What is this?

[Dave H (MI)]

I have not posted one of these in a long while, but this turned up in my auction/sale lots that I pick up from time to time. Anyone know what it is? Hazard a guess? It is aluminum and stamped on one end is Baker Made in USA. The crank moves half the unit up and down the scale...to what end I have no idea only obviously to measure or set the length of something, but what?

 

[Butch(OH)]

Baker has been in buisiness a long time and makes all kinds of precision measuring equipmemt. I have some Baker guages in the shop. You have correctly guessed what is was made for but I can't help you with specifics. It could have been made for a specific process or it could be a stock general use item. Baker is still in buisiness, surely they have a web site.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Unfortunately there are a lot of companies in this world with the name Baker in it. This is not a new tool by any means if you look at the handle and very unlikely it is going to be in a catalog and, if it were, it would be like looking someone up in a phone book (remember those?) without knowing their name. Posts like this are more for those who have used or seen such a thing in the past and want to educate the rest of us. I will look at a few of the larger sites and see if the logo matches. After that....it is up to the knowledge base here.

 

[Caryc]

It has three screw mounting holes but, as I'm looking at it, if you mounted it to a wall, you obviously would not be able to turn the crank. So, it would have to be mounted to a work bench with the turning knob hanging over the edge.

Don't know what that means, just thought I'd throw it in.

 

[stevieb49829]

To check the accuracy of other measuring devices??? steve

 

[Caryc]

(quoted from post at 10:38:40 11/28/23) To check the accuracy of other measuring devices??? steve

That's what gauge blocks are for. How would you know that device pictured is accurate? Besides it's still a human eye reading a scale.

 

[Janicholson]

An interesting component not mentioned is the two labeled slots in the top edge of each end. they could be for determining the point at which something stretched between the ebds breaks or? but they are important I believe. Jim

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Spam slicing guide? Looks like a block of spam would fit in the jaws and there are alignment slots for the knife to mark it into 4 equal slices.

 

[Dingo3]

The slots got me too. Maybe a rapid and precise way for cutting/ bending wire or flat stock in a manufacturing line.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

That's about what I was thinking.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

It might a tuallybe used In reverse to stretch something rather than cut or compress . The slots look as if they could locate cable , wire or some elastic material .

 

[Janicholson]

The reference beginning and end points of the Rule are indexed to the back side of the notches, not the inside surface of the platens. The notches are wider through the
platens than the two surface mounted plates. If a thing was placed in the notches with a fatter head or knob on both ends, the heads could not get through the plates.
Kind of like a tensile tester in miniature. Jim

 

[Ralph, Ohio]

I doubt that the crank is used to compress or stretch anything because of the time & effort involved to repeatedly operate it, but rather to set the distance between the jaws so that something placed in the slots on top can be measured or rapidly duplicated at a particular length. What would fit in the slots? The stripped end of a piece of insulated wire? But if something only goes in the slots why so much depth between the slots & the base? To the original poster: Can we get any hints from the other items in the lot this came with?

 

[Dave H (MI)]

Yes, I am glad you asked. I took a picture of some things that were in the box also. I have several of each of these in different sizes:

 

[560Dennis]

Who ever had it took excellent care of it . The rule is calibrated to the undercut .

 

[thdrduck]

I don't think it's a stand alone tool but rather part of a bigger contraption.

 

[Ralph, Ohio]

Still curious. Can we see a photo of the crank end of the unit?

 

[Caryc]

The way the thing is built with only the screw and aligning rods at the bottom of it, it doesn't look like it's meant for that screw handle to put real pressure on the jaws like a vice. It looks like it's strictly meant to measure something.