Schollhorn dividers

[Branson]

I have a set of dividers I got years ago.  Thought they were pretty nifty.  Today, looking at measuring tools, I found a pair and their identification:

These nine-inch dividers were patented Jan. 9, 1866, and manufactured by W. Schollhorn in New Haven, Ct.
They are early enough before mass-production, that the pieces were individually hand-fitted, and assembly numbers were stamped on each part of each tool. This one has
No. 58 on both sides.
This is the early one made of cast steel. The later ones were pressed sheet metal, G+ ......... $95.00

[stillfishin]

That is a neat looking dividers. I've got a few but nothing that old or fancy. Just one ?. Why do they call it a pair?

[keykeeper]

Nice vintage pair of dividers, Branson.

I've accumulated several sets of calipers and dividers in auction lot buys, that cleaned up real nice, but I've never seen any Schollhorn made ones yet.

Most of mine are Pexto, Craftsman and Starrett. I think a few are unmarked as well. I don't use them, but kept them with hopes of someday needing them after I find a small metal lathe.

[scottg]

Those are really nice ones.
 I especially like the bend in the legs to help you control it, and the fine adjust is just dynamite.
 I never knew Schollhorn made dividers, but I am not surprised they are good ones.
  I like his other tools. Couldn't live without my parallel jaw pliers!
 yours Scott

[Papaw]

Pair, like a pair of pants- two legs!

[rusty]

Schollhorn made a number of tools before discovering they could stamp tools out of sheet metal. Thje most common seemns to be linemans pliers, but I have seen a few other things.

The dividers are interesting, really nicely shaped. There is a later patent showing them also, apparently it took 7 years for it to occur to someone they could make the dividers into a compass by attaching a pencil....

http://www.google.com/patents?id=_gZPAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=patent:140081&hl=en&ei=yLnjToOLGcf7ggeKvrGUBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ

[Branson]

Oh great.  Now I need to find the pencil attachment! 

The Shollhorn dividers I have are the only pair I've seen in the wild.  The shape is downright artistic, they're well made, and the fine adjustment system is really useful and solid.  They were irresistible!  Only the ad on Jon Zimmer's site identified them for me.

EBAy showed me an example of another set I got for use at Sutter's Fort.  I've seen this pattern a few times, and at least one seller identified them as 18th Century.  The legs are triangular, and cast steel has been laminated into the tips of otherwise iron construction.  Mine have been etched from time, and the manner of forging is clearly visible.

[Branson]

I don't use them, but kept them with hopes of someday needing them after I find a small metal lathe.

Don't wait for a lathe!  Dividers are a woodworker's layout tool!  Older woodwork manuals (early 1800's) contain an awful lot of geometry -- some contain little else.  My largest pair has 24 inch legs, roughly the same size as the ones James Marshall made for laying out the sawmill for Sutter.  I've seen and handled Marshall's and hope to someday making a reproduction of his.   

Marshall's dividers were made from valley oak, planed smooth on one side for laying out, and left rough planed on the other side.  He used cut nails for the pins, driven in (maybe burned in) and then sharpened to points.

As I think of it, I have a fairly large collection/accumulation of dividers.  The smallest (5 and 6 inch legs) I most recently used to scribe the curve of an old floor onto the baseboard I had to install.  Great for marking circles in ceiling tiles to  accommodate pipes and sprinkler systems -- nearly indispensable, actually.   

Good for lay out, geometric construction, scribing, making hex signs, establishing right angles, dividing angles endlessly.