Starrett dovetail caliper, why?

[hms50]

Here is a no. 438 caliper for measuring dovetails. The slide on the left end can be set for 45,50,55 or 60 degree angles and also for measuring male or female. It also has a position for a slideway with a dovetail on only 1 side. This tool was offered starting in catalog no. 23 (1924) and was offered for some time. I haven't checked to see when Starrett stopped listing it.

My guess is that this was not a very popular tool. At $50, it was expensive. An outside mike and a couple of dowel pins would be as accurate. If the object was to have a worker who could not handle math measure dovetails, wouldn't a fixed gage have been more practical and reliable?

hms50

 

[AntiqueMac]

Hugh,

Neat! I love it when I see something that has been right under my nose and was never noticed. Thanks for posting it.

I have never seen a #438 in the wild and did not notice it in the catalogs.

I was able to find it in catalogs 24 thru 26, but not in 26A (published in 1953).

Strangely, I could not find it in my copy of catalog 23. So , now I'm suspicious that it might have been in the hardcopy version with supplement pages????

Is your catalog 23 a hardcopy and what page is it in your catalog 23. I guess I'm going to have to buy a 23 hardcopy.

My catalog 23 has 370 pages, more than the Roger Smith catalog study mentions (352). How many pages in your catalog 23?

Because yours is the first I have seen, I'm betting the catalog's description, "The caliper will prove a valuable asset to any manufacturer's tool equipment where dovetail work is involved.", was dead wrong.

I'm guessing that for the $50 cost in catalog 24, folks just kept using "round wire or standard plugs" as the catalog says was done before the #438.

In any case your #438 has got to be rare even by my defintion - 3 or less extant!

 

[hms50]

Hi Antique Mac,

Thanks for the information. If you say it is rare than it must be! The case indicates that it belonged to (maybe, kind of hard to read) Ohio Tool Co. ? On the inside is a label telling the user that it must be checked in at the end of each shift. The bar is marked #2 so maybe they had two of them.

The copy of catalog no. 23 I have is soft cover and has 352 "regular" pages and 8 pages of supplement showing new tools. The 438 is shown on page 6 of the supplement.

A few years back, while making an MLA cross slide for a South Bend 9" and once or twice while working with a great old gentleman who re-built machine tools, the need to measure dovetails came up. Looking in old Starrett catalogs their special tool impressed me. Special tools for specific jobs appeal to my addiction. Just before this Christmass it seemed there were lots of neat tools on eBay. This was one of them. The seller listed it's number but described it as an adjustable straightedge. Although it wasn't cheap, I just had to have it.

My latest craving is for a Starrett Vulcon screwdriver as listed in catalog no. 13. Have you ever seen one? Got any extras?

I've been lucky in finding one each of the two types of Starrett no. 801 spiral screwdrivers. How rare are these?

hms50