Cleveland Par-Ac?

[lwalker]

Hello all.

I recently acquired the stand and probe for a "Cleveland Par-Ac" instrument of some kind at an auction:

I bid on this thing because it looked like it would make a nice benchtop stand for assembling electronics. But now that I have it, I'm curious: it seems to be part of some instrument. Cleveland Instrument Company has a copyright on the name "Micro-Ac" dating from the 50's but I can't find any other information about this product.

Does anyone know what the instrument was? The stand is heavy: about 15-20 lbs and has a rack and pinion (that I managed to break already!!) that moves some kind of a probe up and down over a ground steel surface. I assume it had some kind of an electronics box connected to it since there's a connector attached to the probe.

I like old instruments and it would be nice to know what this was used for and how it worked. It would be awesome if someone had a manual they could email me!

[flylo]

It lasted 60 years & you broke it. You should send it to me in tomorrows mail so it can be propery taken care of!

[lwalker]

Yeah, I was pretty mad at myself for that until I realized it had to have been cracked already or was broken before and epoxied back together. There is no way I applied enough force by hand through that knob to break a 1/4" steel shaft. Havent' had the time to take it apart and inspect the damage.

Surprised no one knows about it. Google shows similar looking probes for hardness testers, but I'm not sure if that's what this is.

[Rex]

Old thread, but I'm in the same boat:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/70063-Interesting-find-What-is-it

Have you had any luck on your end?

[OKChipmaker]

This is a gismo to measure the surface finish of what ever.Its not all thar tho,it needs a inteface and a pc to be compleat.The product to be measured is placed on base and probe moved onto and over to get measurment.Or on some the base the base moves and probe stays still.It should be able to measure in mircrons.
The last I know Cresant tools (not sure about spelling)of in or near Dallas Texas was the go to place for them.This is dated info from years ago not sure about now.

[dave_r]

Yeah, I was pretty mad at myself for that until I realized it had to have been cracked already or was broken before and epoxied back together. There is no way I applied enough force by hand through that knob to break a 1/4" steel shaft. Havent' had the time to take it apart and inspect the damage.

Surprised no one knows about it. Google shows similar looking probes for hardness testers, but I'm not sure if that's what this is.

Right. "Someone else must have broken it already." That didn't work with your mother and it doesn't work here!

[Rex]

This is a gismo to measure the surface finish of what ever.Its not all thar tho,it needs a inteface and a pc to be compleat.The product to be measured is placed on base and probe moved onto and over to get measurment.Or on some the base the base moves and probe stays still.It should be able to measure in mircrons.
The last I know Cresant tools (not sure about spelling)of in or near Dallas Texas was the go to place for them.This is dated info from years ago not sure about now.

Well that makes sense. But as far as I can see, there is no provision to move anything in X or Y, only Z.
I'm in Fort Worth, I'll look for Crescent Tools - Thanks!

[lwalker]

Old thread, but I'm in the same boat:

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/70063-Interesting-find-What-is-it

Have you had any luck on your end?

No, I gave up after I realized that there were parts of it missing that I wasn't likely to find. Got a couple of electronic grinding measurement tools to play with instead :-)

[Rex]

LOL Well, I'm trying to figure out what else this thing might be good for. So far 'lamp' is in the lead

[CarlByrns]

This is a gismo to measure the surface finish of what ever.Its not all thar tho,it needs a inteface and a pc to be compleat.The product to be measured is placed on base and probe moved onto and over to get measurment.Or on some the base the base moves and probe stays still.It should be able to measure in mircrons.
The last I know Cresant tools (not sure about spelling)of in or near Dallas Texas was the go to place for them.This is dated info from years ago not sure about now.

If it's from the 1950's it doesn't work with a PC.

[OKChipmaker]

CarlByrns said If it's from the 1950's it doesn't work with a PC.

The one I seen in operation was in the early 80s.I didnt pay a lot of attension to it,but do remimber it was attached to some kind of electrical box.It was used to check surface finish after polish,before plateing.It wasnt in use long before being changed out for anouther system.
The interface and pc came from my suninlaw who used one into the early to mid 2000s at a differant manu. plant.He said theres was hooked up to a interface then a pc runing XL