Help identify tool!

[tdunlap]

Found this amongst my late grandfathers treasures and have no idea what it is. Can anyone help identify it? No papers with it, unlike most of his things, but it is a craftsman tool of some sort.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/at ... y-tool.jpg

[chucketn]

I found a similar tool in my late fathers Kennedy tool chest. I also had to ask the forums what it was. It is a mechanical tachometer. With the rubber tip installed, that end is pressed against the end of a rotating shaft or motor armature, which causes the large wheel to rotate. The mechanic would take note of a graduation and time a revolution of the scale, thus giving the speed of the shaft or motor.
Mine, I believe is a Starrett.

Chuck

edit: Would like to add, my Dad was a maintenance electrician.

[tdunlap]

That is what I thought it might be, was some sort of early tachometer. Thanks

[BadDog]

Not actually a tachometer, but rather a revolution counter. However, combined with a stop watch or some sort of timer it could function to determine rpm. One suggested application that I recall was counting turns of wire on transformer coils.

[spro]

Like Russ said, it's not a real tachometer. Many here remember the fine mechanical tachometers. Considerably larger, they came in a fitted case with many tips and a wheel for outside measurement. The Herman H. Stict Co. made some beautes. 30-12000 rpm.

[BadDog]

Yes, they are fine instruments. I was fortunate to find one some time back and add it to my collection.

[spro]

Hey Russ. Mine's a type "UO"per the instruction sheet but the ser# has been scraped off that sheet. No.-K-OS #521182 on the face. The little fitted canisters hold the special oil with needle applicator and the other a glass tachdropper. ( like an eyedropper ) Like you, This isn't a tool I keep in chest in the basement. It's in a special drawer with a few other items.
I wonder if anyone here has been inside one of these things. I wouldn't, have no need to. The lubrication points are where steel contacts metal. It's likely jeweled inside, like similar Swiss mechanisms.

[BadDog]

Oops, it appears I made a mistake.

The name and first description rang a bell, and I thought that's what I had, but your second description didn't ring true, so I went to look.

Mine is a Jones Model 3200 2 speed with 5 tips. It reads 50-500 in low speed, 500-5000 in high. And the OD wheel measures FPM=reading/2

Sorry for the confusion, not sure where I picked up that name, or how it got cross wired to my Jones...

[PeteH]

Nice one, esp. since it has both points... generally all you find is the unit itself.

I suspect -- I don't know -- that these came in various qualities. Mine's nothing special, doesn't feel like a jewelled movement or anything. But it still works and it doesn't require batteries !!

BTW -- Antique shops will charge you $20 or more for one of them. I've never even seen one with a fitted case; the nearest approximation was a leather sleeve.

[RickBarb]

I grew up on a farm in the midwest and remember my father using one to set the speed on the grain separator (threshing machine) when threshing oats. The separator was stationary and belt driven by either a traction engine or a tractor.

[spro]

Sorry for sorta veering away from the tool in question. The last replies put it back to origional course. Russ, There is an association with the Jones and Sticht Co.s. I did a search recently of Herman Sticht and a record player came up. There is more to that, I'm sure. The unit I have isn't particularly "rare" either for there is one on the bay now, very similar. Item#3006172581 .
Mine is a tad older with burgandy felt-lined case (opposed to the later green) and the ser# earlier. These wouldn't be stuck into a hay bailer when they were conventional. More of a calibration device.

H.H. Sticht continues into the digital age. Non contact types have taken over but there is little relevance to fine machining.

[Ike Turner]

I too have one of these rev counters, it was part of a box of measuring tools I bought off eBay a few months ago. There were several quality micrometers, verniers, bore guages and dial indicators, obviously from a deceased machinist. The rev counter is marked 'the L. Starrett co, Athol, Mass'. Has the rubber tip sleeved over a trocar tip. I only figured out what it was a couple of days ago.
Is there any practical use for this tool in hobby machining? I thought maybe it has some use in thread cutting or something?