I bought a load of engineering stuff yesterday (mostly BSF taps and dies, drills, files and wad punches; it was in a nice box. Included in it were these four items. They are about 1.25" dia, they look like tool steel and there are no markings. My first thought was "blank dies" but the holes are not accurately central and the edges are milled. Anyone got any ideas?
The pencil was in the box, it is unused and has never been sharpened, if it is of any interest to anyone, I'll happily send it over.

look like knurls to me

Hi Sam, At first look they are very similar to knurling tools replacement wheels, except for the three holes

another that springs to mind is cutters/blades from an industrial mincing machine being driven from the periphery,

or they could be feed mechanisms for some machinery or other as the three holes would provide positive drive and easy to assemble/replace.

All speculation of course, but would be interesting to know for sure

I agree. they do look like knurls, but knurls have one central hole, the grooves are also at the same angle on all four so there could only be halves of four pairs. If they are meant to revolve. I can't imagine why there wouldn't be a central axle. The variation of the positioning of the holes that interests me; they all look slightly different.
They were in the drawer with the dies which is why I thought they could be blanks when I first saw them but if I were making a die, I'd make the holes accurately and put a centre mark on them.

Could they be off center for use as a cam to hold something in place? three holes would make them adjustable over a range?

Look sorta like part of a stud puller wrench. The eccentric wheel engages when turned.
Phil

Look sorta like part of a stud puller wrench. The eccentric wheel engages when turned.
Phil

I think you may be right, I've got a similar tool for turning studs, I'll have a look tomorrow

Interesting pencil, here is information on the ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Willard_Keith_%28DD-775%29

Those are known as parts. We have a lot of them over here too.

Over here in the third world we prefer more specific terms.

Could they be off center for use as a cam to hold something in place? three holes would make them adjustable over a range?

Or maybe if they were say all assembled on three rods with spacers in between the rods could act as a cam without having to machine a difficult central shaft with lobes and a keyway. That way if there was say a hand turn knob it could index feed something like typewriter paper.....??