One of the oldest Vernier Calipers, c. 1816

[rivett608]

I don't often post here and I know some of you read the Antique section of the PM but I thought I would let the rest know I have added what might be one of the earliest vernier calipers to my collection. This was bought in Copenhagen and we have been able to track down the owner nearly 200 years ago. I have posted it on the PM.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...ection-231792/

This is a perfect match for the one shown in Bergeron's 1816 book.....

[KiddZimaHater]

Very nice. I love antique tools. I'd love to get my hands on an original L.S.Starrett combination square or a Starrett Hasher.

[alanganes]

Thanks for posting this here. I often miss this sort of stuff on PM as I only occasionally get to the antiques section there. This sort of thing is most fascinating. It must be a great thing to just stumble on a piece like that.
Nice find!

[topct]

The earliest caliper has been found in the Greek Giglio wreck near the Italian coast. The ship find dates to the 6th century BC. The wooden piece already featured a fixed and a movable jaw. Although rare finds, caliper remained in use by the Greeks and Romans.

By the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), the Chinese also used the sliding caliper, which they made of bronze and manufactured each tool with an inscription of the day, month, and year it was made (according to Chinese era names and their lunar calendar).

The modern vernier caliper, reading to thousandths of an inch, was invented by American Joseph R. Brown in 1851. His Brown and Sharpe company inaugurated true precision manufacture in the United States. It was the first practical tool for exact measurements that could be sold at a price within the reach of ordinary machinists.

That is quite a rare and lovely find.

[rivett608]

Thanks Gene, I had not seen the Giglio caliper before... found a nice write up with drawings of it.

There is a question about Brown & Sharpe's claim on some of their inventions, one thing is Brown hired Sharpe partially because he could read and write French and translated a number of books for the men in the shop, Bergeron's book pictured above came out (this edition) in 1816 and was one of the most popular books on tools etc for at least the next 30 years... good chance B & S had a copy, also his style of graduating engine shows up in another French book from the 1780's..... and almost all in print about his inventions can be traced back to Burlingame, one of his employees. Not to take anything away from B & S as they were very important in the manufacturing of precision tools they just might not have totally invented all they claim.

[dp]

That is a great thread you have going over at PM. Love the unfolding provenance. Just went through a recent family reunion with family members I'd never met before and in a box of old pictures there was my dad as a pre-teen and teenager, and some photos from the early 1950s of my own and extended family I'd never seen before. The connection? My dad and his family are from Fyn (Funen), Denmark

We even had visitors fly in from the old country that are cousins, now living in Copenhagen.

[rivett608]

dp.... that's cool...... I have liked all the Danes I've met.... my girlfriend grew up in Guldbjerg and Odense........ I was just there last month. What part of Fyn is your family from?

Glad you liked the thread, Thanks

[dp]

dp.... that's cool...... I have liked all the Danes I've met.... my girlfriend grew up in Guldbjerg and Odense........ I was just there last month. What part of Fyn is your family from?

Glad you liked the thread, Thanks

That is part of the family mystery. We only know Fyn from what records we've found. Odense seems the likely location but it can't be known. I just hope it doesn't turn out to me Middlefart

If my pop were alive now he'd be 100 this year. That is hard to imagine.

[SGW]

Pierrre Vernier invented the "vernier" in something like 1673.

[Bazz]

[QUOTE=SGW]Pierrre Vernier invented the "vernier" in something like 1673.[/QUOTE



I was just going going to say that, we still call it a Vernier in in French

I love your post Rivett I watch all of them on PM