someone gave this to me as scrap, just wondering what it is.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00206.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00207.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00208.jpg

its all brass and the wheels on either side are marked with A and B.

No Idea at all but it looks fascinating,obviously some old engineering tool, take it to Reilly's at Attercliffe, i bet they know what its is.

A balancy/measuring device?

A balancy/measuring device?

That'd be my guess, but based on nothing other than the first thing that I thought of when I saw it. I'm no engineer by any stretch, and never seen anything remotely like it before.

does anyone know what its called, so i can look it up and see if its worth anything.

It looks like some sort of barometric device.

If you were to assemble it and post pictures it might be more obvious. Are the round bits like cans ?
It looks to me like some kind of atmospheric measuring device.

Being all brass suggests probably naval or so form of sea faring activity

Can you give us an idea of the scale?

e.g. How long is the box?

COuld it be one of these:

http://www.geoforum.com/info/pileinfo/cpt.asp

thanks for replys. got some more pics.

this is just so you can tell how big it is.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00214.jpg

middle. Not sure if this is suppoed to come out of box theo. Theres glue under the triangle bit.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00211.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00209.jpg

Could it be some kind of planimeter or similar tool?

It doesn't look like a modern planimeter, but that sort of thing is coming to mind.

I'd take it along to the Hawley Collection on Portobello. If anyone can identify it they can.

How about dropping Planner1 a pm as it may be a surveying instrument.

Looks to me as though it's meant to measure some kind of resistance.

Pantograph?

It's some kind of balance.

I think...

Its a blowfiddlyaranngermunkum used for measuring how much moo poo is in the area ?? :hihi::hihi:

please tell us when you find out - I'm intrigued now. cheers.

no marking on the underside of the brass triangle ?

BTW it looks far to old and maybe worth more to a collector than a scrap yard if you know what i mean.

I'd get it's ID known and bang it eBay.

Take it to an antique shop, they`ll probably be able to tell you
a; what it is
and b; if its worth owt.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00211.jpg

That scale in the centre is a vernier guage, used to measure fractions accurately (probably 100ths on an inch in this case). Clearly the amount that the metal band is stretched by, provides the all important reading which this instrument is designed to give.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/richardwatkins/DSC00211.jpg

That scale in the centre is a vernier guage, used to measure fractions accurately (probably 100ths on an inch in this case). Clearly the amount that the metal band is stretched by, provides the all important reading which this instrument is designed to give.

My little love monkey has just said he thinks that's what it is and that it may have been used for measuring the gauge width on railway tracks.

If I can persuade him I'll get him to post more later.

I think Waltheof would know what it is, but hes not online.

I think Waltheof would know what it is, but hes not online.

He is now, and may take a look at it.

My little love monkey has just said he thinks that's what it is and that it may have been used for measuring the gauge width on railway tracks.

If I can persuade him I'll get him to post more later.

ooh, could it be an older one of these:
http://www.aptrail.com/

ooh, could it be an older one of these:
http://www.aptrail.com/

I bet someone like Pete Waterman would snap it up for mucho bucks

You need these guys (http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5/juliehtongue/bagpuss_big_350x250.jpg) to assemble it and work out what it is! :hihi:

I don't know what it is, but my gut feeling is that it should be preserved until more is known about it. It could be the only one left in the world from a certain trade or profession now extinct. Sad thing is, somebody somewhere knows what it is and probably used one every day for doing his/her job.

The sugestion of taking it to the Hawley museum is a good one, they will either know what it is or know how to find out.

Its a stress measurement device of some kind by the looks, you need to open it out and see how long it is.

Standard guage is 4'8'.5, but there are others as well.

See if there's a makes label or mark.

Don't know what it is but it's doesn't look like any planimeter I've come across, as there'd be some scale adjustment & a dial to read off when an area's been scanned. Nor does it look like a bit of surveying kit or a pantograph. What do the bits in the box lid do ? Where do they fit & what might go in the bits on the ends? And is that a vernier scale at the centre of the main flat bit, and is the graduated scale in inches or what? There seem to be other graduations on the bevelled slot on wheel B. Is that right?

Certainly it looks engineering orientated rather than anything else, and if that centre bar is adustable in length, it almost seems to be a device for measuring a precise width . I bet this goes on some time yet!