on them in difference positions. Why would one want to have this degree of flexibility? We wondered whether it is so one can pin a chart or plan on the inside of the lid when upright?
More pictures here, here, here and here. The plaque says Brown and Sharpe Mfg Co. JBS. Providence, Rhode Island. CH. Friend's family worked in engineering, shipbuilding, aircraft design, so some connexion with those skills is likely.
Subsidiary question. She has also unearthed a desk, and we're wondering what the purpose of its double-hinged lid is. Photographs here and here. It is hinged at its far end, where it joins the desk, and also parallel to that halfway along its depth. It lifts up (and is stable in that position, on the bracket showing on left) and folds in half back on itself. You can see two pieces of wood look like they have been added in later, probably so the folded lid can rest on them in difference positions. Why would one want to have this degree of flexibility? We wondered whether it is so one can pin a chart or plan on the inside of the lid when upright?
Best answer: Universal Surface Gauge
used by machinist’s and toolmakers for scribing lines
posted by tronec at 2:01 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]
used by machinist’s and toolmakers for scribing lines
posted by tronec at 2:01 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]
Best answer: For the "desk", I would identify it as a machine cabinet because of the overhanging front lip on the lid and the two yellowish wood blocks secured to the base. I envision some type of machine was housed inside. It appears there are cleaner, lighter yellow streaks on those blocks where the base of the machine may have rested.
The wood blocks would have secured the machine against lateral movement.
If it were to serve as a drafting table, I doubt it would have had a horizontal crack across the middle.
The good quality concealed hinges on the lid, the flat head screws and the style of the drawer pulls would point me to good quality construction 40 or 50 years ago.
And I am guessing because of the slope of the lid, that the machine was taller towards the back.
By opening the lid, you would have access to the front of the machine. The fact that it the top is hinged would just make it a bit easier to move and secure the lid into an upright position, out of the way of the normal machine operation.
Ah, but what kind of machine? I am guessing something fairly wide or that it handled material (such as paper) which was fairly wide. I am wondering if the full width, but fairly shallow drawer across the front would have held such?
That is about all I can think of at this time of morning. I hope someone else may give more clarity.
posted by tronec at 3:35 AM on March 1 [2 favorites]
The wood blocks would have secured the machine against lateral movement.
If it were to serve as a drafting table, I doubt it would have had a horizontal crack across the middle.
The good quality concealed hinges on the lid, the flat head screws and the style of the drawer pulls would point me to good quality construction 40 or 50 years ago.
And I am guessing because of the slope of the lid, that the machine was taller towards the back.
By opening the lid, you would have access to the front of the machine. The fact that it the top is hinged would just make it a bit easier to move and secure the lid into an upright position, out of the way of the normal machine operation.
Ah, but what kind of machine? I am guessing something fairly wide or that it handled material (such as paper) which was fairly wide. I am wondering if the full width, but fairly shallow drawer across the front would have held such?
That is about all I can think of at this time of morning. I hope someone else may give more clarity.
posted by tronec at 3:35 AM on March 1 [2 favorites]
Best answer: The desk appears to have been modified by the user (in more than one way), but from what I can see it looks more like the horizontal bars form a kind of "jig" where a specific style of work/assembly would be performed, while the hinged top can protect the material being worked on while also making it possible to use that same workshop space for something ELSE while the lid is closed.
...for a specific example, consider things like the rigging on model ships, or the early stages of keel assembly.
posted by aramaic at 7:20 AM on March 1
...for a specific example, consider things like the rigging on model ships, or the early stages of keel assembly.
posted by aramaic at 7:20 AM on March 1
Best answer: Given that you found a surface gage and the engineering background, I wonder if that desk might've housed a smallish granite surface plate. It looks like the folding top, when closed, would fully enclose that space, protecting the surface plate from damage and contaminants.
posted by xedrik at 8:22 AM on March 2 [3 favorites]
posted by xedrik at 8:22 AM on March 2 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks, this is all really interesting. xedrik, what would a granite plate of the type you describe have been used for?
posted by paduasoy at 9:30 AM on March 2
posted by paduasoy at 9:30 AM on March 2
Best answer: Surface plates, often made of polished granite or polished cast iron, are crafted to be extremely flat. The top of the surface plate is used as a horizontal reference when doing dimensional measurement for tasks like inspection, toolmaking, gauging, spotting, marking, or layout. Tools designed to be used in conjunction with a surface plate typically have a heavy precision ground base. An example is the surface gage you found. The base of the tool sits on the top of the surface plate and is slid around the surface plate to compare or transfer measurements, etc.
posted by RichardP at 10:13 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
posted by RichardP at 10:13 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
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posted by RichardP at 1:50 AM on March 1 [3 favorites]